Which statement about electrical resistance is correct?

Which statement about electrical resistance is correct?

• A. Two electrical devices will have the same combined resistance if they are connected in series as they will have if connected in parallel.
• B. If 1 of 3 bulbs in a parallel circuit is removed, the total resistance of the circuit will become greater.
• C. An electrical device that has a high resistance will use more power than one with a low resistance with the same applied voltage.
• D. The total resistance in a parallel circuit equals the sum of the resistances, which makes it always larger.

Answer: (B)

A key idea is how resistance combines in circuits. In parallel, each path shares the same voltage, and adding more paths provides more routes for current, which lowers the total resistance. Conversely, removing a path reduces those routes, so the total resistance increases. That makes the statement about a parallel circuit correct: if one of three parallel branches is removed, the overall resistance goes up because there are fewer paths for current to take. Why the others don’t fit: in parallel vs series, resistances don’t simply match each other; adding devices in series increases the total resistance, while in parallel it decreases. For the same applied voltage, a device with higher resistance actually uses less power, not more, so a high-resistance component would draw less power. And in a parallel circuit, the total resistance is not the sum of the individual resistances; it follows 1/R_total = sum(1/R_i), so the total is smaller than any individual resistance.

A key idea is how resistance combines in circuits. In parallel, each path shares the same voltage, and adding more paths provides more routes for current, which lowers the total resistance. Conversely, removing a path reduces those routes, so the total resistance increases.

That makes the statement about a parallel circuit correct: if one of three parallel branches is removed, the overall resistance goes up because there are fewer paths for current to take.

Why the others don’t fit: in parallel vs series, resistances don’t simply match each other; adding devices in series increases the total resistance, while in parallel it decreases. For the same applied voltage, a device with higher resistance actually uses less power, not more, so a high-resistance component would draw less power. And in a parallel circuit, the total resistance is not the sum of the individual resistances; it follows 1/R_total = sum(1/R_i), so the total is smaller than any individual resistance.