Laboratory Work No.

2
Series Circuits and Parallel Circuits

I. Introduction
Series and Parallel Circuits are common in any electronic or electrical
circuits. The total resistance of such resistors will not be the same for series and
parallel connection. Components of an electrical circuit or electronic circuit can be
connected in series, parallel, or series-parallel. The two simplest of these are called
series and parallel and occur frequently. Components connected in series are
connected along a single conductive path, so the same current flows through all of
the components but voltage is dropped (lost) across each of the resistances. In this
experiment we demonstrate and discuss simple circuits and the differences
between parallel and series circuit design and functions. The software Multisim is
to be used upon the gathering of data. In this software, user enables to conduct
laboratory experiment in material components to proceed in creating circuits. The
simulation focuses to unravel the principle about behavior of current, voltage,
power, and resistance upon varies of connection.

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II. Wiring Circuit

Trial no. 1 Trial no. 2

Trial no. 3 Trial no. 4

Figure 1.1 Voltage-Current Relations in a Series Circuit

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 Trial no. 1

Trial no. 2

Trial no. 3

Figure 1.2 Voltage-Current Relations in a Parallel Circuit

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 III. Data and Computation

Table 1.1

VT AT PT V1 V2 V3 P1 P2 P3
Trial (volts) (mA) (mW) (volts) (volts) (volts) (mW) (mW) (mW)
1 3 4,000 12,000 0.8 1.00 1.2 3,200 4,000 4,800
2 6 8,000 48,000 1.6 2.00 2.4 12,800 16,000 19,200
3 10 13,330 133,333 2.67 3.33 4.00 35,590 44,390 53,320
4 12 16,000 192,000 3.2 4.00 4.8 51,200 64,000 76,800
Voltage-Current Relations in a Series Circuit

Table 1.2 Total Voltage, VT : 10 Volts

Resistor Total Current Branch Currents (mA)

Trial Connection AT (mA) A4 A5 A6
1 R4 20,000 20 0 0
2 R4 //R5 30,000 20 10 0
3 R4 //R5 //R6 35,000 20 10 5
Voltage-Current Relations in a Parallel Circuit

(Brennan, 2020) From Kirchoff's Voltage Law, we know that the voltages around a loop in a circuit add up to zero.
Clockwise from negative to positive are considered positive and voltage drops across resistors are negative.

V - V1 - V2 = 0
Rearranging
V = V 1 + V2
Substitute for V1 + V2
V = IR1 + IR2 = I (R1 + R2)
Divide both sides by I
V / I = R1 + R2
But from Ohm's Law, we know V / I = total resistance
of the circuit. Let's call it R total Therefore
R total = R1 + R2
In general,, if we have n resistors:
R total =SoRfor1 + R2 + ...... Rn
n resistors
So to get the total resistance of resistors connected
in series, we just add all the values
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 (Brennan, 2020) If we have more than two resistors connected in parallel, the current I equals the sum of all the
currents flowing through the resistors.

I = I1 + I2 + I3. ........... + In
= V / R1 + V / R2 + V / R3 + ....... V/Rn
= V (1/R1 + 1/R2 + V/R3 ...... 1/Rn)
Rearranging
I/V = (1/R1 + 1/R2 + V/R3 ...... 1/Rn)
If V / I = R total then
I/V = 1 / R total = (1/R1 + 1/R2 + V/R3 ...... 1/Rn)
So our final formula is
1/R total = (1/R1 + 1/R2 + V/R3 ...... 1/Rn)

Table 1.1 Computation

P=VxI formula for Power (Watt)

Trial 1 (3V) Trial 2 (6V)

PT = VT x IT = 3 x 4 = 12W or 12000mW PT = VT x IT = 6 x 8 = 48W or 48000mW

P1= V1 x IT = 0.8 x 4 = 3.2W or 3200mW P1= V1 x IT = 1.6 x 8 = 12.8W or 12800mW

P2= V2 x IT = 1 x 4 = 4W or 4000mW P2= V2 x IT = 2 x 8 = 16W or 16000mW

P3= V3 x IT = 1.2 x 4 = 4.8W or 4800mW P3= V3 x IT = 2.4 x 8 = 19.2W or 19200mW

Trial 3 (10V) Trial 4 (12V)

PT = VT x IT = 10 x 13.3 = 133W or 133,333mW PT = VT x IT = 12 x 16 = 192W or 192,000mW

P1= V1 x IT = 2.67 x 13.3 = 35.59W or 35,590mW P1= V1 x IT = 3.2 x 16 = 51.2W or 51,200mW

P2= V2 x IT = 3.33 x 13.3 = 44.39W or 44,390mW P2= V2 x IT = 4 x 16 = 64W or 64,000mW

P3= V3 x IT = 4 x 13.3 = 53.32W or 53,3200mW P3= V3 x IT = 4.8 x 16 = 76.8W or 76,800mW

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IV. Answers to Questions and Solutions to Problems
1. Why is the equivalent resistance of a series circuit larger than any of the individual
resistance in the connection?

The number of individual resistors is equivalent to the resistance of a circuit connected in

series. So when you compare the resistance equivalent is much greater than the individual
resistors. In case of parallel resistor connection the equivalent resistance is lower than the
individual resistors.

2. Why is the equivalent resistance of a parallel circuit smaller than any of the
individual resistance in the connection?

n parallel circuits, the more pathways you have make it easier for electrons to get from
the power side to the return side of the circuit. This means that resistance decreases with
more paths. In other words, total resistance gets lower and lower with more paths. The
total current in the circuit is the sum of the currents through each branch.

3. Why is there a common current in a series circuit?

Resistors are connected in “Series”, when they are chained together in a single line Then,
resistors in series have a Common Current flowing through them as the current that flows
through one resistor must also flow through the others as it can only take one path. Then
the amount of current that flows through a set of resistors in series will be the same at all
points in a series resistor network.

4. How will the voltage divide in a series circuit when the resistance units have (a)
equal resistances (b) unequal resistances?

a. When the two resistors in the voltage divider are of the same value, the voltage is cut
in half.

b. When the resistors are of different values, you must do a little math to calculate the
voltage at the center of the divider. The formula is as follows:

5. How will the current divide in a parallel circuit when the resistance units have (a)
equal resistances (b) unequal resistances?

a. Whenever two or more parallel resistors are equivalent then the total resistor will be
divided by the total number of parallel circuit resistors. You can split the current to each
resistors properly in that process. A parallel circuit, for example, has a total current of 20
mA considering that two equivalent resistors have been provided, each of which will
have a value of 10 mA.

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 b. Whenever a parallel circuit has different resistances, the amount of resistance to part
ways will depend on the current. The less resistance would generate greater volume of
current than the resistors which have only low resistivity.

6. What will happen if a break occurs in a series circuit? How about in a parallel
circuit?

There would be no current flowing at all if a break occurs in the series circuit, would be
known as open circuit. Whereas in the case of a parallel circuit, where there is a break
from one connection, the components on separate branches continue to operate. Only that
particular component will be disconnected from the circuit without shutting down any
other load.

7. Three loads X, Y and Z are all connected in parallel to a 125 volt DC source. Load X
has a resistance of 5 ohms while load Y takes 5 kW of power and load Z draws 60
amps of current.   Calculate the following

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V. Data Analysis and Interpretation
My analysis on the Table 1.1 that the data gathered shows how can resistor value
manipulate the power consumption. This table enable us that the higher the
resistance value of a resistor in a series circuit take the more power. If adding a
resistor Connecting resistors in series like this across a single DC supply has one
major advantage, different voltages appear across each resistor.

Power shows what part of the circuit has the highest tolerance in voltage drop. It
shows that we recorded a 76Watt of power in a 12V power supply which is quite
high due to current flow. A 16 Ampere current can easily melt a copper wire rated
for 0.25W resistors.

This simple circuit splits the supply voltage proportionally across each resistor as
Figure 2.1 shows bellow. In the series chain with the amount of voltage drop being
determined by the resistors value and as we now know, the current through a series
resistor circuit is common to all resistors. A larger resistance will have a larger
voltage drop across it, while a smaller resistance will have a smaller voltage drop
across it

Figure 2.1
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My analysis on the Table 1.2 shows that resistors in parallel connection work like
water pipes, the more space to flow the faster the transfer of volume. This principle
works also in electronics. The water is the electrons and force is the voltage that
made electron flows through parallel connections. Upon the first trial only 1
resistor is in connect, this connection gave same current as the load release. In trial
no.2 the two resistors share their current load that produce current to even move
more. Same principle determined if the third resistor added.

By the graphical date bellow Table 2.2, we can see that total current grow more as
another resistor been added in a fixed voltage source. It is also seen in the graph
that a certain value of resistor gave certain additional current. The higher the
resistance of a resistor the lower current can be added.

Since there are multiple paths for the supply current to flow through, the current
may not be the same through all the branches in the parallel network. However, the
voltage drop across all of the resistors in a parallel resistive network IS the same.
Then, Resistors in Parallel have a Common Voltage across them and this is true for
all parallel connected elements.

Figure 2.2

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VI. Findings and Conclusion

Based on the data I gathered:

1. When solving any combinational resistor circuit that is made up of resistors

in series and parallel branches, the first step we need to take is to identify the
simple series and parallel resistor branches and replace them with equivalent
resistors.
2. In this experiment, we could determine the total current flowing through a
series circuit and parallel circuit, the voltage across each resistor and the
current flowing through a series circuit and parallel circuit; to investigate the
relationship between the voltages across each resistor and the total voltage
and the relationship between the current flowing through each resistor and
the total current. We could determine the current and voltage through a
series and parallel circuit by using Ohm’s Law.
3. Resistance, current and voltage have a relationship depending on what type
of circuit is it, either parallel or series circuit. In a series circuit we found out
that the current here is constant and the voltage and resistance is directly
proportional to each other. While in a parallel circuit we found out that
voltage is constant and the resistance and current are inversely proportional
to each other. In performing the experiment, we must consider the
connection of wires and relationship of the parallel and series circuit.
Because considering the 2 factors can minimize the errors that we can obtain
in the experiment.

VII. References

Brennan E., (2020, September 01), Owlcation, Resistors in Series and Parallel Formula
Derivation, Retrieved from: https://owlcation.com/stem/Resistors-in-Series-and-Parallel-
Formula-Derivation

Submitted by: MrJ

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Subject and Section: 

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