AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism

Unit 9 Practice Exercises

Directions: Show the steps required to arrive at the answer (if applicable). Work the problems on separate page.

9.1 – Circuit Basics

1. Hey, check out that circuit below. Pretty cool, right? Calculate the potential drop across the 3Ω resistor.

2. In the circuit shown, each battery is delivering energy to the circuit by electrical transmission. All the
resistors have equal resistance.

a) Rank the electric potentials at points a, b, c, d, and e from highest to lowest.

b) Rank the magnitudes of the currents at the same points.

3. Consider the combination of resistors shown.

a) Find the equivalent resistance between points a and b.
b) If a voltage of 35.0 V is applied between points a and b, find the
current in each resistor.

4. Calculate the power delivered to each resistor in the circuit shown below.

5. Four resistors are connected to a battery as shown.

a) Determine the potential difference across each resistor in terms of e.
b) Determine the current in each resistor in terms of I.
c) If R is increased, explain what happens to the current in each resistor.
d) In the limit that R approaches infinity what are the new values of the
current in each resistor in terms of I, the original current in the battery?

6. In the circuit shown, R1=2R2 and a current of 1.5 A flows through the 6 Ω resistor. What are the values of R1
and R2?

7. For the circuit shown on the right, 1.5 A of current flows through the 24
Ω resistor.
a) What is the current in the 10 Ω resistor?
b) What is the potential supplied by the battery?
c) What is the total current supplied by the battery?
8. Three resistors are in parallel. Two of the resistors have resistance of 6 Ω and 30 Ω, respectively. If the
equivalent resistors is 4.0 Ω, find the resistance of the 3rd resistor.

9. Solve the circuit shown below. 10. The ammeter shown in the figure reads 2.00 A.
Find the values of I1, I2, and 𝜀.

11. In the circuit shown, the resistances have 12. Find the potential difference across each
the values given and there is no current in the resistor in the figure shown below.
ammeter A. What is the value of Rx?

13. Two resistors, one with resistance R and the second with resistance 4R are placed in a circuit with a voltage
V. If resistance R dissipates power P, what would be the power dissipated by the 4R resistance?

14. Four resistors, all of the same resistance R, are connected as shown.
a) What is the equivalent resistance of the network?
b) If the power supply produces 10 V and the resistance R is 5 Ω,
what is the current in resistor R4?

15. A circuit consists of three identical lamps connected to a battery as shown. The battery has some internal
resistance. The switch S, originally open, is closed.
a) What then happens to the brightness of lamp B?
b) What happens to the brightness of lamp C?
c) What happens to the current in the battery?
d) What happens to the potential difference across lamp A?
e) What happens to the potential difference across lamp C?
f) What happens to the total power delivered to the lamps by the battery?

16. A circuit consists of three identical lamps connected as shown. The switch S, originally open, is closed.
a) What then happens to the brightness of lamp B?
b) What happens to the brightness of lamp C?
c) What happens to the current in the battery?
d) What happens to the potential difference across lamp A?
e) What happens to the potential difference across lamp C?
17. A lamp, a voltmeter 𝑉, an ammeter 𝐴, and a battery with zero internal
resistance are connected as shown above. Another lamp is added in parallel
with the first lamp as shown.
a) What would happen to the voltmeter reading?
b) What would happen to the ammeter reading?

9.2 – More Circuits

1. A silver wire 1 mm in diameter transfer a charge of 90 C in 1 hr and 15 min. Silver contains 5.8x1028 free
electrons per m3.
a) What is the current in the wire?
b) What is the drift velocity of the electrons in the wire?

2. An aluminum wire having a cross-sectional area equal to 4.00x10-6 m2 carries a current of 5.00 A. The
density of aluminum is 2.70 g/cm3. Assume each aluminum atom supplies one conduction electron per atom.
Find the drift speed of the electrons in the wire.

3. Suppose the current in a 1.50 mm diameter copper wire is 2.5 A is used to light a bulb, and the number density
of the free electrons in the metal of the wire is 3.001025 m-3.
a) Find the drift velocity of the electrons.
b) How long would it take an electron with this drift velocity to travel 4.50 m from the switch to the bulb?
c) Explain, then, why the bulb lights up immediately when the switch allows the current to begin flowing.

4. A carbon-core resistor consists of a carbon rod having a length of 3.25 mm, a diameter of 0.0350 mm and a
resistivity of 350010-8  m.
a) What is the value of the cross-sectional area of the carbon rod. Be sure your answer is in m2.
b) What is the resistance of the carbon rod?
c) If a current of 2.25 A passes through the resistor, what is the voltage across the resistor?

5. A 0.900-V potential difference is maintained across a 1.50-m length of tungsten wire that has a cross-
sectional area of 0.600 mm2. What is the current in the wire?

6. What is the fractional change in the resistance of an iron filament when its temperature changes from 25.0°C
to 50.0°C?

7. A certain resistor has a resistance of 150.4 Ω at 20° 𝐶 and a resistance of 162.4 Ω at 40° 𝐶. What is the
coefficient of resistivity?

8. An unknown material has voltage vs. current shown in the graph.

a) What is the resistance of the material when the current is 0.8 mA?
b) What is the resistance when the voltage is 1.8 V?
c) Is this material ohmic? Justify your answer.
d) What is the power dissipation when the current is 0.6 mA?
e) What is the power when the current is 0.8 mA?
9. A cell has an unloaded potential difference of 1.45 V. A 330  resistor is connected as a load
as shown in the picture. The meter shows the new p.d.
a) What is the emf of the cell?
b) What is the current through the resistor?
c) What is the internal resistance of the battery?
d) What is the rate at which heat is being produced in the battery?
e) What is the rate at which chemical energy is being converted to electrical energy in the cell?

10. A 120-V motor has mechanical power output of 2.50 hp. It is 90.0% efficient in converting power that it takes
in by electrical transmission into mechanical power.
a) Find the current in the motor.
b) Find the energy delivered to the motor by electrical transmission in 3.00 h of operation.
c) If the electric company charges $0.110/kWh, what does it cost to run the motor for 3.00 h?

11. The cost of energy delivered to residences by electrical transmission varies from $0.070/kWh to
$0.258/kWh throughout the United States; $0.110/kWh is the average value. At this average price, calculate the
cost of
a) leaving a 40.0-W porch light on for two weeks while you are on vacation
b) making a piece of dark toast in 3.00 min with a 970-W toaster,
c) drying a load of clothes in 40.0 min in a 5.20 kW dryer.

12. A series circuit consists of a battery of negligible internal resistance, a variable resistor, and electric motor
of negligible resistance. The current in the circuit is 2 amperes when the resistance in the circuit is adjusted to
10 ohms. Under these conditions the motor lifts a 1.0 kg mass vertically at a constant speed of 2 m/s.
a) Determine the electrical power that is:
i. dissipated in the resistor
ii. used by the motor in lifting the mass
iii. supplied by the battery
b) Determine the potential difference across
i. the resistor
ii. the motor
iii. the battery
The resistor is now adjusted until the mass rises vertically at a constant speed of 3 m/s. The voltage drop across
the motor is proportional to the speed of the motor, and the current remains constant.
c) Determine the voltage drop across the motor.
d) Determine the new resistance in the circuit.

9.3 – RC Circuits
1. Describe what happens to the lightbulb after the switch is closed. Assume the capacitor has a
large capacitance and is initially uncharged. Also assume the light illuminates when connected
directly across the battery terminals.

2. Consider a series RC circuit for which R = 1.00 MΩ, C = 5.00 𝜇𝐹, and ε = 30.0 V.
a) Calculate the time constant of the circuit
b) Calculate the maximum charge on the capacitor after the switch is closed.
c) Find the current in the resistor 10.0 s after the switch is closed.

3. The capacitor is initially uncharged. The switch S is then closed.

a) Calculate the current in the 3 Ω resistor immediately after the
switch is closed.
b) Calculate the current in the 3 Ω resistor a long time after the
switch is closed.
4. A timer using a capacitor and a resistor needs the RC circuit to have a half-life of 275 seconds. It will be using
a capacitor of 125 F, initially charged to a voltage of 6.00 V.
a) What should the value of the time constant be?
b) What value should the resistor have?
c) What will the capacitor voltage be at t = 275 s?

5. In the circuit shown below, the switch S is initially open and the capacitor C is initially uncharged. The
potential difference across the capacitor as a function of time is measured after the switch is closed. The graph
produced by the computer is shown. The battery has an emf of 20 V and negligible internal resistance. Resistor
R1 has a resistance of 15 kΩ and a capacitor C has a capacitance of 20 𝜇𝐹.

a) Determine the voltage across R2 immediately after the switch is closed.

b) Determine the voltage across R2 a long time after the switch is closed.
c) Calculate the value of the resistor R2.
d) Calculate the energy stored in the capacitor a long time after the switch is closed.

6. In the circuit illustrated above, switch S is initially open and the battery has been
connected for a long time.
a) What is the steady-state current through the ammeter?
b) Calculate the charge on the 10 𝜇𝐹 capacitor.
c) Calculate the energy stored in the 5.0 𝜇𝐹 capacitor.
The switch is now closed, and the circuit comes to a new steady state.
d) Calculate the steady-state current through the battery.
e) Calculate the final charge on the 5.0 𝜇𝐹 capacitor.
f) Calculate the energy dissipated as heat in the 40 W resistor in one minute once
the circuit has reached steady state.

7. The circuit shown contains a capacitor of capacitance C, a power supply of emf

𝜀, two resistors of resistances R1 and R2, and two switches, S1 and S2. Initially,
the capacitor is uncharged and both switches are open. Switch S1 then gets closed
at time t = 0.
a) Write a differential equation that can be solved to obtain the charge on
the capacitor as a function of time t.
b) Solve the differential equation in part a) to determine the charge on the
capacitor as a function of time t.
c) Numerical values for the components are given as: 𝜀 = 12𝑉; 𝐶 = 0.060 𝐹; 𝑅1 = 𝑅2 = 4700 Ω.
Determine the time at which the capacitor has a voltage 4.0 V across it.
e) After switch S1 has been closed for a long time, switch S2 gets closed at a new time t = 0. Sketch
graphs of the current I1 in R1 versus time and the current I2 in R2 versus time, beginning when
switch S2 is closed at new time t = 9s.
8. In the diagram below, V = 100 V; C1 = 12 𝜇𝐹; C2 = 24 𝜇𝐹 s; R = 10 Ω. Initially, Cl and C2 are uncharged,
and all switches are open.

a) First, switch S1 is closed. Determine the charge on Cl when equilibrium is reached.

b) Next S1 is opened and afterward S2 is closed. Determine the charge on C1 when equilibrium is again
reached.
c) For the equilibrium condition of part b., determine the voltage across C1.
d) S2 remains closed, and now S1 is also closed. How much additional charge flows from the battery?