Series and Parallel– Simple Circuits

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 Series vs. Parallel circuits
• What happens when a light goes out in a string of
christmas light?
• What happens when a light bulb goes out in your
house?

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Look at the two circuits shown

A.
BRIGHTER

B.
DIMMER

What
In do
happens
which The
Series
we
Parallel
In circuit
call
other
circuit ifare
Circuit
circuit
you
Circuit
circuit
Athe
bulb
the
unscrew
B?
A?
stays
bulbs
goesthe
bulbs out.
lit.
are
aonebulb
the
bulb
inbrightest.
circuit
in Circuit
brightest? B? A?
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Series Circuits
• When electrons have only
one path to follow (like a
single slide at a water
park)
• If a person stops the
current stops, if they close
the slide (open a switch)
the current will no longer
flow.
• A circuit with only one
path to follow is called a
Series Circuit.

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Voltage in a Series
• A battery loses all the voltage
it pushes around the circuit by
sharing it around all the loads
in the circuit.
• Think about when you walk
up 12 steps of ladder to a
slide. You lose all 12 steps as
you go down the slide, then
you get the push of the stairs
back up to the top.
• In a series circuit, the sum of
the voltages lost on the loads
equals the total voltage
supplied by the battery.
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Measuring voltage in a Series Circuit

For a series circuit, the sum of the voltages for each component
is equal to the voltage across the cell or battery.
Set updo
…then
What the
record
youapparatus
notice as shown……
the voltages
about the
at the
readings?
locations shown.
V1 = V2 + V3

V1 Voltmeter Voltage
(V)

V1 1.5
Note: Voltmeters are V2 0.75
connected in parallel
V3 0.75

V2 V3

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Current in a Series Circuit

In a series circuit the current is the same

Set
…and
The up
What theyou
current
then
do
wherever circuit
record
you shown
isnotice
thethe
same below……
about
measurecurrent
forthe
it.each
using
readings?
ammeter.
an ammeter
in the places shown below.
When measuring current ammeters are always
placed in series.

A A

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Current in a Series Circuit
• Current is shared
along each part of a
circuit evenly.
• Ex. like water flowing
through a hose. No
matter what part of the
hose you look at, the
current that will be
flowing will be the
same.

© Boardworks Ltd 2003

 Resistors in Series
• When you slide down a water slide if all of a
sudden there was no water and you slide down dry
plastic you would slow down (probably hurt a bit
too…)
• This is just like resistance, as people must slow
down riding the slide when they hit the dry bit,
there will be less people riding the slide per
minute. Think of resistors like the dry part,
slowing down electrons in a circuit, decreasing the
current (amount of electrons flowing past a certain
part of the wire per second).
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 Resistors in Series
• When resistors are
placed in series in a
circuit, the total
resistance increases and
the total current
throughout the circuit
decreases.

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 Parallel Circuits
• A closed circuit where there is more
than one path for electrons to flow
through is called a parallel circuit
• There are three possible paths,
electrons can flow to bulb 1, 2 or 3.
• If one bulb goes out, the other ones
will not be affected.
• Think about a waterslide park with
one slide closed. The kids can still
get to the bottom by taking another
slide.
• The part of a circuit where it
braches off is called a junction
point © Boardworks Ltd 2003
Measuring voltage II

For
..measure
Setado
What parallel
up thethe
you circuit,
voltage
apparatus
notice theat
about
V1 the
voltage
locations
as
your across
shown…. shown.
readings? the
cell/battery is the same
as the voltage across
each branch.
V1 = V2 = V3
V2
Voltmeter Voltage
(V)

V1 1.5
V3
V2 1.5
V3 1.5

© Boardworks Ltd 2003

Measuring current II
For a parallel circuit, the current that leaves the cell or battery is the same
as the
Setcurrent
…then
What record
updo that
you
the the returns
notice
current
circuit toat
about
shown the cellreadings?
the
the
below…… or battery.
locations The current does not get
shown.
used up by a circuit, just the energy the electrons are carrying. Pathways
with less resistance will have more current flowing through.
A1 = A4
Ammeter Current
A1 A4 (A)

A2 A1 0.8
A3 A2 0.5
A3 0.3
A4 0.8
The sum of the currents at a junction point of a
parallel circuit is the equal to the current that
leaves the junction point or battery.
A1 = A2 + A3 =A4
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• The total current entering a junction point
must
Equal the sum of the current leaving the
junction point. Loads of different resistance
will have different currents.

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 Resistors in Parallel

• When resistors are placed in parallel you

create another pathway so the overall
resistance is decreased.
• When the total resistance decrease what
happens to the current in the circuit?
– Think about I = V/R
– It increases!!!!

© Boardworks Ltd 2003

 Resistors in Parallel

• If you only have one

pathway, the resistance
will be higher than if
you have two
pathways. 
• Therefore, the more
resistors you add in
parallel, the less total
resistance there is and
the more current will
flow. © Boardworks Ltd 2003
 The Power of Electricity
 Power = rate of change in energy or the rate at
which work is done or being transformed.
• The unit of energy is the Joule (J). One joule
(J) of energy transformed in one second (s) is
called a watt (W) of power. 
• 1 Watt = 1 J/s 

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 Calculating Electrical Power
• Electrical power is the
rate of change in
electrical energy.
• What changes electrical
energy to other forms?
– Load (light bulb, stereo)
• Calculating Electrical
power of a device by
using:
P(power) = V x I

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 Energy Consumption

• Power is the amount of

energy used over time.
• P = E/t
• Power = Energy/time
Switch around equation E (J) = P(W) × t(s)
• Energy = P x t  
• Create another Triangle Energy (Joules) = Power
• This power rating is usually seen
(Watt) × time (seconds)
on electrical devices such as
blenders, hair dryers, computer
power supplies, and heaters.

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 Large Units of Energy

• A joule is a very small 1000 W = 1 kW 

measure of energy.  3600 s = 1 h
• 1.0 joule = 1.0 watt X 1.0  
second  1.0 kW•h = 1.0 kW × 1.0 h
• Large quantities of energy
1.0 kW•h = 1000 W × 3600 s
are measured in kilowatt–
 
hours (kW•h)
1.0 kW•h = 3,600,000 J = 3600
kJ

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 Cost of Electricity

• BC Hydro monitors the

electricity used in your
home by a meter that
measures the energy used in
kilowatt-hours

For example, if you used

1500 kW h and BC Hydro
costs $0.07 a kw h, how
much is your electric bill?

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 Power Surges
• Why do we have power bars that we connect
our computers to? 
• Surges can be caused by lightning, turning off
large electrical appliances and power company
“errors”
• Surge protectors absorb some of the extra
electricity and send the rest to ground

© Boardworks Ltd 2003