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Q.(a) State Kirchhoff's law for an electrical network. Using these laws deduce the condition for balance in a Wheatstone bridge.

(b) A wire of resistance 4R is bent in the form of a circle. What is the effective resistance between the ends of the diameter?
Andhra Pradesh BieapBIEAP Intermediate Board 2019Subjective· 8mImportance★★★★★
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Kirchhoff's junction rule (charge conservation) and loop rule (energy conservation) together give the Wheatstone bridge null (balance) condition P/Q = R/S. A wire of total resistance 4R bent into a ring has resistance R between diametrically opposite points.

(a) Kirchhoff's laws and the Wheatstone bridge

Junction (current) rule: at any junction in an electrical network, the algebraic sum of currents meeting at that junction is zero (∑I=0\sum I = 0) — i.e. current entering a junction equals current leaving it. This follows from conservation of charge (charge cannot accumulate at a junction in steady state).

Loop (voltage) rule: around any closed loop in a network, the algebraic sum of the potential differences (IR products) and EMFs is zero (∑IR=∑ε\sum IR = \sum \varepsilon). This follows from conservation of energy (the electric field is conservative).

Wheatstone bridge: four resistances P,Q,R,SP, Q, R, S are arranged in a diamond/rhombus, with a galvanometer GG connected across one diagonal (between the P-Q junction and the R-S junction) and a battery across the other diagonal. At balance, no current flows through the galvanometer (Ig=0I_g = 0). Applying the junction rule at the two mid-junctions, the same current I1I_1 flows through both PP and QQ, and the same current I2I_2 flows through both RR and SS. Applying the loop rule to the loop containing PP, GG(=0), RR: with Ig=0I_g = 0 there is no potential drop across GG, so the potential at the two galvanometer terminals is equal, which gives I1P=I2RI_1 P = I_2 R and I1Q=I2SI_1 Q = I_2 S. Dividing:

PQ=RS\frac{P}{Q} = \frac{R}{S}

This is the balance condition of the Wheatstone bridge, used to find an unknown resistance in terms of three known ones.

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