How to play Current Splitter
- Choose a test and read the currents and resistances on the card.
- Use I = I₁ + I₂ + … at a junction; in parallel the voltage is shared, so I_k = V ÷ R_k.
- Type your prediction and press Start. The source rises and every meter follows.
- Compare the meters and the bars with your orange prediction.
Kirchhoff's current law
Charge is never created or used up in a circuit, so at a junction the current that flows in equals the current that flows out: I = I₁ + I₂ + …. This is Kirchhoff's current law. Branches in parallel are connected across the same two points, so they share one voltage, and each draws I_k = V ÷ R_k: the currents divide inversely to the resistances, and the smallest resistance takes the largest share. Adding a branch across a fixed voltage leaves the others unchanged and simply adds its own current to the main one. The same rule turns a sensitive meter into an ammeter: a small shunt resistance in parallel carries most of the current, leaving the meter just its full-scale share.
A focused learning model
The resistors and the meter are fixed resistances, the wires and ammeters are ideal, and the current is steady at once. The source, a voltage or a fixed current fed in, ramps steadily from 0 over 2 s and holds for 1 s; in the add test the second branch switches on at 2 s. The electron dots move at a speed in step with the current, not at the real drift speed. Answers within 2% are right.