In a potentiometer setup, if the wire is made of a material with higher resistiv
Practice Questions
Q1
In a potentiometer setup, if the wire is made of a material with higher resistivity, what effect does it have on the potential gradient?
It increases
It decreases
It remains unchanged
It becomes infinite
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
In a potentiometer setup, if the wire is made of a material with higher resistivity, what effect does it have on the potential gradient?
Correct Answer: Potential gradient decreases.
Step 1: Understand what a potentiometer is. It is a device used to measure voltage by comparing it to a known voltage.
Step 2: Know that the wire in a potentiometer has a certain resistivity, which affects its resistance.
Step 3: Recognize that higher resistivity means the material of the wire has more opposition to the flow of electric current.
Step 4: Realize that if the resistance of the wire increases, the current flowing through the wire decreases.
Step 5: Understand that the potential gradient is the change in voltage per unit length of the wire.
Step 6: Conclude that if the current decreases due to higher resistance, the potential gradient will also decrease because there is less voltage drop across the same length of wire.
