Does the length of a salt bridge effect the voltage of a voltaic cell?

I am doing a Chemistry Lab in which it is completely student run. In this experiment, I basically set out the same exact voltaic cell, and used varying lengths of salt bridges as my independent variable. The lengths different by a couple cm (12, 9.5, 5, 2). And what I observed was that the smaller the salt bridge, than the higher the voltage. I am not 100% sure that what I observed was accurate, but it corresponds to the data I have. Is this right? and if it is then why? I know that increasing the total amount of salt bridges has an effect, but this is just one salt bridge cut into various lengths. My lab is due soon, and I'd love for some help, thank you.




If the cell is not delivering any current, the voltage does not depend on the length of the bridge. Let's call it $V\_o$. It only depends on Nernst law. If the cell is working and delivers some current $I$, the measured voltage will decrease to $V$ < $V\_o$, because of the internal resistance $R$ of the internal solution + bridge, with the following expression : ${V = V\_o - RI}$. The internal resistance $R$ depends on a lot of parameters, like the nature and the concentration of the solutions, the distance between the electrodes, etc.


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