Consider the circuit of three identical batteries and three identical bulbs conn
ID: 1260026 • Letter: C
Question
Consider the circuit of three identical batteries and three identical bulbs connected as shown in the diagram. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20887378/PhyiscsQuestion.jpg
Assume each battery is a perfect physics battery supplying voltage V and the bulbs are perfect ohmic devices with resistance R.
a. Explain why the lightbulbs in the diagram pictured will light even though one of the three batteries is backwards in the circuit mathematically.
b. Find the power dissipated by each bulb and the total power dissipated by the current.
Explanation / Answer
consider the 3 batteries in the given arrangement 2 of them cancel each other out and still 1 battery remains to light the bulbs
thus net voltage = V
total resistance = R + R = 2R
net current = V/2R
power dissipated = I^2R or V^2/R through each resistor