Q.State Kirchoff's law for an electrical network. Using these laws deduce the condition for balance in a wheatstone bridge. Three resistors 2 ohm, 4 ohm and 5 ohm are combined in parallel. What is the total resistance of the combination?
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Kirchhoff's junction rule (conservation of charge) and loop rule (conservation of energy) let us derive the Wheatstone bridge balance condition P/Q = R/S; the three parallel resistors combine to 20/19 ≈ 1.05 Ω.
Kirchhoff's Laws
1. Junction rule (Kirchhoff's Current Law, KCL): At any junction in an electrical circuit, the algebraic sum of currents meeting at that junction is zero, i.e., the sum of currents entering a junction equals the sum of currents leaving it. This follows from conservation of charge (charge cannot accumulate at a junction in steady state).
2. Loop rule (Kirchhoff's Voltage Law, KVL): The algebraic sum of changes in potential around any closed loop in a circuit is zero. This follows from conservation of energy (electrostatic force is conservative).
Balance condition for a Wheatstone bridge
A Wheatstone bridge has four resistances arranged in a quadrilateral , a cell connected between and , and a galvanometer connected between and . Let currents (through ), (through ), (through ), (through ), and (through the galvanometer) flow as labelled.
At balance, no current flows through the galvanometer: .
Applying the junction rule at : (call it )
Applying the junction rule at : (call it )
Applying the loop rule to loop (with ):
Applying the loop rule to loop :
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