Electric Circuits: Ohm's Law + Series/Parallel
The dance of current, voltage and resistance
Summary
Voltage (V), current (I) and resistance (R) are the three basic ideas of electricity. The relationship between them is very simple: V = I · R. Circuits are connected in series or in parallel; in series the same current flows through every component, in parallel the same voltage is applied to every branch. Household wiring is parallel, which is why the other lamps keep working when one burns out.
In depth
In 1827 the German physicist Georg Ohm discovered the quantitative relationship in wires: there is a constant of proportionality between the push (voltage) and the flow (current), which he called resistance. The formula V = I·R is the cornerstone of modern electrical engineering. The way a circuit is connected changes its behaviour: in a series connection the components are lined up one after another, the current stays the same but the voltage drops across each resistor. In a parallel connection each component has its own access to the battery; the voltage is the same but the current is shared out. Kirchhoff's two laws bring these systems together: the sum of the currents entering a junction equals the sum of those leaving it (the current law), and the voltage drops around a loop of the circuit add up to the battery voltage (the voltage law). These three rules, Ohm's plus Kirchhoff's two, can solve any electronic circuit.
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