A 24 volt source is required to furnish 48 watts to a parallel circuit consisting of 4 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 4 resistors of equal value. What is the voltage drop across each resistor?

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

Answer: (D)

In a parallel circuit, every branch has the same voltage as the source. So the voltage drop across each resistor is the full 24 volts, regardless of how many resistors or their values. The four equal resistors share the total power, each dissipating 12 W, which would correspond to 48 ohms per resistor if you check with P = V^2/R. The important point is that parallel means equal voltage across all branches.

In a parallel circuit, every branch has the same voltage as the source. So the voltage drop across each resistor is the full 24 volts, regardless of how many resistors or their values. The four equal resistors share the total power, each dissipating 12 W, which would correspond to 48 ohms per resistor if you check with P = V^2/R. The important point is that parallel means equal voltage across all branches.