Parallel Resistors - change in current

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6FX

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I thought if you removed one of two equivalent resistors in parallel, the curerent would decrease; wouldn't the circuit have a decreased "pull" on its electrons now that current could flow more freely? However, the answer says current remains the same. My question is, conceptually, then, why does current remain unchanged if there are two 2-ohm parallel resisters, and one was removed? Also, what if the resistors were in series?

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I thought if you removed one of two equivalent resistors in parallel, the curerent would decrease; wouldn't the circuit have a decreased "pull" on its electrons now that current could flow more freely? However, the answer says current remains the same. My question is, conceptually, then, why does current remain unchanged if there are two 2-ohm parallel resisters, and one was removed? Also, what if the resistors were in series?

the question may be focusing on the change in current through a single resistor and not the overall current drawn from the battery. we have to have the same voltage drop around a given path as per Kerchoff's rule. so if we have two resistors in parallel and we remove one, then the current through the remaining resistor won't change since resistors in parallel have the same voltage drop and we haven't altered that notion.


does that help?
 
I thought if you removed one of two equivalent resistors in parallel, the current would decrease; wouldn't the circuit have a decreased "pull" on its electrons now that current could flow more freely? However, the answer says current remains the same. My question is, conceptually, then, why does current remain unchanged if there are two 2-ohm parallel resisters, and one was removed? Also, what if the resistors were in series?

According to Ohm's Law, the amount of current flowing through a resistor doesn't change. It will always equate to ==> V/R = I (from the equation V=IR). The voltage passing through each resistor initially will remain the same and the resistance doesn't change, which explains why the current is constant. The current and therefore the power passing through each resistor does not change. What does change is the current supplied by the power source NOT the current going through each resistor.
 
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