P 5.9-4 Your lab partner claims that the current i in Figure P 5.9-4 will be no greater than 12.0 mA, regardless of the value of the resistance R. Do you agree?

 

c05f142.eps

Figure P 5.9-4

 

We have the 500 and 1500 in series which is an equivalent 2000 resistor which is now in parallel with the 3 k and the 6 k so we can get the equivalent resistance.

 

 

The circuit now looks like

The current i then is found from

 

 

Max current happens when R is zero, so max current is

 

 

Any value of R will just decrease this, so

 

 

 

Please send any comments or questions about this page to ddonovan@nmu.edu

This page last updated on March 9, 2019