Identication and Demonstration of

Passage of Electric Current Through

Different Concentration of Graphite

Prepared by:

Section 1101

Chawisa Lo 5861021

Pimpatra Santapunt 5861108

Napasorn Thepchanakul 5861064

Kanyawan Srirojanapinyo 5861049

Napassorn Pisittivitayanon 5861063

Present:

Mr. Gopinath Subramanian

Conceptional Physics

Mahidol University International Demonstration School

Table of Content

Introduction 1

Objective 1

Material 2

Discussion Of Physics Concepts 3

Procedure 6

Data 7

Analysis of Data 7

Conclusion 9

Recommendation 10

Reference 11
Introduction
Paper circuit is an interesting experiment due to the materials that

we have to use are common things such as paper, pencil, battery,

alligator clip and light bulb. This experiment aims to test that graphite

can be used as a conductor in a circuit.

Electric current is a ow of electric charge in the electric circuit.

This charge is often carried by moving electrons in the wire. The unit of

electric current is ampere which is the ow of electric charge across a

surface at the rate of one coulomb per second.

An electrical conductor is a substance in which electrical charge

carriers, usually electrons, move easily from atom to atom with the

application of voltage.

Moreover, graphite is a crystalline form of carbon. It is a poor

conductor of electricity because it contains delocalised electrons that

are free to move through the solid. Graphite has several advantages

over the other materials for example it is the only material in which

mechanical properties increase with temperature and has a low

Coecient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) for geometrical stability.

Objective
Find the best density of pencil that produces the brightest light.

1
Material
1. Staedtler pencils (EE 5B B 2H 7H)

2. A4 Papers
3. Battery 9V (5)

4. Alligator clips

5. Light bulbs

2
Discussion Of Physics Concepts
Electricity
An electric circuit is formed when there are paths for free

electrons to continuously move. This continuous movement of electrons

through a conductor is called current.

The force motivating these electrons to move is called voltage.

Voltage is considered a specic type of potential energy. When we

measure the certain amount of voltage in a circuit, we measure potential

energy existing to move electrons from one particular point in that

circuit to another.

However, the movement of free electrons through conductors

needs to pass through some friction or opposition to motion. This

opposition to motion is called resistance. The amount of current in a

circuit depends on the amount of voltage available to motivate the

electrons, and also the amount of resistance in the circuit to oppose

electron ow. Also, resistance is a quantity related between two points

in a circuit.

Quantity Symbol Unit of Measurement Unit Abbreviation

Current I Ampere A

Voltage E or V Volt V

Resistance R Ohm

The symbol given for each quantity is the standard alphabetical

letter used to represent that quantity in an algebraic equation.

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 To measure each of these quantity, understanding the relationship

of these three measure is required. The relationship between current,

voltage, and resistance is called Ohm s law, discovered by Georg Simon

Ohm and published in his 1827 paper. His principal discovery is that

electric current is directly proportional to the voltage impressed across

it. His theory can be expressed in an equation below.

V = IR

If we know the values of any two of the three quantities (voltage,

current, and resistance) in this circuit, we can use Ohm s Law to

determine the third.

Conductor and insulator

Conductors are materials in which electron in the outer shell are

not anchored to the nuclei but are free to wander. Most metals are

good electrical conductors. For example, copper and aluminium.

Insulators are material in which electron are tightly bound to its nuclei

and are not free to wander among atoms in material. For example,

rubber.

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Graphite
Graphite is a crystalline form of carbon, a metal alloy. It has a

layered molecular structure and there are very weak bonds between the

layers, giving graphite its slippery texture. Graphite has a very low

resistivity( 9 to 40 m). There is also high-density graphite, low-density

graphite, granulated, coarse, grease, and every other form that aects

the resistivity.

It is a poor conductor of electricity, but still a conductor. This is

because, like metals, graphite contains delocalised electrons that are

free to move through the solid. These electrons are free to move

through the structure of the graphite. When using these graphite as an

electric path in a circuit, the property of graphite as a conductor should

be working in the same way as copper wire in a circuit.

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Procedure
1. Prepare materials: Staedtler pencils (EE, 5B, B, 2H, 7H), 5 A4 papers,
a battery 9V (5), alligator clips, a LED bulbs

2. Draw a picture on a paper with two ends using ve types of pencil

that have dierent levels of graphite, where the thickness of the

drawing is approximately 0.5 cm.

3. Connect the alligator clips to the battery

4. Connect the negative charge end to the shorter leg of the LED bulb
5. Put the other end of the LED bulb

6. Compare the brightness of the light bulb.

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Data

Type of Pencil Level of Brightness Voltage

7H Wasn t o 9V

2H Dimmest 9V

B 2nd Brightest 9V

5B Brightest 9V

EE 3rd Brightest 9V

Analysis of Data

The best result of paper circuit is using a 5B pencil

From the result in experiment, we can conclude that the more

concentration of the graphite in a pencil doesn t mean that it is the

one that best conduct electric current to the LED bulb.

Because a pencil that has the most concentration of graphite in the

experiment is a EE pencil, which is the 2nd brightest.

However, if the concentration is too light, graphite can t conduct the

electricity current to make the LED bulb turned on.

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1. EE

2. 5B

3. B

4. 2H

8
5. 7H

Conclusion
Our goal is to nd the best type of pencil that produces the

brightest light. According to our experiment, the best type of pencil is

5B. The second and third are B and EE respectively. Also, the dimmest

light produced is from 2H pencil. However, when we used a 7H pencil,

the light was not turn on. It is surprising that EE, which has a high

density of Graphite does not produce the brightest light. Therefore, we

can conclude that Graphite can be a conductor of electricity, but the

more concentration does not produce the brightest light.

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Recommendation
From our experiment, we used only one battery for all trials, so it

means that the volts of battery were not going to be the same. Thus, we

should change the battery every time for each trial, so that the voltage

would be a controlled variable (still in 9 V for every trials). In addition,

during the experiment, the LED bulb wire was touched by an alligator

clip making the LED bulb burned out, so we needed to get a new one

because it cannot be used. Although we lost three bulbs, we still have

seven left because we bought it for ten to be spare. However, we

should be more careful when we do the experiment.

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Reference
BBC. (2017, April). Graphite and fullerenes - Higher tier. Retrieved from

BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/

add_aqa/bonding/structure_propertiesrev8.shtml

Conductor and Insulators. (2017, April). Retrieved from Hyperphysics:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/conins.html

Elert, G. (2017, April). Resistivity Of Carbon, Graphite. Retrieved from

Hypertextbook: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/

AfricaBelgrave.shtml

Mersen. (2017, April). GRAPHITE ADVANTAGES. Retrieved from Mersen:

http://www.edm.mersen.com/graphite-advantages/

Rouse, M. (2017, April). Conductor. Retrieved from What is: http://

whatis.techtarget.com/denition/conductor

Rouse, M. (2017, April). Resistance. Retrieved from What Is: http://

whatis.techtarget.com/denition/resistance

The Physics Classroom. (2017, April). Current Electricity - Lesson 3 -

Electrical Resistance. Retrieved from The Physics Classroom:

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circuits/Lesson-3/Ohm-s-

Law

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