TPR Physics 8-22 Circuit w/ burnt out bulb

[DrknoSDN]

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[Edit] Question previously answered in forum.

What will happen if the middle bulb burns out?
A. The other two bulbs will go out.
B. The light intensity of the other two bulbs will decrease, but they won't go out.
C. The light intensity of the other two bulbs will increase.
D. The light intensity of the other two bulbs will remain the same.


Solution is in another thread, think about it if you want before you read the answer..

My reason for the post was failing to understand that MCAT batteries and circuits are ideal, and a theoretical 9V battery could provide enough current for an infinite number of bulbs...
Ahhhh, MCAT world. =D

 

[DrknoSDN]

Socrates25 provided an excellent answer here:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...about-bulbs-burning-out.921999/#post-12635456

 

[inasensegone]

Socrates25 provided an excellent answer here:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...about-bulbs-burning-out.921999/#post-12635456

Nice mathematical proof...

I was just going to say that TBR has a similar problem, Chapter 9, passage 7, problem 46. The way they explain it is basically that, the voltage drop of the other bulbs hasn't changed, and the resistance of those other bulbs hasn't changed, so their brightness doesn't change. What changes is that the overall resistance of the circuit increases (because you took a resistor out of parallel) and so the overall current drops. TBR gives the reverse situation, adding a resistor in parallel rather than taking one out, but the logic can still be applied.