Question

A low resistance light bulb and a high resistance light bulb are connected in parallel with each other. Which bulb is brighter if the parallel combination is in series with a battery?

Answer 1

Answer:

The bulb with low resistance will be brighter.

Explanation:

The brightness of a bulb is a function of both the voltage across the bulb and current flowing through the bulb. The higher the voltage, the higher the current. Hence the brighter the bulb.

Now, according to the question, the bulbs (the high resistance bulb and the low resistance bulb) are connected in parallel with each other. This means that the same voltage passes across them.

Also, we know that according to Ohm's law, the voltage (V) and current (I) through a conductor are related by the following equation;

V =  I x R                -------------------(i)

Where;

R is the resistance of the conductor.

We can re-write equation (i) as follows;

I = V / R               -----------------------(ii)

According to equation (ii), at fixed voltage (V), the current (I) will increase as the resistance (R) decreases.

Now, since the two bulbs have the same voltage, the bulb with the low resistance will allow a larger flow of current than the bulb with high resistance.  Therefore, as said earlier that brightness is dependent on voltage and current, the bulb with the low resistance (and having larger current at some voltage) will be brighter than the bulb with the high resistance (having smaller current at same voltage).