Series Circuits

All electrical circuits, from the lighting in school to the inside of a laptop, are either a series or parallel
circuit. Later in the course you will be able to explain which type you would use for different reasons.
Before that we need to understand more how a series circuit works.
A series circuit is where all the components are connected one after another in a single loop as shown
below:

Current in a series circuit

In a series circuit the current – rate of flow of charge – is the same at every point in the circuit. That means
the current through the wires and every component is the same. If a component has more resistance it
makes it harder for the electrons (carrying the charge in an electrical circuit) to flow so they move more
slowly and the current becomes smaller. We can increase the current in a series circuit by increasing the
voltage of the power supply. You can make the resistance in a circuit greater by adding more components in
series. The total resistance is found by adding together all the component resistance.
The current is measured using an ammeter which is placed in series in a circuit.
Voltage in a series circuit
In a series circuit the voltage – energy per unit charge – from the power supply, battery or cell is shared out
between the components. The total voltage of the components must add up to the same as the power
supply. If one component has more resistance than another then it requires more energy for the electrons to
pass through so it takes a greater share of the voltage.
The voltage is measured using a voltmeter which is place around a component in the circuit as shown
below.

Tasks
Investigation 1 – measure the current in the locations on the circuit
 _______ _______
_______ _______ A A
A A

_______
Extra step A

Try the same thing with three bulbs. What do you predict will happen to the bulbs brightness? Can you
estimate what the current might be?

Investigation 2 – increase the power supply voltage, what happens to the current?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Extra step
What happens to the current when the voltage is doubled? Can you describe this relationship?

Practice
A. 0.90 A B. _______
A

0.90 A _______ _______ 0.60 A

A A
_______ 0.60 A
A

_______
C. A

_______ 0.30 A
A

Investigation 3 – measure the _______ _______ voltage across the power supply and
each bulb A A

_______ _______
V V

_______ _______ _______

V V V
 What happens to the bulb brightness? What does this tell us about the amount of energy the bulbs get?
___________________________________________________________________________________
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Extra step
What happens if you measure the voltage across both bulbs at once? Use three bulbs but predict what the
voltage will be across each one first, based on your recorded data.

Practice – all identical bulbs (same resistance)

6.0 V B. 6.0 V

_______ 3.0 V
_______
V
V

_______
C. V

_______
V

_______ 4V
V
Putting it all together
1. Fill in the missing current and voltage values on the circuits below.

______ V ___ V

_______ 0.25 A _______ 0.15 A

A A

3.0 V ___ V 5.0 V ___ V

2. Complete the missing values in the table below, using the circuit diagram.

Component Current / Voltage/ V

A
Battery
5.0 Ω 5.0 Ω 5.0 Ω resistor 0.60 A

10.0 Ω 10.0 Ω resistor 6.0 V

5.0 Ω resistor

What is the total resistance of this circuit?

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3. A circuit with one bulb like in Q1 has a resistance of 12 Ω and allows a current of 2.0 A to flow
through it. If an identical bulb is placed in series with the first:
a. What is the total resistance of both bulbs?
b. What is the current going to be (assuming the same power supply voltage)?
4. Draw a labelled circuit using identical bulbs with a resistance of 10 Ω where:
a. The total resistance is 30 Ω
b. If the power supply voltage is 12 V, label the voltage of each bulb
c. The current through the power supply is 0.40 A, label the current through each bulb
d. What change would you make to this circuit to reduce the current to 0.20 A?