17.4. Resistors in Series and Parallel http://www.ck12.org
17.4 Resistors in Series and Parallel
Objectives
The student will:
- Be able to distinguish between a series and parallel circuit.
- Solve problems involving circuits with resistors.
Vocabulary
- Joule heating:The rate at which the energy (power) is dissipated through a resistor.
- parallel circuit:A circuit in which the current has more than one pathway available.
- series circuit:A circuit in which the current has just one pathway between the positive and negative terminal
of the battery.
Introduction
An electrician who “wires a house” and an electrical engineer who is charged with constructing a complicated
piece of electronic circuitry must both understand how to read a schematic. A schematic is a diagram showing the
locations of the electrical components in electrical circuits. Schematics are usually very involved diagrams showing
many different electrical elements interacting with each other. Our goal in this section will be to analyze a small part
of what might be included in large schematic diagrams; we’ll refer to these diagrams as circuit diagrams.
Symbols
Circuit diagrams consist of symbols which represent power sources (we will use batteries), resistors, capacitors (see
Chapter Applications of Electrical Energy) and many other components.
The symbol for a battery: The longer line is taken as the positive terminal of the battery.