In a Wheatstone bridge, if the bridge is unbalanced, what happens to the current through the galvanometer?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
In a Wheatstone bridge, if the bridge is unbalanced, what happens to the current through the galvanometer?
It becomes zero
It increases
It decreases
It oscillates
When the Wheatstone bridge is unbalanced, a current flows through the galvanometer, indicating a difference in potential across it.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: In a Wheatstone bridge, if the bridge is unbalanced, what happens to the current through the galvanometer?
Solution: When the Wheatstone bridge is unbalanced, a current flows through the galvanometer, indicating a difference in potential across it.
Steps: 6
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 bridge has four resistors arranged in a diamond shape, with a galvanometer connected between the two midpoints.
Step 3: Recognize that when the bridge is balanced, the voltage across the galvanometer is zero, meaning no current flows through it.
Step 4: Learn that if the resistances are not equal (unbalanced), there will be a difference in voltage between the two midpoints.
Step 5: Understand that this voltage difference causes a current to flow through the galvanometer.
Step 6: Conclude that when the Wheatstone bridge is unbalanced, the current through the galvanometer indicates that there is a difference in potential.
