How can i calculate voltage drop in a parallel circuit?

1 Answer
Mar 3, 2018

Well for that you need a circuit to show me,still I am giving you two examples with how to work out.

See the circuit below,

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It is clear that, 2 Omega is in parallel with the other 2 Omega,and their resultant is in series with the 1 Ohm and the 3 Ohm,so net resistance of the circuit is (2*2)/(2+2) +1+3 = 5 Ohm

So,current flowing through the circuit is 20/5=4 A

so,potential drop across each resistance can be calculated just by multiplying their resistance value with the current flowing through them.

thus V_(1Ohm)=1*4=4V

V_(3 Ohm) = 3*4 =12 V

and, V_(2||2 Ohm) = (20-12-4)=4 V

or,you could have multiplied the current flowing through them with their equivalent resistance,i.e (2*2)/(2+2) *4 =1*4=4V

In the example below, in the upper wire, 1 Omega is in parallel with 1Omega,their resultant is in series with 0.5 Omega,and the equivalent resistance is again in parallel with the equivalent resistance of 4 Omega and 4 Omega in parallel combination.

enter image source here

So,net resistance of thee upper wire is (1*1)/(1+1) +0.5=1 Omega

and that of the lower wire is (4*4)/(4+4) =2 Omega

So,net resistance of the circuit is (1*2)/(1+2) = 2/3 Omega

So,current flowing through the circuit is 14/(2/3)=21 A

now,volatge drop across the parallel combination of two 4 Omega resistors is similar to the voltage drop across the battery i.e 14 V

the same amount of voltage has been dropped across the upper wire,as both are in parallel combination.

So,we have to find the current flowing through the upper circuit in order to calculate that.

So,current flowing through the lower wire is 14/2 =7A (as the net resistance of the lower wire is 2 Omega

so,current flowing through the upper circuit is (21-7)=14 A

So,potential drop across 0.5 Omega is 14*0.5=7V

So,the rest i.e (14-7)=7 V must have dropped across the parallel combination of 1 Omega resistors.