There are two other kinds of circuits and those invlove more than one charge. They are called parallel and series circuits. A series circuit, shown above on the left, is a circuit that has only one path for the electric current to flow. If it is broken at any point, the devices -like a ligtbulb- will all stop working. This happens because all electrical devices are on the same current path and the current is the same. A parallel circuit, like the one shown on the right, has more than one path for the electric current to follow. The current leaving the charge branches out so the electrons can easily flow through both of the different paths. The paths are not dependent on each other, so if one path is broken, the other one will still work. The difference between a series circuit and a parallel circuit is that the current through each path in a parallel circuit is different and depends on the electrical resistance in each path. |
