CH -> 4
VERY SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. What is shunt? What is its SI unit?
2. How can a moving coil galvanometer be converted into an ammeter?
3. How can a moving coil galvanometer be converted into a voltmeter?
4. What information would you wish to know about the galvanometer before converting it
into an ammeter or voltmeter?
5. What is the resistance of an ideal ammeter and ideal voltmeter?
6. Why should an ammeter have a low resistance?
7. Why should the resistance of an ideal voltmeter be infinite?
8. Why is an ammeter connected in series in a circuit?
9. Why a voltmeter is always connected in parallel with a circuit element across which
voltage is to be measured?
10.A galvanometer gives full scale deflection with the current Ig. can it be converted into an
ammeter of range I < Ig?
[Link] we increase or decrease the range of an ammeter?
[Link] we increase or decrease the range of a voltmeter?
[Link] is the effective resistance of an ammeter if a shunt of resistance Rs is used to
across the terminals of a galvanometer of resistance Rg?
[Link] a shunt of resistance 0.01Ω is connected across a galvanometer. What can be
said about the resistance of the resulting ammeter?
15.A student wants to increase the range of an ammeter from 1mA to 5mA. What should be
done to the shunt resistance?
[Link] one has the lowest and which one has the highest resistance: ammeter, a
voltmeter or a galvanometer?
17.A galvanometer is first converted into a voltmeter of range 0 – 3 V and then into a
voltmeter of range 0–6 V. in which case the resistance would be higher one?
[Link] ammeter and a milliammeter are converted from the same galvanometer. Out of the
two, which current measuring instrument has a higher resistance?
19.A voltmeter and a millivoltmeter are converted from the same galvanometer. Out of the
two, which potential difference measuring device has a higher resistance?
[Link] voltmeter has a resistance of 1000Ω and another voltmeter has a resistance of
4000Ω. Which one of the two will you prefer to measure a potential difference across a
resistance of 500Ω?
[Link] an ammeter is put in a circuit, does it read slightly less or more than the actual
current in the circuit? Give reason.
[Link] a voltmeter is put across a part of the circuit, does it read slightly less or more
than the actual voltage drop across that part? Give reason.
[Link] one of the two, an ammeter or a milliammeter, has a higher resistance and why?
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. Explain how a galvanometer can be converted into an ammeter of a given range. Derive
an expression for shunt resistance and current for full scale deflection. Find the
effective resistance of the ammeter.
2. Explain how will you convert a galvanometer into a voltmeter to read a maximum
potential difference of V volts. Can one use a voltmeter to measure the emf of a cell?
Justify you answer.
3. Why is it that while using a moving coil galvanometer as a voltmeter a high resistance in
series is required whereas in an ammeter a shunt is used?
4. A galvanometer coil has a resistance of 12Ω and meter shows full scale deflection for a
current of 3 mA. How will you convert the meter into a voltmeter of range 0 to 18 V?
5. An ammeter of resistance 0.80Ω can measure current up to 1.0A
a. What must be the shunt resistance to enable the ammeter to measure current up to
5.0A
b. What is the combined resistance of the ammeter and the shunt
6. In a galvanometer there is a deflection of 10 divisions per mA. The internal resistance of
the galvanometer is 60Ω. if a shunt of 2.5Ω is connected to a galvanometer and there are
50 divisions in all, on the scale of galvanometer, what maximum current can this
galvanometer read?
7. A galvanometer of resistance ‘G’ can be converted into a voltmeter of range (0-V) volts
by connecting a resistance ‘R’ in series with it. How much resistance will be required to
change its range from 0 to V/2?
