parallel circuit query

bliss (swise@lwhs.org)
Thu, 13 May 1999 08:36:39 -0800

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Message-Id: <199905131529.IAA26778@noontide.lick.pvt.k12.ca.us>

Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 08:36:39 -0800

To: "Pinhole Listserv" <pinhole@exploratorium.edu>

From: swise@lwhs.org (bliss)

Subject: parallel circuit query

My students have been assembling and testing parallel circuits recently. I
was under the impression that at least in theory, equal resistors in a
parallel circuit would have roughly equal voltage drops.

However, almost all of my student groups notice a pattern that the farther
the parallel loop from the power source, the smaller the voltage drop. In
accordance with Ohm's law there is a concomitant slight increase in current
with farther-flung loops. What can account for this -- resistance of the
leads? Even if the leads are giving resistance, I still can't explain why
the voltage drop across equivalent resistors is not equivalent.

Thanks for your help.

Sarah Wise

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Sarah Wise

Lick-Wilmerding H.S.
755 Ocean Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94112
swise@lick.pvt.k12.ca.us

"Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted."
--Albert Einstein

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