If i have a 12V Battery, a switch, and a lightbulb in a circuit and a voltmeter is connected aross the bulb..what would the potential difference be?
Also: I want to know that does voltmeter measure the volt of the battery (in this case) is giving/losing or does it measure the volt of the bulb?
2006-11-11 07:32:41 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
If the voltmeter is connected across the bulb, it measures the voltage drop (potential difference) across the bulb.. ie.. the voltage the bulb gets from the battery..
If theres only the light bulb in your circuit, then the entire voltage of the battery drops across the bulb... so the voltmeter will read 12V
If there is some other bulb or other appliance connected in series with this bulb, then voltage of the battery gets divided according to their resistances..
If there is a bulb in parallal with the bulb.. then both bulbs get 12V each because in parallel, the voltage remains the same
Got It?
2006-11-11 07:45:27 · answer #1 · answered by Think 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Assuming that your switch is a working one, the voltage drop across the light bult will be the voltage of the battery. You will not be able to measure an appreciable decrease in voltage during your short experment.
What is consumed is the charge capacity, NOT the voltage.
see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_%28electricity%29#Battery_capacity
2006-11-11 16:24:06 · answer #2 · answered by arbiter007 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
all are the same and equals to 12 V
2006-11-11 16:31:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋