In a potentiometer experiment, 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 experiment, 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 wire non-linear.
Higher resistivity increases the resistance of the wire, which can decrease the potential gradient for a given voltage.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
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Q
Q: In a potentiometer experiment, 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 can decrease the potential gradient for a given voltage.
Steps: 7
Step 1: Understand what resistivity means. It is a property of a material that affects how easily electricity can flow through it.
Step 2: Know that a wire with higher resistivity has higher resistance. Resistance is like a barrier to the flow of electricity.
Step 3: Remember that in a potentiometer, the potential gradient is the change in voltage per unit length of the wire.
Step 4: If the wire has higher resistance (due to higher resistivity), it means that for the same voltage applied across the wire, the current flowing through it will be lower.
Step 5: A lower current means that the voltage drop along the wire will be less for the same length of wire.
Step 6: Since the potential gradient is the voltage drop divided by the length of the wire, a smaller voltage drop results in a smaller potential gradient.
Step 7: Therefore, higher resistivity leads to a decrease in the potential gradient for a given voltage.
