Electrolyte Challenge Question
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4Campbells
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Electrolyte Challenge Question
My daughter is gathering materials for the project. We already own an analog multimeter. I see the area on the multimeter that we use for the mA to test the solutions, but I do not see a uA area to test the distilled water. Will this multimeter give us the readings we need to do the experiment? The model multimeter we have is GMT-312 by GB Instruments. If this multimeter is good to use, then which gauge do we read? The choices are Ohms, DC, AC, and dB. The choices to actually choose modes to switch to are: Ohm (X1K), DC mA, ACV, and DCV. Thank you for any advice you can give!
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bfinio
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Re: Electrolyte Challenge Question
Hi 4Campbells -
We have a pretty extensive multimeter tutorial that may be useful to look at. It explains what a lot of the symbols on a typical multimeter mean:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... multimeter
For this project, you are measuring electrical current, which is measured in amperes, or amps for short. The abbreviation for amps is A. Just like other metric units, amps can have a prefix - like mA for milliamp (one thousandth of an amp). "DC" stands for direct current (current that flows in one direction, in most battery-powered circuits), as opposed to "AC" or alternating current which is what you get from a wall outlet.
Assuming this is the multimeter you're referring to (I just googled the model number you provided):
https://images.homedepot-static.com/pro ... 4_1000.jpg
you will want to use either the 0.5, 50, or 250 "DC mA" (direct current milliamps) setting and then read the black DC numbers on the needle depending on which scale you pick (for example, if you have it set to 250 DC mA, read the row of numbers that ends in 250). There is no uA (microamp) setting, so you will have to go to the lowest mA setting (0.5 milliamps = 500 microamps) and see if that will work with the distilled water. If you can't see the needle move at all, then that means the multimeter is not sensitive enough to measure the distilled water.
Hope that helps!
Ben
We have a pretty extensive multimeter tutorial that may be useful to look at. It explains what a lot of the symbols on a typical multimeter mean:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... multimeter
For this project, you are measuring electrical current, which is measured in amperes, or amps for short. The abbreviation for amps is A. Just like other metric units, amps can have a prefix - like mA for milliamp (one thousandth of an amp). "DC" stands for direct current (current that flows in one direction, in most battery-powered circuits), as opposed to "AC" or alternating current which is what you get from a wall outlet.
Assuming this is the multimeter you're referring to (I just googled the model number you provided):
https://images.homedepot-static.com/pro ... 4_1000.jpg
you will want to use either the 0.5, 50, or 250 "DC mA" (direct current milliamps) setting and then read the black DC numbers on the needle depending on which scale you pick (for example, if you have it set to 250 DC mA, read the row of numbers that ends in 250). There is no uA (microamp) setting, so you will have to go to the lowest mA setting (0.5 milliamps = 500 microamps) and see if that will work with the distilled water. If you can't see the needle move at all, then that means the multimeter is not sensitive enough to measure the distilled water.
Hope that helps!
Ben
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4Campbells
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2017 2:24 pm
- Occupation: Parent
Re: Electrolyte Challenge Question
Thank you SO much! Hoping the multimeter is sensitive enough!!