In-text Questions — Potential Difference — Electricity

1. 11 markNCERT Cl-10 Science, In-text Qs after §11.2, Q1

   Name a device that helps to maintain a potential difference across a conductor.

   Hint. It's the same device you'd pop into a torch.

   Step 1 — Recall what generates potential difference. Since the chemical action inside a cell generates a potential difference across its terminals, this happens even before any current is drawn.

   ✦ Answer: A cell or battery.

   Where students slip. Naming an ammeter or voltmeter — those are measuring instruments; they don't generate potential difference, they only measure it.

2. 22 marksNCERT Cl-10 Science, In-text Qs after §11.2, Q2

   What is meant by saying that the potential difference between two points is 1 V?

   Hint. Potential difference is defined as work done per unit charge — apply that definition to the specific numbers 1 and 1.

   Step 1 — Recall the definition. V = W/Q, work done per unit charge moved.

   Step 2 — Apply it to 1 V. Since V = 1 exactly when W = 1 joule and Q = 1 coulomb, that is what '1 volt' means.

   ✦ Answer: A potential difference of 1 V between two points means 1 joule of work is done in moving 1 coulomb of charge from one point to the other.

   Where students slip. Describing 1 V as an amount of current or charge — it's specifically a ratio of work to charge, not a quantity of charge or current by itself.

3. 32 marksNCERT Cl-10 Science, In-text Qs after §11.2, Q3

   How much energy is given to each coulomb of charge passing through a 6 V battery?

   Hint. Use the same W = VQ relationship, with Q set to exactly one coulomb.

   Step 1 — Apply W = VQ. For Q = 1 C and V = 6 V, W = 6 × 1 = 6 J.

   ✦ Answer: Each coulomb of charge gains 6 joules of energy passing through a 6 V battery.

   Where students slip. Forgetting to set Q = 1 C before substituting — the question specifically asks for the energy per coulomb, so Q must be exactly 1 for the answer to directly equal the battery's voltage in joules.

Solutions written by the tuition.in editorial team and checked against the NCERT Class 10 Science textbook, Reprint 2026-27 (jesc111.pdf) — seven in-text question sets (23 questions total, not 16 as some older manifests claim) plus one end-of-chapter Exercise (18 questions, correctly counted). Unchanged by rationalisation. Table 11.2's resistivity values (used for several answers) were read directly from the book, including nichrome's 100 × 10⁻⁶ Ω·m.. Questions are referenced from the NCERT textbook for identification.