Q.(a) State Kirchhoff's law for an electrical network. Using these laws deduce the condition for balance in a Wheatstone bridge.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Kirchhoff's junction rule and loop rule, applied to the Wheatstone bridge, give the balance condition P/Q = R/S (no current through the galvanometer). For the given resistors, this yields x = 20 Ω.
(a) Kirchhoff's laws and the Wheatstone bridge balance condition:
Kirchhoff's first law (junction/current rule): At any junction in an electrical circuit, the algebraic sum of currents meeting at that junction is zero — i.e., the total current entering a junction equals the total current leaving it. This follows from conservation of charge (charge cannot accumulate indefinitely at a junction in steady state).
Kirchhoff's second law (loop/voltage rule): The algebraic sum of the potential differences (IR products) and the EMFs around any closed loop in a circuit is zero. This follows from conservation of energy (the electrostatic field is conservative).
Wheatstone bridge balance condition: A Wheatstone bridge has four resistors P, Q, R, S arranged in a diamond (bridge) shape, with a galvanometer connected between the midpoints of two opposite arms (B and D) and a battery across the other two (A and C). Applying the junction rule at B and D, and the loop rule to loops ABDA and BCDB, and imposing the balance condition that no current flows through the galvanometer ():
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