Voltage in Series & Parallel
2 guided lessons · 18 checks · 2. Electricity → Components in Series & Parallel Circuits
Guided lessons for this note
Which concept don't you understand yet?
We'll explain it simply and check your understanding. Pick any lesson — any order works.
0 of 18 checks correct so far
Lesson 1 of 2
Voltage in series & parallel
One battery, two very different sharing habits. In a single loop the components divide the voltage between them, with the greedier resistor taking the bigger share. In parallel, every branch is wired straight across the supply and takes the whole voltage. This lesson compares the two arrangements side by side.
What you know already
In a series loop the battery's voltage is divided among the components; in a parallel network every branch receives the full supply. This note works through both divisions, explains why identical series components split the voltage equally, and weighs which arrangement suits a real job better — including why homes wire their lighting in parallel.
Key points of understanding
- In a series loop the supply voltage is shared out among the components.
- Two identical components in series take equal shares — half the supply voltage each.
- With different resistances in series, the larger resistance takes the larger voltage share.
- Every branch of a parallel circuit receives the full supply voltage.
- Components wired in parallel therefore all see the same voltage across them.
Lamps connected in a series circuit share the potential difference from the battery
Lamps connected in a parallel circuit all have the same voltage across them
Choose a confidence level to continue.
Prefer to read it all at once? Show the full lesson as a page
1.Voltage in series & parallel
One battery, two very different sharing habits. In a single loop the components divide the voltage between them, with the greedier resistor taking the bigger share. In parallel, every branch is wired straight across the supply and takes the whole voltage. This lesson compares the two arrangements side by side.
Lamps connected in a series circuit share the potential difference from the battery
Lamps connected in a parallel circuit all have the same voltage across them
Key points
- In a series loop the supply voltage is shared out among the components.
Guided content from the SME authoring corpus — note rn_ynsstfBQngnx2pgq, pinned at 275f3b535d78 · promoted SyllabAI/syllabai-resources b3caaaa90c5e
