Question

A 150 ohm combination of resistors draws 2 ma of current when connected across a battery. if you now add a 1 ohm resistor in parallel with this combination, there will be hardly any change in the current drawn from the battery.

a. true
b. false

Answer 1

Adding a 1 ohm resistor in parallel with a 150 ohm resistance network will significantly decrease the total equivalent resistance, thus increasing the current drawn from the battery, making the initial statement false.

Step-by-step explanation:

The addition of a 1 ohm resistor in parallel to a 150 ohm resistor network that initially draws 2 mA from a battery will significantly change the current drawn from the battery. This is because when resistors are added in parallel, the total equivalent resistance of the network decreases.

Here's a step-by-step explanation:

Calculate the initial total resistance of the network (before adding the 1 ohm resistor), which is already given as 150 ohms.

Using Ohm's Law (V = IR), calculate the total voltage across the network. For a current (I) of 2 mA (which is 0.002 A), the voltage (V) would be V = IR = 150 ohms * 0.002 A = 0.3 V.

When a 1 ohm resistor is added in parallel, the equivalent resistance (Req) can be calculated using the parallel resistance formula: 1/Req = 1/150 + 1/1.

The equivalent resistance significantly drops, increasing the total current drawn from the battery, as now a larger portion of the current can flow through the very low resistance path provided by the 1 ohm resistor.

Therefore, the initial statement is false.