1) Parallel Circuits

2) Current

3) Ammeter

4) Equivalent Resistance

5) Voltage Drops for Parallel Branches

6) Mathematical Analysis of Parallel Circuits

Parallel Circuits:-

As mentioned in a two or more electrical devices in a circuit can be connected by series connections or by parallel connections. When all the devices are connected using parallel connections, the circuit is referred to as a parallel circuit. In a parallel circuit, each device is placed in its own separate branch. The presence of branch lines means that there are multiple pathways by which charge can traverse the external circuit. Each charge passing through the loop of the external circuit will pass through a single resistor present in a single branch. When arriving at the branching location or node, a charge makes a choice as to which branch to travel through on its journey back to the low potential terminal.

A short comparison and contrast between series and parallel circuits was made in an earlier.In that section, it was emphasized that the act of adding more resistors to a parallel circuit results in the rather unexpected result of having less overall resistance. Since there are multiple pathways by which charge can flow, adding another resistor in a separate branch provides another pathway by which to direct charge through the main area of resistance within the circuit. This decreased resistance resulting from increasing the number of branches will have the effect of increasing the rate at which charge flows (also known as the current). In an effort to make this rather unexpected result more reasonable, a tollway analogy was introduced. A tollbooth is the main location of resistance to car flow on a tollway. Adding additional tollbooths within their own branch on a tollway will provide more pathways for cars to flow through the toll station. These additional tollbooths will decrease the overall resistance to car flow and increase the rate at which they flow.

Registration is free. Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content.