In a potentiometer, if the wire is made of a material with higher resistivity, what effect does it have on the potential gradient?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
In a potentiometer, if the wire is made of a material with higher resistivity, what effect does it have on the potential gradient?
It increases the potential gradient.
It decreases the potential gradient.
It has no effect.
It makes the potentiometer unusable.
Higher resistivity increases the resistance of the wire, which decreases the current for a given voltage, thus increasing the potential gradient.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: In a potentiometer, if the wire is made of a material with higher resistivity, what effect does it have on the potential gradient?
Solution: Higher resistivity increases the resistance of the wire, which decreases the current for a given voltage, thus increasing the potential gradient.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand that a potentiometer is a device used to measure voltage by comparing it to a known voltage.
Step 2: Know that the wire in the potentiometer has a certain resistivity, which affects its resistance.
Step 3: Recognize that higher resistivity means the wire has more resistance.
Step 4: Remember that for a given voltage, higher resistance leads to lower current (Ohm's Law: V = IR).
Step 5: Realize that the potential gradient is the change in voltage per unit length of the wire.
Step 6: Since lower current means that the voltage drop across the wire is spread out over the same length, the potential gradient increases.
