If the resistance in one arm of a Wheatstone bridge is increased, what effect do
Practice Questions
Q1
If the resistance in one arm of a Wheatstone bridge is increased, what effect does it have on the balance condition?
The bridge will always remain balanced.
The bridge will become unbalanced.
The balance condition will improve.
It has no effect.
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
If the resistance in one arm of a Wheatstone bridge is increased, what effect does it have on the balance condition?
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: Identify the components of the Wheatstone bridge. It has four resistors arranged in a diamond shape with a voltage source and a galvanometer.
Step 3: Know the balance condition. The bridge is balanced when the ratio of the resistances in one arm equals the ratio in the other arm, resulting in zero current through the galvanometer.
Step 4: Consider what happens when you increase the resistance in one arm. This changes the ratio of resistances in that arm.
Step 5: Realize that changing the resistance in one arm disrupts the balance condition. The ratios are no longer equal.
Step 6: Conclude that increasing the resistance in one arm makes the bridge unbalanced, causing current to flow through the galvanometer.
Wheatstone Bridge Balance Condition – The balance condition of a Wheatstone bridge occurs when the ratio of resistances in one arm is equal to the ratio in the other arm, allowing for no current to flow through the galvanometer.
