Java Physics

 

circuit

Simple Electric Circuit

  • Click the switch to close or open it
  • Select an appropriate electric component (resistor, wire or meter) from the lower portion, click and drag it to a vacant site in the circuit. The component will fill into the vacant site when the mouse button is released.
  • To remove an inserted component in the circuit, just drag it out and release.
  • The resistance of the rheostat can be varied over the range 0 Ω - 100 Ω.
  • Ideal ammeters and voltemters have zero and infinite internal resistances respectively.. However, this assumption can be lifted, by unchecking the box "Ideal meters", then their internal resistances become 20 Ω and 10 kΩ respectively.
  • The resistance of the red resistor R is not shown (unless "Show Value of R" is pressed); it could be used, e.g., in a circuit of finding an unknown resistor.
  • Press "Change R" to reassign a value between 10 Ω and 10 kΩ to R randomly.
  • Press " Show Value of R" to show the value of R. Press the label again to hide the value.

 

 

Internal Links :

Electric Meter (shunts and multipliers)

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Html5 Version


Resistors in Parallel

R in parallel
  • In parallel, the voltage across each resistor is the same while the currents passing through the resistors are in the same ratio of the reciprocals of their resistances.
  • Equivalent R: 1/R = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3 + …
  • The equivalent resistance R is smaller than the smallest among the resistors joined in parallel.
  • The equivalent resistance of n identical resistors of each R is R/n.

Resistors in Series

R in series
  • In series, the current passing through each resistor is the same while the voltages across the resistors are in the same ratio of their resistances.
  • Equivalent resistance: R = R1 + R2 + R3 + …
  • The equivalent resistance R is larger than the largest among the reistors joined in series.
  • The equivalent resistance of n identical resistors of each R is nR.

Measuring Unknown Resistance by Voltmeter-Ammeter Method

measuring R
  • R is measured by the formula R = voltmeter reading ÷ ammeter reading ……(*)
  • Using (*), the above two circuits give two different values of R unless both the voltmeter and ammeter are ideal, i.e., the former has infinite internal resistance and the latter has zero internal resistance.
  • In Circuit (i), the result of “voltmeter reading ÷ ammeter reading” is the total resistance of the parallel-combination of R and the voltmeter. But if R << internal resistance of voltmeter, their parallel-combined-resistance is about the same as R. In other words, Circuit (i) is good for measuring an unknown R of small resistance.
  • In Circuit (ii), the result of “voltmeter reading ÷ ammeter reading” is the total resistance of the series-combination of R and the ammeter. But if R >> internal resistance of ammeter, their series-combined-resistance is about the same as R. In other words, Circuit (ii) is good for measuring an unknown R of large resistance.

 

 

 

Author and Copyright:

Chiu-king Ng

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feedbackXY@phy.hk, where XY is the prime number following 23

Mirror Site:

http://phy.hk

Last Update:

15-9-2019

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