Experiment 3 - The Heat Generation at the Resistor

You are familiar with the heating elements in your toaster, electric grills and blow dryer. They are all essentially resistors and convert electricity into heat.

Exactly this is what the resistors in your experiments do as well. For this build the circuit shown.

Circuit with resistor. (Enlarge)

Experimental set-up (Enlarge)

Hold the resistor loosely between your fingers and press the pushbutton switch. After a few seconds you notice the heating up of the resistor. Repeat the experiment with a resistor of 4,7 kΩ. The resistor hardly heats up.

Circuit diagram for heat generation at a resistor.

Accordingly, a resistor with a resistance lower than 330 Ω would heat more? You take a closer look in the next experiment...