I need to understand how to calculate the final 2 steps of this problem. Appreciate any help:
For a circuit, consisting of a single battery and two light bulbs in parallel, what is the total resistance of the circuit if each light bulb has a resistance of 6.3 ohms?
1/Rt=1/R1+1/R2 = .317 ohms
How much current is being drawn from the battery if the battery provides 1.5 Volts?
DON'T UNDERSTAND
What is the current through each bulb? DON'T UNDERSTAND
each bulb is a separate branch of the circuit, and so has the same voltage drop.
Since they have the same resistance, each bulb gets a current of 1.5V/6.3Ω = 0.238A
Note that 1/Rt = 0.317, so Rt = 3.15 = 6.3/2 Ω
To calculate the total resistance of a circuit with two components in parallel, you can use the formula: 1/Rt = 1/R1 + 1/R2. In this case, each light bulb has a resistance of 6.3 ohms.
To find the total resistance (Rt), you need to substitute the values into the formula.
1/Rt = 1/R1 + 1/R2
1/Rt = 1/6.3 + 1/6.3
You add the reciprocals of the resistances because when components are connected in parallel, the total resistance decreases as more paths for the current are available.
Calculating the reciprocals:
1/Rt = 0.1587 + 0.1587
Adding those values together:
1/Rt = 0.3174
To find the total resistance (Rt), you need to take the reciprocal of the value obtained:
Rt = 1/0.3174
Rt ≈ 3.15 ohms
So, the total resistance of the circuit is approximately 3.15 ohms.
Now, let's move on to the next question:
To find the amount of current being drawn from the battery, you can use Ohm's Law, which states that current (I) equals voltage (V) divided by resistance (R), or I = V/R.
In this case, the battery provides 1.5 volts. And we found that the total resistance of the circuit is 3.15 ohms.
Plugging in the values into the formula:
I = 1.5V / 3.15Ω
I ≈ 0.476 A (amps)
Therefore, the current being drawn from the battery is approximately 0.476 amps.
Finally, let's move on to the last question:
To find the current through each bulb, we can use the fact that in a parallel circuit, the current splits among the different branches.
Since the total current in the circuit is 0.476 amps (as calculated previously), we can assume that each bulb receives a portion of that current.
So, the current through each bulb would be approximately 0.476 amps.