Question

A student was given three resistors of 2 ohms, 3 ohms and 5 ohms by his teacher. The teacher asked him to connect these three resistors in such a way so as to obtain the minimum resistance.
(a) In what way should the student connect the resistors?
​(b) Draw a diagram of the combination of resistors.

Answer 1

In a parallel combination, the resultant resistance is always less than or equal to the smallest resistance in the combination. So, a parallel combination of resistances gives the minimum resistance.

(a) Hence, in order to get minimum resistance, the student needs to arrange them in a parallel combination.

(b) A parallel combination of given resistors is shown below: