Experiment 8: Series and Parallel Circuits

Laboratory Report
Frances Japlit, Ferrine Lina, Erica Alyssa Manalo, Denise Martinez
Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science
University of Santo Tomas

Abstract A circuit is a closed loop that allows

An electric circuit is a whole system charge to move from one place to another.
composed of different electrical parts through Components in the circuit allow one to
which the electric current can flow. It is control this charge and use it to do work.
composed of components such as resistors, Georg Ohm was a Bavarian scientist who
transistors, capacitors, inductors, and diodes studied electricity. Ohm starts by describing
(e.g. a battery). In this experiment the a unit of resistance that is defined by current
resistance of the two resistors used for the and voltage.
whole experiment was determined based on Voltage is the amount of potential
its individual color code. The color code used energy between two points on a circuit. One
by the group was brown-red-brown-gold point has more charge than another. The
which has a resistance of 120.05 ohms and difference in charge between the two points
the other resistor was orange-orange-brown- is measured in volts. Current is measured in
gold which translates to 330.05 ohms Amperes which is defined as 6.241x1018
resistance. Using the Ohms law which states electrons per second passing through a point
that the current on a conductor that is between in a circuit. Ohm defines the unit of resistance
two points is directly proportional to the of 1 Ohm as the resistance between two
voltage across the two points, the different points in a conductor where the application of
properties of the circuit was determined. The 1 volt will push 1 ampere, or
first activity was for series connection of 6.2411018electrons. This value is usually
resistors and the total resistance computed represented in schematics with the Greek
was 450.1 and the theoretical resistance is letter , which is called omega, and
469.56 so the error was 4.32%. In the second pronounced ohm.
activity, the setup was for a parallel Current flows from a high voltage to
connection of resistors and the experimental a lower voltage in a circuit. If two
resistance computed was 85.54 ohms while components are in series, they share a
the theoretical resistance is 88.30 ohms so the common node which is an electrical junction
error was 3.13%. The third activity was for between two or more components, and the
determining the internal resistance for a cell same current flows through them. However,
and its value was 319.65 ohms. The last if components share two common nodes, they
activity uses both parallel and series are in parallel.
connection of two identical cells. The internal The objectives of this experiment are:
resistance of the identical cells for series is (1) to be able to determine the resistance of a
0.15 ohms and for the parallel it is 1.2 ohms. resistor based on its color code, and (2) to be
able to verify the laws on series or parallel
Introduction resistors and cells.
Electricity is the movement of electrons.
Electrons create charge, which can be Theory
harnessed to do work. Lightbulb, stereo, This experiment makes use of the
phone, etc., are all harnessing the movement Ohms law. Most of the equation in this
of the electrons in order to do work. They all experiment is derived from the concept of the
operate using the same basic power source: Ohms law.
the movement of electrons.
 Ohms law shows the relationship the circuit. However, voltage remains the
between the voltage and current in an ideal same throughout the parallel circuit. While
conductor. The relationship states that the the total resistance is computed by adding the
potential difference across an ideal conductor reciprocal of the sum of reciprocals of the
is proportional to the current through it. It different resistor values. These can be
can be expressed through equation 1. expressed using equations 5, 6, and 7.
IT = I1 + I2
V=IR Equation 5: Current in a Parallel Circuit
Equation 1: Ohms Law
Where V is the potential difference VT = V1 = V2
between two points, I is the current flowing, Equation 6: Voltage in a Parallel Circuit
and R is the constant of proportionality or
resistance. 1
=
In a series circuit, where resistors are 1 1
+
arranged in a chain, the current flows in only 1 2
one direction. Therefore, the current is the Equation 7: Total Resistance in a Parallel
same through each resistor. However, the Circuit
potential difference is shared through the
resistors. Since the voltage is shared In Activity 1 and 2, the total
throughout the resistors, when added, it resistance in a parallel and series circuit were
makes up the total voltage. There are computed for while the voltage and current
different resistors, thus, different values of were measured using a voltmeter and an
resistance. The total resistance can be ammeter. The experimental value of the total
obtained by adding all of the individual resistance for parallel and series circuit were
values of the resistors resistance. All of these obtained by using equation 8.
are expressed through equations 2, 3, and 4,
respectively.
=
IT = I1= I2
Equation 2: Current in a Series Circuit Equation 8: Experimental Total Resistance
Where RT is the total resistance, VT is
VT = V1 + V2 the total voltage (potential difference), and IT
Equation 3: Voltage in a Series Circuit is the total current.

RT = R1 + R 2 Since activity 1 made use of the series

Equation 4: Resistance in a Series Circuit circuit, the theoretical yield for the total
resistance was computed using equation 4.
Meanwhile, in a parallel circuit, Meanwhile, since activity 2 made use of the
resistors are arranged with their head parallel circuit, theoretical yield for the total
connected together and tails connected resistance was obtained using equation 7.
together. The current is distributed into Percent error was computed for as well.
different branches of the circuit and then
recombined after being connected into the In activity 3, the internal resistance of
same wire indicates that current may have the cell was obtained by measuring the
different values when travelling through the electromotive force, voltage and the current
wire. Total current is obtained by adding with the use of a voltmeter and ammeter and
different current values measured throughout using equation 9.
 its terminals. A known resistance was
( ) connected in series with the cell. The current
= delivered to the circuit was then measured

Equation 9: Internal Resistance of the Cell using an ammeter and the internal resistance
of the cell was computed for.
Where r is the internal resistance, E is The fourth activity made use of the
the electromotive force, I is the current, R is same objective and principles, only the
the resistance, and V is the potential procedures were done twice, one on two
difference. identical cells connected in series, and the
other on two identical cells connected in
In activity 4, internal resistance was parallel, using the method in the third
also computed for using equation 9. activity. Generalizations were then made in
However, the cell is connected in a series and the cells in series and in parallel.
parallel circuit. Generalizations were made
wherein it was believed that a cell in a series
circuit has a stronger electromotive force
compared to a cell in a parallel circuit since
the internal resistance is small in a series
circuit compared to the internal resistance of
a cell in a parallel circuit.

Methodology
For the first activity, the resistance of
resistors were determined based on color
codes. These were recorded as R1 and R2.
The resistors were then connected in series to
a DC source. The voltage and current were
measured across each resistor using a Figure1: Measurement of current using
voltmeter and ammeter respectively. The Ammeter
total voltage and total current were also
measured across the combination. The total
experimental and actual resistance were then
computed, along with the percent error.

The second activity made use of the

same objective as the first activity, which is a
the determination of resistance of resistors
based on color codes. The same procedures
were done, except the resistors were
connected in parallel and different formulas
were used to calculate the experimental
resistance.

For the third activity, the

electromotive force of cells was determined Figure 2: Measurement of voltage using
using a voltmeter connected directly across Voltmeter
Results and Discussion resistance is also different from that of the
one used in the first activity which can be
Voltage (V) Current (I) referred to equation 7. It was shown that the
R1= 12 x 10 5.510 0.016 theoretical total resistance and the
5% experimental total resistance yields 3.13%
R2= 33 x 10 2.003 0.016 error.
5%
Theoretical RT = 450.10 Electromotive Force of the Cell 6.25
Experimental RT = 469.56 (E)
% Error = 4.32% Known Resistance (R) 330.05
Table 1: Resistance of a Resistor Connected Current (I) 0.601
in Series Internal Resistance of the Cell 319.65
(r)
The resistance of the given resistors Table 3: Determination of Electromotive
were obtained through the color codes Force of a cell
embedded in its bodies. As shown in table 1,
the resistance are 120 and 330 and it was The total internal resistance of a cell
observed that the current are equal regardless used in this activity was determined using the
of the resistance. However, the voltage for equation given in the theory which states that
each resistance varies. The theoretical total the electromotive force of the cell is directly
resistance was computed by adding both the proportional to internal resistance. The
resistance which yields 450.10 while the internal resistance is equal to the potential
experimental was 469.56 which gives a difference across the terminals of the cell
4.32% error. when no current is flowing. In this case only
one cell was used to determine its internal
resistance by using its other properties like
Voltage (V) Current (I) electromotive force, current, and resistance.
R1= 12 x 10 6.33 0.054 The voltmeter of the multimeter used to
5% determine the electromotive force of the cell
R2= 33 x 10 6.33 0.020 shown 6.25V with a known resistance of
5% 330.05 and the current measures to 0.601.
Theoretical RT = 85.54 The internal resistance was computed with all
Experimental RT = 88.30 the data gathered and is shown as 319.65.
% Error = 3.13%
Table 1: Resistance of a Resistor Connected In series In parallel
in Parallel Electromotive 11.75 6.79
Force of the Cell
In contrast with the data gathered in (E)
activity shown in table 1, this activity Known 120.05 120.05
involves parallel circuits which means that Resistance (R)
the voltages are equal regardless of the Current (I) 0.098 0.056
resistance and now the currents passing Table 4: Cells in Series and Cells in Parallel
through the resistors are the ones that varies.
In getting now the total current, all individual The same principle as that in the third
currents must be added up together. The activity was used here. However, the cells are
computation for the theoretical total now connected in two ways: Parallel and
Series. In the setup where the cells are circuit, which has two or more paths
connected in series, the total electromotive for current flow, have the same
force is the sum of the two electromotive voltage across each component of the
force of the individual cells together. circuit, and if one of these are broken,
Meanwhile in the series connection of cells, the current continues to flow on other
determining the total electromotive force of paths of the parallel circuit. In series
the cells was easier since the two values for circuits, the resistance in two resistors
each are considered to be equal. It should be is the sum of its individual
taken note that even if the computation for the resistances.
total electromotive force depends on the 2. All in series: 20
connection, the computation for the total all in parallel, 5/4 ohm = 1.25
internal resistance is the same since only one 3 in parallel, 1 in series, 5/3 + 5 =
variable is being changed in this activity 6.67
which is the E. 2 in parallel, 2 in series, 5/2 + 52 =
By solely changing the way the cells 12.5
are connected a big difference in the total 2 strings of 2, strings in parallel.
internal resistance would be observed. 2*5/2 = 5
Looking at the difference of 0.15 and 1.2 it is two parallel pairs, in series, 2*5/2 =
clear that a parallel connection gives more 5
total internal resistance to the cells. 1 string of 3, 1, in parallel, 15 || 5 = 1
/ [ (1/5) + (1/15) ] = 3.75
Conclusion 3. Water is a conductor for energy, and
Ohms law states that the current on a since the human body is 70% made
conductor that is between two points is up of water, the latter is also a good
directly proportional to the voltage across the conductor. Dry skin, however has a
two points. The resistance is independent on high resistance to energy since it
the value of the current and it is a constant. lacks water in its surface, not
This law was verified in this experiment and allowing for signals to travel or be
it was used to determine values for the series conducted in this dry material. Lie
and parallel circuits properties such as detectors use this principle since
resistance, internal resistance, and total people who commit to lies have the
internal resistance. In activity 3 and 4 it was tendency to sweat when they
seen that when two voltage sources (cells) consciously lie. This creates a lower
having similar electromotive force is resistance and easily conducts
connected to a parallel and connected to a signals in the lie detector that
resistor, the total voltage is equal to the stressful activity, such as sweating
individual voltages but the total resistance is and a faster heart rate, is happening
reduced since the internal resistances are in in the subject.
parallel. When voltage sources are in series 4. The human circulatory system is
facing the same direction, their internal similar to an electric circuit in that
resistances add and their electromotive force both have current flowing in them,
add algebraically. either by form of blood and its other
constituents for the circulatory
Applications system, or energy signals that are
1. The laws for parallel and series transmitted through electric circuits,
resistance are as follows: A parallel which goes around and travels
 through every component in the ks/boundless-physics-textbook/circuits-and-
system. direct-currents-20/resistors-in-series-and-
5. A house is usually wired with parallel-151/charging-a-battery-emfs-in-
parallel circuits rather than series series-and-parallel-536-5597/
circuits. The reason for this is that a
parallel circuit would allow switches Cutnell, J.D. and Johnson, K.W. (2015).
to be turned on and off Introduction to Physics. John Wiley and
independently from each other since Sons, Inc.
every switch would have an
independent current flowing towards
it. If a house has a series circuit, it
would be very difficult to provide the
right power that would to flow in
each appliances because the potential
difference would vary depending on
the resistance of the appliance. When
house wiring is done in parallel this
problem does not arise as the
potential difference across each
appliance is the same and equal to
the potential difference being
provided by the power company.
6. A defibrillator works by using a
high-voltage (something like 200
1000 volts) to pass an electric current
through the heart so it's shocked into
working normally again. The
patient's heart receives roughly 300
joules of electrical energy. It consists
of an electric supply unit and two
metal electrodes called paddles that
are pressed very firmly to the
patient's chest. The important thing
is getting the current to flow through
the heart. In order for the electric
current to flow properly, and to
reduce the risk of skin burns, the
electrodes have to be applied close
enough together.

References
Boundless. Charging a Battery:
EMFs in Series and Parallel. Boundless
Physics. Boundless, 26 May. 2016. Retrieved
29 Nov. 2016 from
https://www.boundless.com/physics/textboo