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Internal resistance problem

Physics Asked on January 7, 2021

A 12V battery has an internal resistance of $2.0Omega$. A load of variable resistance is connected across the battery and adjusted to have resistance equal to that of the internal resistance of the battery. Find the power dissipated.

The equation for internal resistance is
$$mathcal{E}=I(R+r)$$
where $R$ is the resistance in the circuit, $r$ is the internal resistance of the battery and $I$ is the current. We know that $mathcal{E}=12V$. The sum of internal and external resistance would be $4 Omega$, seeing as the variable resistor is set to $2 Omega$, which adds to the already exisiting $2 Omega$ from the battery.

The equation for power dissipated is

$$P=I^2R=frac{V^2}{R}$$

So I substitued the value for $V$ and the value for $R$ to get

$$P=frac{12^2}{4}=36$$

This is, however, wrong. Any ideas as to why?

4 Answers

You aren't applying your power equation correctly. You can't just plug in any voltage, current, or resistance.

The equation $P=IV$ gives you the power delivered or dissipated by a single part of the circuit with a potential drop $V$ across it and current $I$ flowing through it.

If you want the total power dissipated in the circuit, you must apply this to each element separately. If just the outer resistance, then only consider this resistor. I will leave this to you.

Correct answer by BioPhysicist on January 7, 2021

Why do you substitute $R$ with 4? $R$ "is the resistance in the circuit", so it equals $2Omega$, not $4Omega$. There is another question though: do they need total dissipation or just dissipation in $R$?

Answered by akhmeteli on January 7, 2021

Your answer looks right to me as long as you want the total power dissipated (including in the battery).

Answered by Ben51 on January 7, 2021

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The question is a multiple choice and one of the answers state 'power dissipated in the battery is 18W'. This (C) is the correct answer as the total resistence in series is 4 ohms, the current through the load is 3A not 6A and the PD across the load is 6V.

Answered by Muhammad Mazhar on January 7, 2021

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