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Q.Arrive at the condition for balance of a Wheatstone's network using Kirchhoff's rules.

Karnataka PUCKarnataka II PUC Board 2025Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★
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A Wheatstone network has four resistances P,Q,R,SP, Q, R, S in the arms and a galvanometer GG across the bridge. Using Kirchhoff's junction and loop rules with zero galvanometer current, the balance condition is PQ=RS\dfrac{P}{Q}=\dfrac{R}{S}.

The network: Four resistors P,Q,R,SP, Q, R, S form a quadrilateral ABCD. A cell is connected between A and C, and a galvanometer GG (resistance GG) is connected between B and D. Let the arm currents be I1I_1 through PP (A→B), I3I_3 through RR (A→D), IgI_g through the galvanometer (B→D). Then I1−IgI_1-I_g flows through QQ (B→C) and I3+IgI_3+I_g flows through SS (D→C).

Junction rule (Kirchhoff's first law): already used above to express currents in QQ and SS in terms of I1,I3,IgI_1, I_3, I_g.

Loop rule (Kirchhoff's second law):

For the loop ABDA:

I1P+IgG−I3R=0...(1)I_1 P + I_g G - I_3 R = 0 \quad\text{...(1)}

For the loop BCDB:

(I1−Ig)Q−(I3+Ig)S−IgG=0...(2)(I_1-I_g)Q - (I_3+I_g)S - I_g G = 0 \quad\text{...(2)}

Balance condition: The bridge is balanced when no current flows through the galvanometer, i.e. Ig=0I_g = 0.

Putting Ig=0I_g = 0 in (1):

I1P=I3R...(3)I_1 P = I_3 R \quad\text{...(3)}

Putting Ig=0I_g = 0 in (2):

I1Q=I3S...(4)I_1 Q = I_3 S \quad\text{...(4)} …

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