EK 1001 Physics question 842

[jillzhou]

I'm hoping someone has access to the questions because theres a figure. the question states:

if one of the resistors is removed what would happen to the current through the remaining resistor?
The diagram shows a circuit of 4V and two resistors lined in parallel. I said answer C, the current through the remaining resistor would decrease by a factor of 2. but the correct answer is B, the current through the remaining resistor would remain the same. why is this the case?

doing the math if resistors are in parallel then 1/RT=1/2+1/2 which would make RT=1, therefore current being 4amps
if you removed a resistor with voltage being the same, should the current decrease to 2amps?

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[Schenker]

doing the math if resistors are in parallel then 1/RT=1/2+1/2 which would make RT=1, therefore current being 4amps
if you removed a resistor with voltage being the same, should the current decrease to 2amps?

Correct. You have a total of 4A running through two resistors, so 2A/resistor; after removing one resistor, you have a total of 2A running through just one resistor, so 2A/resistor.

 

[Gauss44]

Correct. You have a total of 4A running through two resistors, so 2A/resistor; after removing one resistor, you have a total of 2A running through just one resistor, so 2A/resistor.

bump

I thought that #841 just proved that if there's an intersection in a circuit where one path has zero resistance, all of the current will go there. So how does this square with #842 discussed above?