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Circuits Series and Parallel

This document contains notes from a lesson on parallel and series circuits. It discusses resistors in series and parallel, using math to calculate total resistance. For series circuits, total resistance is the sum of individual resistances. For parallel circuits, total resistance is lower than any individual resistance. The document provides examples of calculating total resistance for series and parallel circuits. It also discusses converting between units like ohms, kilohms, and milliamps using prefixes to keep numbers within a usable range. Students are asked to complete a worksheet on these topics to reinforce their understanding.

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mike simson
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
84 views

Circuits Series and Parallel

This document contains notes from a lesson on parallel and series circuits. It discusses resistors in series and parallel, using math to calculate total resistance. For series circuits, total resistance is the sum of individual resistances. For parallel circuits, total resistance is lower than any individual resistance. The document provides examples of calculating total resistance for series and parallel circuits. It also discusses converting between units like ohms, kilohms, and milliamps using prefixes to keep numbers within a usable range. Students are asked to complete a worksheet on these topics to reinforce their understanding.

Uploaded by

mike simson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Circuits – Parallel and

Series
Mr. McBrien
TEJ2O
Ontario Curriculum

 Students will:
 B2.1 safely construct and test electronic circuits
(e.g., LED circuit, flasher, timer), using both
breadboard and soldering techniques to connect
discrete components and/or integrated circuits;
Yesterday

 Multimeters
Today

 Other Stuff:
 Resistors in series
 Resistors in parallel
 Electrons are lazy
 Converting Units
Resistors in Series

 Q: What does a resistor do in a circuit?


 ?
 Q: What happens if you add a resistor to an existing
circuit?
 ?
Resistors in Series – the Math

 Resistors in series are additive:

 RT = R1 + R2 + R3 +…
Example – Three Resistors

 What’s the total resistance?


 G: R1 = 3kΩ, R2 = 10kΩ, R3 = 5kΩ
 U: RT = ?
 E: RT = R1 + R2 + R3
 S: RT = (3kΩ) + (10kΩ) + (5kΩ)
 S: RT = 18 kΩ
What happens if we add too many
devices to the same circuit?
 ?

Eventually the current gets so low no device can run.


Series vs. Parallel

 So far, we’ve focused on “simple” circuits:


 Only one path for electrons
 The current is the same through every point on the circuit

There is another option…


The Problem With Series Circuits
 Imagine if the lights in your house were on a simple
(series) circuit…

What’s the other problem with this design?


Independent Control

 We need to have 1 power source, but have different


current.
Parallel Circuits

 Most“real” circuits have more than one path for


electrons
 We call this a parallel circuit; current flows
through every path.

But how much through each path?


You May Say “Lazy”, I Say “Efficient”
 One way of viewing circuits is that electrons want to get
from the negative pole of the battery to the positive pole
 But electrons don’t want to do more work than they must.
 If there’s more than one path to the positive pole,
electrons will prefer the easy path.

less more
current current
But Can We Say How Much?

 Yes.
 We can treat each path as an
individual circuit
 Ohm’s Law applies in both cases! less more
current current
Ohm’s Law Gives us the Current

 R1: I = V/R = 2V/3Ω = 0.667 A


 R2: I = V/R = 2V/1.5Ω = 1.333A

less more
current current
A Special Parallel Circuit

 What happens when one path has a resistor, and one path
does not?

? ?
current current
A Special Parallel Circuit

∞A 1.33 A
So how do we get the overall resistance?

 ?
 Ans: We could add up the currents, and back-calculate
the effective resistance.
 …but there is an easier way.
Resistors in Parallel

 When we add two resistors to a circuit in parallel, the current


distributes between them
 The overall resistance goes down:
Example Problem – Resistors in Parallel
What’s the overall resistance of this circuit?

Givens: R1 = 10 kΩ, R2 = 2 kΩ, R3 = 1 kΩ

Unknown: RT

Equation:

Substitution:

Solution: RT = 0.625 kΩ, or 625 Ω


Example Problem – Resistors in Parallel
What’s the overall resistance of this circuit?

Givens: R1 = 10 kΩ, R2 = 2 kΩ, R3 = 1 kΩ

Unknown: RT

Equation:

Substitution:

Solution: RT = 0.625 kΩ, or 625 Ω


Solving RiP Problems – A Tip

Many students make errors in solving


the fractions in these questions.
If you’re not confident with fractions,
use your calculator.
Advantages of Parallel Circuits

 MANY devices can be powered by one power


supply without the resistance becoming too high.
 Independent control of multiple devices on one
power supply
 Different devices can have different currents.
Converting Units
Introduction

 How far to the office?

 How far to Los Angeles?

What units did you use? Why?


The Range in Electronics

 In electronics, we use a wide range of values.


 For example, the power supply for a laptop will support
>1.0 Amperes.
 An LED has a maximum current of about 0.040 A
 Some of the circuits we design in TEJ2O need ~0.000005 A
 Some of the circuits we design need 1000000 Ω resistors
 When we have numbers of such a large range, we can mis-
count zeroes and be off by a factor of 10 or 100.
Keeping Numbers “Real”

 Humans seem to work well with numbers that range from


about 1 to 1000.
 To help us keep the numbers with which we work in that
range, we adjust our units by introducing prefixes.
Prefixes

 Mega – “million”
 kilo – “thousand”
 milli – “thousandth”

When numbers are very large, we convert to M or k.


When numbers are very small, we convert to m.
Example 1 - Resistance

 Three 400 Ω resistors are in series. What’s the overall


resistance?
 400 + 400 + 400 Ω = 1200 Ω
 What’s that in kΩ?

 There are 1000 Ω in 1 kΩ. (Or 1 kΩ in 1000 Ω)


 1200 Ω (1 kΩ/1000 Ω) = 1.2 kΩ
Example 2 - Current

 The recommended current for an LED is about 0.020 A.


What’s that in mA?

 There are 1000 mA/1 A. To convert A to mA, we multiply


by that term:
 0.020 A (1000 mA/1A) = 20 mA
Example 3 - MΩ

 There are three 1.0 MΩ resistors in series. What’s the


resistance of the circuit in Ω?
 Note: 1.0 + 1.0 + 1.0 MΩ = 3.0 MΩ.

 There are 1000000 Ω/MΩ

 3.0 MΩ (1000000 Ω/MΩ) = 3000000 Ω


Prefixes in Electronics
Confirming Understanding

 Complete the series and parallel activity.


Summary
 When we place resistors (loads) in series, the current
drops – the resistances add together.
 Many useful circuits have more than one possible path for
electrons. When we add resistors in parallel, the
resistance drops - the currents add together.
 Ohm’s Law applies to all paths in the circuit.
 We can calculate the overall resistance of the circuit for
both series and parallel, by using the appropriate
equations.
Homework

 Complete the worksheet/activity

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