Can someone help me with this physics problem?
I missed some school and we started a new chapter, Circuits. I don't know how exactly I'm supposed to solve this problem.
Info given:
a.Ra=25 Ohms Rb=3 Ohms Rc=40 Ohms
[url=http://i.imgur.com/fJkKR6X.png]The picture looks like this.[/url]
And the directions are: [i]For each of the following sets of values, determine the equivalent resistance for the circuit.[/i]
Can someone help explain what I'm supposed to do? How do I know what is parallel and what's in a series? How do I combine them to find the equivalent resistance? I would prefer that you don't just give me the answer and explain the steps.
Thank you in advance.
March 25, 2013
4 Comments • Newest first
@buccs408 & @drager260: I understand now. I was wondering why I got the wrong answer at first, but I forgot to flip the 1/Req. Thanks!
If the resistors are in series then you simply add them. When they are parallel, you add the reciprocals. For ex. Rc and Rb are parallel, 1/Req = 1/Rc + 1/Rb. To make it easier to understand lets say Rc is 5 and Rb is 3. 1/Req = 1/5 + 1/3 and when you add them it will be 1/Req = 8/15. So in that case Req = 15/8 for the parallel ones. Then you do Req + Ra since they are now in series and you get the equivalent resistance. Sorry if it's not clear, I'm not very good at explaining.
Edit: Oh woops didn't see your given values there.
Well, it's Sunday, so asking a classmate isn't exactly an option. And I don't have the numbers of any people in that class anyways.
so you ask us instead of a classmate?