All AP Physics 1 Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #14 : Circuits
A circuit has a power source and a resistance. What is the current in the circuit?
We use Ohm's law, , to find the current in the circuit. In Ohm's law is the voltage in the circuit, is the current in the circuit and is the circuit's resistance.
Solving the equation for , we have
Example Question #14 : Ohm's Law
A battery has an internal resistance of . If the current within the battery were to be measured using a multimeter, what magnitude would the meter record?
We use Ohm's law, , to find the current in the circuit. In Ohm's law is the voltage in the circuit, is the current in the circuit and is the circuit's resistance.
Solving the equation for , we have
.
Example Question #16 : Circuits
What voltage is required to produce a current in a circuit with a resistance?
We use Ohm's law, , to find the current in the circuit. In Ohm's law is the voltage in the circuit, is the current in the circuit and is the circuit's resistance.
In our problem,
Example Question #17 : Circuits
If a circuit has a voltage of and a current of , what is the resistance of the circuit?
We use Ohm's law, , to find the current in the circuit. In Ohm's law is the voltage in the circuit, is the current in the circuit and is the circuit's resistance.
Solving Ohm's law for resistance gives us
.
Example Question #11 : Circuits
If the voltage drop across is , what is the resistance or ?
A few rules of circuits that will help here for series circuits are:
Method 1:
The current through is given and that will be the same current going through since there are no current junctions. Since the sum of all voltage drops must equal the emf of the battery, the voltage drop across can be found:
We can use Ohm's law to find the resistance:
Method 2:
Ohm's law:
The resistance values are added to get , so
Solve for :
Example Question #16 : Ohm's Law
Which of the following statements is true?
None of these
Decreasing the resistance of a circuit will always decrease the current flowing through the circuit
Increasing the voltage will always increase the current flowing through a circuit and decreasing the resistance of a circuit will always decrease the current flowing through the circuit
Increasing the voltage will always increase the current flowing through a circuit
None of these
To answer this question we need to use the definition of Ohm’s law.
where is voltage, is current, and is resistance. As the equation suggests, to determine the effect of voltage on current we need information regarding the resistance. For example, increasing the voltage will increase the current if resistance decreases or if resistance stays the same. On the other hand, increasing the voltage will decrease the current if the resistance increases drastically; therefore, we cannot determine the effect of voltage on current without knowing anything about the resistance (we need to know if resistance increases, decreases, or stays the same). Similarly, we cannot determine the effect of resistance on the current without knowing about the voltage.
Example Question #17 : Ohm's Law
A student assembles a circuit with a resistor and a voltage source. He realizes that he needs to increase the amount of electrons flowing through the circuit to reach his goal. What can the student do to achieve this?
I. Change the voltage source to an alternating source
II. Use a new voltage source with higher voltage
III. Use another resistor with lower resistance
I and II
I and III
II and III
I, II and III
II and III
Recall that the definition of current is the amount of electrons flowing through a circuit in a given amount of time. We can increase the amount of electrons flowing through a circuit (for a given time) if we increase the current. Using Ohm’s law, we can determine conditions that will increase the current.
Solving for current we get
This means we can get a high current if we increase voltage or decrease resistance. Note that that changing the voltage source from a direct source to an alternating source will generate an alternating current with similar amplitude; it won’t increase the total current of the system and, subsequently, the amount of electrons flowing through the circuit per given time.
Example Question #21 : Ohm's Law
You connect a circuit with a resistor and a voltage source. The resistor has a resistance of and the voltage source supplies . How many electrons will pass through this circuit in a period?
To calculate the amount of electrons flowing through this circuit we need to first calculate the current. Use Ohm’s law:
Solve for current:
The question gives us the voltage and resistance; therefore, the current flowing through this circuit is
Recall that current is the amount of electrons flowing through a circuit per unit time.
Solving for the charge of electrons gives us
Recall that an electron contains ; therefore, the number of electrons in this circuit is
This means that electrons are flowing through this circuit every five seconds.
Example Question #21 : Ohm's Law
A circuit consists of a single voltage source and a single resistor. When is fed through the circuit, a current of is measured through the resistor. What is the measured current if a voltage of is fed through the circuit?
Using ohm's law, the resistance is determined to be which is calculated to be . Ohm's law is used again to find the current at with the same resistance.
Example Question #1281 : Ap Physics 1
For a given electrical circuit, if you double the current, the resistance __________?
remains the same
quarters
doubles
quadruples
halves
halves
Recall Ohm's Law:
where is the voltage, is the current, and is the resistance.
Since the two quantities we are interested in are on the same side of the equation, they are inversely proportional. Hence, if one increases, the other one decreases by the same ratio. Since the current is doubling, the resistance must halve for the circuit to be the same.
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