Question

The electric circuit (above figure) in a clothes dryer contains two heaters X and Y in parallel. The above figure shows the circuit connected to a 230 V power supply. When both switches are closed, the current in X is 3.5 A.

Analyse the circuit given above and answer the following questions.

1. Calculate the power developed in heater X.
2. If the resistance of X is double that of Y, calculate the current in heater Y.

Answer 1

i. P = V

= 230 × 3.5

= 805 W

ii. I ∝ `1/R`, so half the resistance means double the current.

Therefore, current in Y = 7.0 A.