Lecture 2

DIRECT CURRENT CIRCUITS

 RESISTORS IN SERIES AND PARALLEL
Resistors in series
• When the current in the circuit is constant in magnitude and direction is called
direct current.
• When two or more resistors are connected together as in Figure 5.1, they are said to
be in series.

Figure 5.1: Resistors in series

• In a series connection, if an amount of charge Q exits resistor R1, charge Q must

also enter the second resistor R2, to avoid charge accumulation on the wire
between the resistors.
• For a series combination of two resistors, the currents are the same in both
resistors because the amount of charge that passes through 𝑅1 must also pass
through 𝑅2 in the same time interval.

• The potential difference 𝑽, applied across the series combination of resistors

will divide between the resistors.

• In Figure 5.1, because the voltage drop from 𝑎 to 𝑏 equals 𝐼𝑅1 and the voltage
drop from 𝑏 to 𝑐 equals 𝐼𝑅2, the voltage drop from 𝑎 to 𝑐 is

∆𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅1 + 𝐼𝑅2 = 𝐼(𝑅1 + 𝑅2 ) (5.1)

• If one chooses to replace the two resistors in figure 5.1 with a single resistor,
the resulting resistor will have the same effect on the circuit because it
results in the same current in the battery as the combination of resistors.
• Replacing the two resistors in series with a single equivalent resistance, the
resulting resistor will have the value of the sum of the individual resistances.

(a) (b)
Figure 5.2
• Figure 5.2(b) illustrates the resistors replaced with a single resistor having an
equivalent resistance 𝑅𝑒𝑞 = 𝑅1 + 𝑅2.
• The resistance 𝑅𝑒𝑞 is equivalent to the series combination 𝑅1 + 𝑅2 in the
sense that the circuit current is unchanged when 𝑅𝑒𝑞 replaces 𝑅1 + 𝑅2.
• The potential difference across the battery is also applied to the equivalent
resistance 𝑅𝑒𝑞 in Figure 5.2 b

∆𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅𝑒𝑞

∆𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅𝑒𝑞 = 𝐼 𝑅1 + 𝑅2 → 𝑅𝑒𝑞 = 𝑅1 + 𝑅2 (5.2)

• The equivalent resistance of three or more resistors connected in series is

𝑅𝑒𝑞 = 𝑅1 + 𝑅2 + 𝑅3 + ⋯ (5.3)
• This indicates that the equivalent resistance of a series connection of resistors is the
numerical sum of the individual resistances and is always greater than any
individual resistance.
• The general feature of a series circuit is that if one device in the series creates an
open circuit, all devices are inoperative.
Resistors in Parallel
• Consider two resistors connected in parallel, as shown in Figure 5.3

Figure 5.3: Resistors in parallel

• When charges reach point 𝑎 in Figure 5.3, called a junction, they split into two parts, with
some going through 𝑅1 and the rest going through 𝑅2.

• A junction is any point in a circuit where a current can split.

• This split results in less current in each individual resistor than the current leaving the battery.
• Due to the conservation of an electric charge, the current 𝐼 that enters point 𝑎 must
equal the total current leaving that point.
𝐼 = 𝐼1 + 𝐼2
where 𝐼1 is the current in 𝑅1 and 𝐼2 is the current in 𝑅2
• When resistors are connected in parallel, the potential differences across the resistors
is the same.
• Since the potential differences across the resistors are the same, Ohm’s law
(∆𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅) gives
∆𝑉 ∆𝑉 1 1 ∆𝑉
𝐼 = 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 = + = ∆𝑉 + = (5.4)
𝑅1 𝑅2 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝑅𝑒𝑞
• From equation 5.4, we see that the equivalent resistance of two resistors in parallel is
given by
1 1 1
= + (5.5)
𝑅𝑒𝑞 𝑅1 𝑅2

or

1 𝑅1 𝑅2
𝑅𝑒𝑞 = 1 1 =
+ 𝑅1 +𝑅2
𝑅1 𝑅2
 Figure 5.4

• From equation 5.5, an extension of this analysis to three or more resistors in parallel gives

1 1 1 1
= + + +⋯ (5.6)
𝑅𝑒𝑞 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝑅3

• Equation 5.6 shows that the inverse of the equivalent resistance of two or more resistors
connected in parallel is equal to the sum of the inverses of the individual resistances.

• Furthermore, the equivalent resistance is always less than the smallest resistance in the
group.
Example: (Example 28.4, Serway Phy 4 scie and eng 6e. Pg 866)
1. Four resistors are connected as shown in Figure 5.6. Find the
equivalent resistance between points 𝑎 and 𝑐.

Figure 5.6
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE DIVIDER RULES
Voltage Division
• To find the voltage over an individual resistance in series, take the total series voltage
and multiply by the individual resistance over the total resistance.

Figure 5.5
• For example, in the circuit in figure 5.5 we know

𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
𝐼𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 =
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 + 𝑅3
• So, if we let the voltage over the first resistor to be 𝑉𝑅1, it can be written
as:
𝑅1 𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
𝑉𝑅1 = 𝐼𝑅1 =
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 + 𝑅3

𝑅1
∴ 𝑉𝑅1 =𝑉
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 + 𝑅3

• Example
• Determine the voltage across each resistor
 𝑅1
𝑉𝑅1 =𝑉
𝑅1 + 𝑅2

and

𝑅2
𝑉𝑅2 =𝑉
𝑅1 + 𝑅2

• The source voltage v (total voltage in the circuit) is divided among the resistors in
direct proportion to their resistances.

• The larger the resistance, the larger the voltage drop.

• In general, if a voltage divider has 𝑁 resistors (𝑅1, 𝑅2, . . . , 𝑅𝑁) in series with the source
voltage 𝑉, the 𝑛𝑡ℎ resistor (𝑅𝑛) will have a voltage drop of

𝑅𝑛
𝑉𝑅𝑛 = 𝑉
𝑅1 + 𝑅2 + ⋯ + 𝑅𝑛
Current Division
• If we know the current flowing into two parallel resistors, we can find out how the
current will divide up in one step.

𝐼 𝐼1 𝐼2

𝑅1 𝑅2
𝑉= 𝐼
𝑅1 +𝑅2
𝑅𝑒𝑞

• Now letting the current through 𝑅1 be 𝐼1

 𝑉
𝐼1 =
𝑅1

1 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝑅2
𝐼1 = 𝐼 𝐼1 = 𝐼
𝑅1 𝑅1 +𝑅2 𝑅1 +𝑅2

• Note that this slightly differs from the voltage division formula for series
resistors.

• Example
• Find 𝑖1 and 𝑖2 in terms of 𝑖𝑠
 𝑖𝑠 = 𝑖1 + 𝑖2

𝑉1 = 𝑉2

𝑖1𝑅1 = 𝑖2𝑅2

𝑅1 𝑅1 𝑅2 +𝑅1
𝑖2 = 𝑖1 𝑖𝑠 = 𝑖1 + 𝑖1 = 𝑖1
𝑅2 𝑅2 𝑅2

𝑅2
𝑖1 = 𝑖𝑠
𝑅1 + 𝑅2

𝑅1
𝑖2 = 𝑖𝑠
𝑅1 + 𝑅2
KIRCHHOFF'S RULES
• Simple circuits can be analysed used the expression ∆𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅 and the
rules for series and parallel combinations of resistors.

• Two networks that cannot be reduced to simple

series-parallel combinations of resistors.
• When it is not possible to reduce a circuit to a single loop, two
principles for greatly simplifying more complex circuits called Kirchhoff’s
rules are used.
Kirchhoff ’s rules:
1. Junction rule. The sum of the currents entering any junction in a circuit must
equal the sum of the currents leaving that junction:
σ 𝐼𝑖𝑛 = σ 𝐼𝑜𝑢𝑡 (5.7)
Or
The algebraic sum of the currents into any junction is zero. That is
෍𝐼 = 0

2. Loop rule. The sum of the potential differences across all elements around any
closed circuit loop must be zero:
෍ ∆𝑉 = 0 (5.8)
𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑
𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑝
• Kirchhoff’s first rule is also referred to as Kirchhoff’s Current Law
(KCL).
• KCL conserves electric charge in that, all charges that enter a given
point in a circuit must leave that point because charge cannot build up
at a point.

Figure 5.6

• Applying this rule to the junction shown in Figure 5.6 we obtain

𝐼1 = 𝐼2 + 𝐼3
• Kirchhoff’s second rule is also referred to as Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
(KVL).
• Kirchhoff’s second rule follows from the law of conservation of
energy.
• When applying Kirchhoff’s second rule in practice, we imagine traveling
around the loop and consider changes in electric potential, rather than
the changes in potential energy.
• The following sign conventions should be noted when using the second
rule:
1. If a resistor is traversed in the direction of the current, the potential
difference ∆𝑉 across the resistor is −𝐼𝑅.

2. If a resistor is traversed in the direction opposite the current, the

potential difference ∆𝑉 across the resistor is +𝐼𝑅
3. If a source of emf (assumed to have zero internal resistance) is traversed in the
direction of the emf (from − 𝑡𝑜 + ), the potential difference ∆V is +𝜀.
4. If a source of emf (assumed to have zero internal resistance) is traversed in the
direction opposite the emf (from + 𝑡𝑜 − ), the potential difference ∆V is −𝜀 .
• In general, in order to solve a particular circuit problem, the number
of independent equations you need to obtain from the two rules equals
the number of unknown currents.

• Example: (Serway 6e Phy for sci and Eng. Pg 871, example 28.8)
1. Find the current in the circuit.