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Main Authors: Falsetti, Paulo Henrique Eleuterio, da Silva, André Coelho, da Silva, Leonardo Geraldino, Del Duque, Douglas Mendes da Silva, Menegati, Murilo Antonio, Gianelli, Bruno Fernando, de Mendonça, Vagner Romito, Terra, Idelma Aparecida Alves
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15789
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author Falsetti, Paulo Henrique Eleuterio
da Silva, André Coelho
da Silva, Leonardo Geraldino
Del Duque, Douglas Mendes da Silva
Menegati, Murilo Antonio
Gianelli, Bruno Fernando
de Mendonça, Vagner Romito
Terra, Idelma Aparecida Alves
author_facet Falsetti, Paulo Henrique Eleuterio
da Silva, André Coelho
da Silva, Leonardo Geraldino
Del Duque, Douglas Mendes da Silva
Menegati, Murilo Antonio
Gianelli, Bruno Fernando
de Mendonça, Vagner Romito
Terra, Idelma Aparecida Alves
contents Ohm's law is crucial for understanding electrical circuits and conductive materials. Formulated by Georg Simon Ohm in the 19th century, it describes the direct proportional relationship between electric voltage and electric current in ohmic conductors. Despite its apparent simplicity, the literature has pointed out that students at different educational levels have difficulty understanding it, especially due to the abstraction associated with the concepts of electric voltage, electric current, and electrical resistance. In order to provide possibilities to overcome this abstraction and the associated learning difficulties, the present work proposes an experimental activity that applies Ohm's law to determine the nanometer-scale thickness of 6B graphite traces deposited on tracing paper. The employed methodology is based on measuring physical quantities such as electric voltage, electric current, and length, and on analyzing the collected data. The thickness of the graphite traces determined by this method was also compared with values obtained using a scanning probe microscope (SPM). Based on the proposed methodology, the thickness of the traces was determined to be 456.5(34)~nm, while SPM measurements yielded an average thickness of 440(50)~nm. Thus, the results show good agreement between the measurements within experimental uncertainties, validating the effectiveness of the suggested methodology and indicating that it is a viable proposal for electricity courses in higher education and, with adaptations, even for high school.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_15789
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Estimation of nanometer-thickness layer of 6B graphite: an experimental activity to study Ohm's law in higher education
Falsetti, Paulo Henrique Eleuterio
da Silva, André Coelho
da Silva, Leonardo Geraldino
Del Duque, Douglas Mendes da Silva
Menegati, Murilo Antonio
Gianelli, Bruno Fernando
de Mendonça, Vagner Romito
Terra, Idelma Aparecida Alves
Physics Education
Ohm's law is crucial for understanding electrical circuits and conductive materials. Formulated by Georg Simon Ohm in the 19th century, it describes the direct proportional relationship between electric voltage and electric current in ohmic conductors. Despite its apparent simplicity, the literature has pointed out that students at different educational levels have difficulty understanding it, especially due to the abstraction associated with the concepts of electric voltage, electric current, and electrical resistance. In order to provide possibilities to overcome this abstraction and the associated learning difficulties, the present work proposes an experimental activity that applies Ohm's law to determine the nanometer-scale thickness of 6B graphite traces deposited on tracing paper. The employed methodology is based on measuring physical quantities such as electric voltage, electric current, and length, and on analyzing the collected data. The thickness of the graphite traces determined by this method was also compared with values obtained using a scanning probe microscope (SPM). Based on the proposed methodology, the thickness of the traces was determined to be 456.5(34)~nm, while SPM measurements yielded an average thickness of 440(50)~nm. Thus, the results show good agreement between the measurements within experimental uncertainties, validating the effectiveness of the suggested methodology and indicating that it is a viable proposal for electricity courses in higher education and, with adaptations, even for high school.
title Estimation of nanometer-thickness layer of 6B graphite: an experimental activity to study Ohm's law in higher education
topic Physics Education
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15789