The Student Room Group

Edexcel internal resistance question

The correct answer is A. I understand that current decreases as total resistance increases, but don't understand the terminal p.d.

My thought process is that:
V = emf - Ir
So the decrease in I would increase V. But the increase in r would decrease V. Is something wrong with this? Or is it that r just increases more than I increases? If so, how am I supposed to figure this out?

Reply 1

Original post
by cultivated-exhib
The correct answer is A. I understand that current decreases as total resistance increases, but don't understand the terminal p.d.

My thought process is that:
V = emf - Ir
So the decrease in I would increase V. But the increase in r would decrease V. Is something wrong with this? Or is it that r just increases more than I increases? If so, how am I supposed to figure this out?

You are using the "wrong" relationship/equation to analyse the problem.

Consider the cell of with emf E and internal resistance r is connected to a fixed resistor of resistance R.

EMF - Ir = IR

If the internal resistance r increases, the current decreases.

Note that IR is the terminal p.d., so the decrease in current also decreases the terminal p.d..

Quick Reply

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.