A 24-volt source is required to furnish 48 watts to a parallel circuit consisting of four resistors of equal value. What is the voltage drop across each resistor?

A 24-volt source is required to furnish 48 watts to a parallel circuit consisting of four resistors of equal value. What is the voltage drop across each resistor?

• A. 12 volts
• B. 6 volts
• C. 48 volts
• D. 24 volts

Answer: (D)

In a parallel circuit, each branch shares the same voltage as the source. That means the voltage drop across every resistor in parallel is the full supply voltage, 24 volts. So each resistor experiences 24 V across it, regardless of how many resistors are in parallel or their individual resistances. You can check consistency by noting the total power is 48 W with a 24 V source; the equivalent resistance is R_eq = V^2 / P = 576 / 48 = 12 ohms. For four equal resistors in parallel, R_eq = R/4, so R = 48 ohms, giving a branch current of 24/48 = 0.5 A and total current 2 A, which yields 48 W total.

In a parallel circuit, each branch shares the same voltage as the source. That means the voltage drop across every resistor in parallel is the full supply voltage, 24 volts. So each resistor experiences 24 V across it, regardless of how many resistors are in parallel or their individual resistances. You can check consistency by noting the total power is 48 W with a 24 V source; the equivalent resistance is R_eq = V^2 / P = 576 / 48 = 12 ohms. For four equal resistors in parallel, R_eq = R/4, so R = 48 ohms, giving a branch current of 24/48 = 0.5 A and total current 2 A, which yields 48 W total.