Everything Science Grade 10

17.5 CHAPTER 17. ELECTRIC CIRCUITS

Example 7: Voltages I

QUESTION

Consider this circuit diagram:

2V V 1

What is the voltage across the resistor in the circuit shown?

SOLUTION

Step 1:Check what you have and the units

We have a circuit with a battery and one resistor. We know the voltage

across the battery. We want to find that voltage across the resistor.

Vbattery= 2V

Step 2:Applicable principles

We know that the voltage across the battery must be equal to the total

voltage across all other circuit components.

Vbattery=Vtotal

There is only one other circuit component, the resistor.

Vtotal=V 1

This means that the voltage across the battery is the same as the voltage

across the resistor.

Vbattery=Vtotal=V 1

Vbattery=Vtotal=V 1

V 1 = 2V

298 Physics: Electricity and Magnetism