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Q.(a) State Kirchhoff's law.

(2)
(b) Obtain the balancing condition of Wheatstone's bridge with the help of a diagram. (3)
Kerala DhseKerala DHSE Plus Two Board 2023Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★
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Figure — Part (b) hard-gates 'Obtain the balancing condition of Wheatstone's bridge with the help of a diagram' (3 mark
Figure — Part (b) hard-gates 'Obtain the balancing condition of Wheatstone's bridge with the help of a diagram' (3 mark

Kirchhoff's junction and loop rules — statements of charge and energy conservation — applied to a Wheatstone bridge (with zero galvanometer current at balance) give the balance condition P/Q=R/SP/Q = R/S.

  1. Kirchhoff's laws: 1. Junction (current) rule: At any junction in a circuit, the algebraic sum of all currents meeting at that point is zero — equivalently, the sum of currents flowing into the junction equals the sum of currents flowing out: ∑I=0at a junction\sum I = 0 \quad\text{at a junction} This follows from conservation of charge: charge cannot accumulate at a junction in steady state. 2. Loop (voltage) rule: The algebraic sum of the changes in potential (emfs and IR drops) around any closed loop in a circuit is zero: ∑V=0around any closed loop\sum V = 0 \quad\text{around any closed loop} This follows from conservation of energy — the electrostatic potential is a single-valued function of position, so returning to the starting point, the net change in potential must be zero.
  2. Balance condition of a Wheatstone bridge: A Wheatstone bridge has four resistances P, Q, R, S forming the four arms of a quadrilateral ABCD (P in arm AB, Q in AD, R in BC, S in DC), a battery connected between A and C, and a galvanometer connected between B and D. At the balance point, the galvanometer current Ig=0I_g = 0. By the junction rule, the same current I1I_1 then flows through P and R (arm A→B→C), and the same current I2I_2 flows through Q and S (arm A→D→C). Since Ig=0I_g=0, no potential drop occurs across the galvanometer branch, so VB=VDV_B = V_D. …

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