Question

1. Using what you know about resistance, current, and Ohm's Law, hypothesize about how parallel resistors would affect current flow. What would you expect the effect of the resistance of two equal resistors in parallel to be on the current flow, compared to the resistance of one alone?

-What are the different advantages of a) the series vs. b) the parallel circuits? The resistors could be replaced with lightbulbs or any other household objects including switches and fuses. Can you imagine a real situation in which you would want c) a parallel circuit? Can you imagine a situation in which you would want d) a series circuit?

Answer 1

Parallel combination reduces the overall resistance. So the current in case of a parallel combination of two equal resistors would be double as compared to the resistance of one alone.

Series circuits are useful in such situations where there is a possibility of short circuit and by putting a fuse in series with the household circuit (a parallel circuit), we can safeguard our appliances. While household circuits are parallel circuits because if in case one of the appliances fail or breaks its circuit, the other appliances would continue to operate because of parallel combination(Had it been a series combination, it would have been disastrous in many cases).