Munali Boys High School/CURRENT ELECTRICITY/CHAPTER 2: ELECTRIC CIRCUITS

CHAPTER 2: ELECTRIC CIRCUITS
This chapter is meant for pupils of physics in high schools.

TWO TYPES OF CIRCUIT
There are two types of electric circuits.These are:
 * 1) Series Circuit
 * 2) Parallel Circuit

{{Key points|On Series and Parallel circuits: R = r1 + r2 + r3....     Where: R = effective resistance and r1,r2 and r3.... are the given resistance values. If the resistors are connected in parallel their effective resistance is found from the formula below.
 * 1) In a series cicuit the formula below is used to calculate the effective resistance.

1/R = 1/r1 + 1/r2 + 1/r3......... In a parallel circuit current is shared by the components(resistors).The higher the resistance of a component, the lower is the current that flows through it.In both cases(series and parallel circuits),current is calculated calculated from the formula: I = V/R   Where: I = current, V = voltage and R = effective resistance
 * 1) The current is the same everywhere in a series circuit. Therefore, same current flows through every component.

P.d = Ir                where: P.d = potential difference across a component I = current through the component r = resistance of a component In a series circuit the p.d depends on the resistance of a component.The higher the resistance the higher is the p.d across it.In a parallel circuit the p.d across each resistor is the same.Therefore, p.d acros r1=p.d across r2 = p.d across r3 etc.
 * 1) In series and parallel connections, the potential difference is found from the formula below

{{Self assessment|
 * 1) what is an electric circuit?
 * 2) How does a series circuit differ from a parallel circuit?
 * 3) A current of 4A flows through a component. The p.d across the component is 8V. calculate the resistance of the component}}