Question 18.2: THREE RESISTORS IN PARALLEL GOAL Analyze a circuit that cont...
THREE RESISTORS IN PARALLEL
GOAL Analyze a circuit that contains resistors connected in parallel.
PROBLEM Three resistors are connected in parallel as in Figure 18.9. A potential difference of 18 \mathrm{~V} is maintained between points a and b. (a) Find the current in each resistor. (b) Calculate the power delivered to each resistor and the total power. (c) Find the equivalent resistance of the circuit. (d) Find the total power delivered to the equivalent resistance.
STRATEGY To get the current in each resistor, we can use Ohm’s law and the fact that the voltage drops across parallel resistors are all the same. The rest of the problem just requires substitution into the equation for power delivered to a resistor, P=I^{2} R, and the reciprocal-sum law for parallel resistors.
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