What happens to the brightness of two lightbulbs in a circuit when a second bulb is added between the first bulb and the battery?
The correct answer is B) The first bulb will be the same brightness, and the second bulb will be dimmer.
Explanation:
When a second bulb is added to a circuit between the first bulb and the battery, the overall resistance in the circuit increases. This causes the current flowing through each bulb to decrease, resulting in a dimmer output for the bulbs.
Why does this happen?
In a series circuit like this, the same current flows through each component. When the resistance in the circuit is increased by adding a second bulb, the total current available to both bulbs decreases. This reduced current flow results in lower brightness for each bulb.
Comparing Brightness:
In this scenario, the first bulb will maintain the same brightness as before because it still receives the same amount of current. However, the second bulb will be dimmer compared to the first bulb because it shares the total current with the first bulb (due to the increased resistance).
Therefore, in a series circuit with two lightbulbs and a battery, adding a second bulb will cause the first bulb to remain the same brightness while the second bulb will be dimmer.