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SCIENCE 9
series + parallel circuits
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Cards (10)
series circuit - a circuit has only
one
path for current to
travel
eg.
Christmas
lights
parallel circuit - a circuit that has more than
one
path
for
current
to travel
eg.
house lights
series circuits
electrons
must travel through
all
components
of the circuit
if one part of a circuit is not connected, all
electrons
are
blocked
and the
current
stops
voltage + current in series circuits
each load uses a
portion
of the
total voltage
supplied by the
battery
total voltage =
sum
of
voltages
used up on
loads
current in each part of a series is
equal
resistors in series
increase
total
resistance
of circuit
increased
total
resistance
= decreased
total
current
in electric circuits, the charge that leaves a battery uses up
all
its
voltage
before
it
returns
to the
battery
parallel circuits
closed
pathway that has
several
different
paths for
electrons
to
travel
in order to return to the
battery
voltage + current of parallel circuits
since all pathways connect at the same
location
, the
voltage
used up on each pathway is
identical
loads in parallel have the
same
voltage
junction point - where a circuit
divides
into
multiple
pathways
no current is
created
/
destroyed
, only split into
different
pathways
current entering must
divide
among possible
paths
amount of current through each pathway depends on the
resistance
of the
path
total current entering the junction point must
equal
the
sum
of
current
leaving the
junction
point
resistors in parallel
when a
resistor
is placed in parallel with another
resistor
, you create
another
pathway
so the total resistance must
decrease
more current will travel through paths with
lower
resistance