In regular open circuits with either a capacitor or inductor element, (when capa

Question

In regular open circuits with either a capacitor or inductor element, (when capacitor is uncharged) with a battery, when a switch is closed to complete the circuit the current is said to be 0 because current doesn't jump immediately.

But in a circuit with just resistors, as soon as a switch is closed the current isn't 0?

Example is this question from 2008 AP Physics C Exam

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_physics_c_em_frq.pdf

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/ap/students/physics/ap08_physics_c_e&m_sgs_rev.pdf

Go to Question 2 for details.

Explanation / Answer

In real life, the current can't jump instantaneously because there is always some finite inductance in a circuit. However, this is just a typical idealized textbook problem where the inductance is assumed identically zero, so the current can jump instantaneously according to the assumptions of the problem. Note the current also jumps in their solution for the capacative case.

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