Series, Parallel and Series/Parallel are the basic circuit resistance configuration types that you may encounter. The first is the easiest of the three: In a Series circuit resistance configuration. (The R subscript N means any number of parallel resistors)
Series Circuit Rules
1. Total Resistance is the sum of the individual series resistances
2. Current is the same throughout the series circuit
3. The Sum of the voltage drops equals the voltage rises—Voltage Rises are supply voltages and Voltage drops are the voltages across the resistors.
The supply voltage is divided across series resistors in proportion to their resistance values. A series circuit is therefore called a voltage divider network.
We can now discuss electrical quantities in a parallel circuit resistance configuration types. (The R subscript N means any number of parallel resistors).
ET=ER1=ER2=ER3=…ERN
IT=IR1+IR2+IR3+…IRN
Finding total resistance is many times necessary to establish current, voltage or power levels at certain points in a circuit. Circuits are more times than not combinations of series and parallel resistance values. The process of simplifying such circuits is shown by the example below.
A. Circle simple series and or parallel combinations
B. Simplify the circled combinations which will create new simple circuits.
C. Repeat the process until you reduce the resistance to a single equivalent value
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