If the Wheatstone bridge is unbalanced, what can be inferred about the potential difference across the galvanometer?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
If the Wheatstone bridge is unbalanced, what can be inferred about the potential difference across the galvanometer?
It is zero
It is positive
It is negative
It is non-zero
An unbalanced Wheatstone bridge will have a non-zero potential difference across the galvanometer.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: If the Wheatstone bridge is unbalanced, what can be inferred about the potential difference across the galvanometer?
Solution: An unbalanced Wheatstone bridge will have a non-zero potential difference across the galvanometer.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand what a Wheatstone bridge is. It is a circuit used to measure unknown resistances by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit.
Step 2: Know that the Wheatstone bridge has four resistors and a galvanometer (a device that measures current).
Step 3: Recognize that when the bridge is balanced, the potential difference across the galvanometer is zero, meaning no current flows through it.
Step 4: Learn that if the Wheatstone bridge is unbalanced, it means the resistances are not equal, causing a difference in voltage.
Step 5: Conclude that this difference in voltage results in a non-zero potential difference across the galvanometer, indicating that current will flow through it.