HDE Section 1: Conservation Of Charge (Electric Circuits)

Question 1

Can we increase or decrease the amount of charge?

Answer 1

The number of charges in a circuit is a constant. The number of charges that you have entering a cell or battery must be equal to the number of charges leaving a cell or battery.

Question 2

For components on the same branch, current is _______ at every point.

Answer 2

For components on the same branch, current is equal at every point.

Question 3

The current going into a cell needs to be ________ to the current going out of the cell.

Answer 3

The current going into a cell needs to be equal to the current going out of the cell.

Question 4

___1___ is the rate of flow of charge. In a series circuit, the current is ___2___ at every point. In a parallel circuit, current is ___3___ across each branch. This because the number of ___4___ within a circuit needs to be ___5___ and the number of charges entering a ___6___ must be equal to the number of charges ___7___ a junction.

split, leaving, Current, equal, conserved, charges, junction

Answer 4

1. Current
2. equal
3. split
4. charges
5. conserved
6. junction
7. leaving

Question 5

How do you resolve resistors in series circuits?

Answer 5

R(T) = R(1) + R(2) …

Question 6

How do you resolve resistors in parallel circuits?

Answer 6

1/R(T) = 1/R(1) + 1/R(2)

Question 7

Explain why having 2 identical resistors in parallel produces a smaller total resistance than that of only 1 resistor.

Answer 7

With one resistor all charges will have to pass through that resistor and this will restrict the flow of charge. When you add another resistor in parallel, this provides another path for the charges to move through. This decreases the total resistance as more charges are able to move per second (because there are two paths)