To answer the actual question, I think the problem is in the calculation of watts. Regardless of who's total resistance is most correct, they're all in the 9.something range. 9.something line amps operating in a 240V circuit will yield somewhere around 26 amps, and that will result in roughly 6,400 watts (ballpark answers).
Radar
There are 10 types of people. Those who know binary, and those who don't.
Re: Power dissipation problem#130457 05/31/0607:26 AM05/31/0607:26 AM
Radar you are correct. The calculations in the 3rd sheet is the correct answer.
What I did not realise the student had done wrong is to treat the whole calculation as entirely parrallel. He correctly worked out the equivalent resistance for each of the three groups of resistors but then he should have treated the rest of the problem as a series circuit. Then it would have worked out.
Some times you just can not see something obvious when you look to hard...
der Großvater
Re: Power dissipation problem#130458 05/31/0608:00 AM05/31/0608:00 AM
He correctly worked out the equivalent resistance for each of the three groups of resistors but then he should have treated the rest of the problem as a series circuit.
By my calculations, the left-hand group of four resistors will have 63.1V across them, the middle pair 49.7V, and the right-hand group 127.2 volts.
I'm a little puzzled as to why he decided to work out the total power the long way like this. He'd already worked out the overall resistance as the first part of the problem, so why not just use E^2/R, or do as you did and work out the current then get the power from I x E?
[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 05-31-2006).]