Electric Circuit Troubleshooting: How to Find V6 and I6 | Expert Help

[PhysicsN3rd]

Can someone help me and see if this is right and explain to me how to find V6 and I6? If you can, it would be great if you could explain to me the whole thing. Thank you

 

[quantumdude]

You definitely took a wrong turn somewhere, because you've got two different currents going through $R_1$ and $R_6$. They should clearly be the same.

If you can, it would be great if you could explain to me the whole thing.

That would require me to do more work than you, which is not right considering that it this is your assignment. The way it usually works here is you post your attempted solution in all its gory details, and we point out to you where you went wrong.

 

[PhysicsN3rd]

Oh sorry I didn't mean like do it for me, i meant as in explaining how the circuit work, not giving the number and stuff. Where did it go wrong?

 

[quantumdude]

Where did it go wrong?

For any mistakes you may have made, I couldn't possibly answer that question without seeing your work.

Now that I take a closer look at your data table, I think that you just made a typo. In the line that reads:

            V          I          R
Total            9         0.89     10.15

Did you mean to put those I and R values in for $R_6$? If so then that would make more sense, because then the current through $R_6$ would be the same as through $R_1$.

 

[PhysicsN3rd]

I'm not quite sure what you've just said. The last line is the total values for V I and R. What I didn't get was V6 and I6, and I'm not sure if the other answers that I've found are correct or not.

 

[quantumdude]

I have calculated the values of the total resistance and current, and your answers are correct. What you need to do is check Kirchhoff's current law at every node and Kirchhoff's voltage law around every loop, and make sure both laws are satisfied.

I can tell by inspection that you have at least one problem here. You have $0.89 A$ going up the left branch of the large loop (the one that contains $R_6$). Then when you add up the currents going through $R_4$ and $R_5$ you only get $0.825 A$. Something is clearly amiss.

But as I keep saying, I will not be able to find your errors in reasoning without seeing your solution. If you want me to continue reading this thread, then please post your work.

 

[Maxwell]

I'm not quite sure what you've just said. The last line is the total values for V I and R. What I didn't get was V6 and I6, and I'm not sure if the other answers that I've found are correct or not.

Have you learned what it means for resistors to be in parallel or in series?

For example, the current path is split between R6 and R4.

This circuit is very easy to analyze once you have a firm hold on parallel and series resistance.