SERIES AND PARALLEL CIRCUIT

Shally Rahmawaty, Andi Agustina

Laboratory of Fundamental Physics Department of Physics FMIPA

State University of Makassar

Abstract. Have performed experiment about series and parallel circuit. The objective of this experiment,
we expected to skilled in designing the circuit arrangement of series and parallel resistor, skilled in
placing and using basicmeter, differentiate the function composition of series and parallel resistor,
understand the principle of kirchhoffs law, and understanding characteristic of series and parallel circuit
resistor. We did two experiments in this lab. In the first activity, we aimed to know the strong electric
current and voltage in series circuit. While in second activity, we aimed to know the strong electric
current and voltage in parallel circuit. The apparatus used in this experiment consisted of power supply
AC/DC 0-12 V, two resistors with different values (we used 150 and 56 ), basicmeter 90, and
connecting cable. From the experiments we have done, we can conclude that in series circuit, the resistor
serves as a voltage divider. While in parallel circuit, the resistor serves as a current divider.

KEYWORD: kirchhoffs law, series and parallel circuit, current, voltage

INTRODUCTION
When there are two or more electrical devices present in a circuit with an energy source,
there are a couple of basic means by which to connect them. They can be connected in series or
connected in parallel. Suppose that there are three light bulbs connected together in the same
circuit. If connected in series, then they are connected in such a way that an individual charge
would pass through each one of the light bulbs in consecutive fashion. When in series, charge
passes through every light bulb. If connected in parallel, a single charge passing through the
external circuit would only pass through one of the light bulbs. The light bulbs are placed within
a separate branch line, and a charge traversing the external circuit will pass through only one of
the branches during its path back to the low potential terminal. The means by which the resistors
are connected will have a major effect upon the overall resistance of the circuit, the total current
in the circuit, and the current in each resistor.
In this lab we study general methods for analyzing such networks, including how to nd
voltages and currents of circuit elements. Well learn how to determine the equivalent resistance
for several resistors connected in series or in parallel. For more general networks we need two
rules called Kirchhoffs rules. One is based on the principle of conservation of charge applied to
a junction.We will look at two recurring resistor combinations, series combinations and parallel
combinations. Resistors turn up in all kinds of circuits, ranging from hair dryers and space
heaters to circuits that limit or divide current or reduce or divide a voltage. Such circuits often
contain several resistors, so its appropriate to consider combinations of resistors. A simple
example is a string of light bulbs used for holiday decorations; each bulb acts as a resistor, and
from a circuit-analysis perspective the string of bulbs is simply a combination of resistors.
By doing this lab we are expected to skilled in designing the circuit arrangement of
series and parallel resistor, skilled in placing and using basicmeter, differentiate the function
composition of series and parallel resistor, understand the principle of kirchhoffs law, and
understanding characteristic of series and parallel circuit resistor.

THEORY
The measurement results of the potential difference across the resistor R 1 and R2
(different values) are arranged in series showed different results, but if the measured current
through the two resistors then obtained the same measurements. By contrast, if the resistors are
arranged in parallel, the results obtained by different measurements. The current through each
resistor is different, but the voltage across each resistor measurement equal.
Then summed in each resistor is equal to the number of voltage sources. Meanwhile, if
the resistors are arranged in parallel, the resistor serves as a flow divider, which means that if a
strong electric current passing through each resistor is measured, it will have a value equal to the
total current before branching points (Law I Kirchoof).
Kirchhoff's circuit laws are two equalities that deal with the current and potential
difference (commonly known as voltage) in the lumped element model of electrical circuits.
They were first described in 1845 by Gustav Kirchhoff. This generalized the work of Georg
Ohm and preceded the work of Maxwell. Widely used in electrical engineering, they are also
called Kirchhoff's rules or simply Kirchhoff's laws.
This law is also called Kirchhoff's first law, Kirchhoff's point rule, or Kirchhoff's
junction rule (or nodal rule). The principle of conservation of electric charge implies that:
At any node (junction) in an electrical circuit, the sum of currents flowing into that
node is equal to the sum of currents flowing out of that node, or:
The algebraic sum of currents in a network of conductors meeting at a point is zero.
I = I out (1.1)

When two or more resistors are connected together in Figure 1.1, they are said to be in
series. In a series connection, if an amount of charge Q exits resistor R1, charge Q must also
enter the second resistor R2. Otherwise, charge will accumulate on the wire between the
resistors. Thus, the same amount of charge passes through both resistors in a given time interval.
Hence, for a series combination of two resistors, the currents are the same in both resistors
because the amount of charge that
passes through R1 must also pass
through R2 in the same time interval.
From Kirchoffs 1st Law:
Figure 1.1 Series circuit
(1.2)

Which, as mentioned above, is a statement about the conservation of energy. Each

resistor dissipates, in the form of heat, a small part of the power provided by the power supply.
And the total power provided is always equal to the total power disapated.

We are now going to combine this Kirchoff equation with Ohms Law:

(1.3)

which tells you what the current is through an Ohmic resistor depending on the potential
difference from one side to the other. In other words, it says that, for an Ohmic resistor, the
current is proportional to the potential difference. So this isnt really a law of physics, rather
just a definition of what an Ohmic conductor is.

Keeping the labels the same, we get:

But, the circuit is in series, therefore there is only one current through the whole network. The
circuit doesnt branch at all, so Kirchoffs 1st law tells us that:

(1.4)

So we can divide the whole equation by the current to obtain:

(1.5)

Figure 1.2 Parallel

circuit
 If the resistors are in parallel, as in Fig. 1.2, the current through each resistor need not
be the same. But the potential difference between the terminals of each resistor must be the
same and equal to Vn.

Kirchoffs 1st law applied to our parallel circuit looks like this:

(1.6)

This says that the charges that start at the power supply are separated between the
different branches of the parallel circuit.

Kirchoffs 2nd difference law implies this:

(1.7)

This is because each resistor forms its own loop around each end of the power supply.
To give a gravitational analogy, it all raindrops falling from a cloud lose the same gravitational
potential energy when the hit the ground, no matter that they fell through different parts of air.
Similarly, all charges that move through the circuit are at the same electrical height to begin
with and, no matter which resistor they fall through, they lose the same amount of electrical
potential energy. This energy is transfered to one of the resistors as heat.

We can combine these two equations by dividing one by the other:

But all the potential differences are equal and so this can be rewritten as:

Rearranging Ohms law gives:

And so, we have:

 (1.8)

EXPERIMENT METHODOLOGY
Activity 1 Series Circuit
Variable identification
Control variable : resistance (R)
Manipulation variable : voltage source
Respond variable : strong electric current (I), voltage (V)
Activity 2 Parallel Circuit
Variable identification
Control variable : resistance (R)
Manipulation variable : voltage source
Respond variable : strong electric current (I), voltage (V)
The apparatus we used in this experiment consisted of power supply AC/DC 0-12 V,

two resistors with different values (we used R 1 150 and R2 56 ), basicmeter 90, and

connecting cable. The working principle of this activity, we sequenced each of the device
experiments that have been provided. We used 3 V, 6 V, 9 V, and 12 V as the source voltage to
measure the strong electric current through each resistor and voltage each resistor in series and
parallel circuit. Then the data obtain recorded in observation table.

EXPERIMENT RESULT AND DATA ANALYSIS

A. Experiment Result
Activity 1. Series circuit resistor
R1 : 150 R2 : 56
Strong electric current (mA)
Voltage Voltage on Voltage on Total
No. Between
source (V) Before R1 After R2 R1 (V) R2 (V) Voltage (V)
R1 & R2
1. 3 |14 1| |14 1| |14 1| |2.0 0.5| |1.0 0.5| |3.0 0.5|
2. 6 |28 1| |28 1| |28 1| |4.0 0.5| |2.0 0.5| |6.0 0.5|
3. 9 |42 1| |42 1| |42 1| |6.0 0.5| |2.5 0.5| |8.5 0.5|
4. 12 |56 1| |56 1| |56 1| |8.0 0.5| |3.0 0.5| |11.0 0.5|

Activity 2. Parallel circuit resistor

R1 : 150 R2 : 56
No Voltage Strong electric current (mA) Voltage on Voltage on Total
 Total across
. source (V) across R2 R1 (V) R2 (V) Voltage (V)
(before point) R1
1. 3 |0.08 0.01| |29 1| |0.06 0.01| |3.0 0.5| |3.0 0.5| |3.0 0.5|
2. 6 |0.14 0.01| |38 1| |0.10 0.01| |6.0 0.5| |6.0 0.5| |6.0 0.5|
3. 9 |0.22 0.01| |58 1| |0.14 0.01| |9.0 0.5| |9.0 0.5| |9.0 0.5|
4. 12 |0.24 0.01| |70 1| |0.18 0.01| |10.0 0.5| |10.0 0.5| |10.0 0.5|

B. Data Analysis
Activity 1. Series circuit resistor
150 56
Is =
I1 = I2

Rs =
R1 + R2

Vs =
V1 + V2

For voltage source 3 V

Rs =150 + 56 =206

V R 1=2.0 V

V R 2=1.0V

V R 1+V R 2=|2.0+ 1.0| V

V R 1+V R 2=|3.0 0.5|V

V 1 2.0 V
I1 = = =0.01333 A
R1 150

V 2 1.0V
I2 = = =0.01786 A
R2 56

V tot 3. 0 V
I s= = =0.01456 A
R s 206

For voltage source 6 V

V R 1=4.0 V

V R 2=2.0 V

V R 1+V R 2=|4.0+2.0| V
 V R 1+V R 2=|6.0 0.5|V

V 1 4.0 V
I1 = = =0.02666 A
R1 150

V 2 2. 0V
I2 = = =0.03571 A
R2 56

V tot 6. 0 V
I s= = =0.029126 A
R s 206

For voltage source 9 V

V R 1=6.0 V

V R 2=2.5 V

V R 1+V R 2=|6.0+2.5| V

V R 1+V R 2=|8.5 0.5|V

V 1 6.0 V
I1 = = =0.04 A
R1 150

V 2 2.5 V
I2 = = =0.04464 A
R2 56

V tot 8.5 V
I s= = =0.04126 A
R s 206

For voltage source 12 V

V R 1=8.0 V

V R 2=3.0 V

V R 1+V R 2=|8.0+3.0| V

V R 1+V R 2=|12.0 0.5|V

V 1 8.0 V
I1 = = =0.05333 A
R1 150

V 2 3.0 V
I2 = = =0.05357 A
R2 56
 V tot 11 V
I s= = =0.053398 A
R s 206

V R 1+V R 2=V T , so R1 and R2 dividing the source voltage

Because value of

So that,
VT =
V R 1+V R 2

IT R T = I 1 R1 + I 2 R 2

From the experiment we know

I T =I 1=I 2 and RT =R1 + R2

So, if there are n series resistors are arranged, then the value of RT is
RT =R1 + R2 ++ Rn

Activity 2. Parallel circuit resistor 150

Vp =
V1 = V2
56
Ip =
I1 + I2

1 1 1
RP = R1 + R2

1 1 1
RP = R1 + R2

1 1 1
RP = 150 + 56

1 56+ 150
RP = 8400 = 0.0245

RP =40. 816

For voltage source 3 V

V 1 3 . 0V
I1 = = =0.02 m A
R1 150
 V 2 3. 0V
I2 = = =0.05357 m A
R2 56

V tot 3,0 V
I p= = =0.0735m A
R p 40.816

For voltage source 6 V

V 1 6. 0V
I1 = = =0.04 A
R1 150

V 2 6. 0V
I2 = = =0.107 A
R2 56

V tot 6. 0 V
I p= = =0.147 A
R p 40.816

For voltage source 9 V

V 1 9. 0V
I1 = = =0.06 A
R1 150

V 2 9. 0 V
I2 = = =0.16071 A
R2 56

V tot 9,0 V
I p= = =0.22 A
R p 40.816

For voltage source 12 V

V 1 12.0 V
I1 = = =0.0 8 A
R1 150

V 2 12.0 V
I2 = = =0. 214 A
R2 56

V tot 12. 0 V
I p= = =0.294 A
R p 40.816

Because in parallel circuit

I P=I 1 + I 2 and according to ohms law V =IR so that :
 VT V1 V 2
= +
RT R1 R 2

And from experiment that

V tot =V 1=V 2 . So that we know:

1 1 1
= +
RT R1 R2

EXPLANATION
In the lab this time, we carry out experiments about series and parallel circuit resistor. In
this lab, there are two activities. In the first activity, we aimed to know the strong electric

current and voltage in series circuit. We used two resistor with different value R 1 150 and

R2 56 . While the source voltage we used to measure the current through the resistor and

voltage are 3 V, 6 V, 9 V, and 12 V. In the first source voltage 3 V, we got that the voltage in R 1 is

2 and in R2 is 1 . While the strong electric current each resistor has the same value

14 mA. In the source voltage 6 V, we got that the voltage in R 1 is 4 and in R2 is 2 .

And the strong electric current each resistor has the same value 28 mA. In the source voltage 9

V, we got that the voltage in R1 is 6 and in R is 2.5 . And the strong electric current
2

each resistor has the same value 42 mA. In the source voltage 12 V, we got that the voltage in R 1

is 8 and in R2 is 3 . And the strong electric current each resistor has the same value

56 mA. We found the value of resistance in source voltage 9 V did not same, maybe it caused by
inaccuracy when reading the scale. From experiment we can conclude that the strong electric

Is I1 I 2 . And the
current has the same value it is accordance with theory = =

voltage in the circuit can be found by summing the value of V 1 and V2. So,
Vs =
V1 +

V2 .
 In second activity, we aimed to know the strong electric current and voltage in parallel

circuit. Same as activity 1, we used two resistor with different value R 1 150 and R2 56

. Also the source voltage we used to measure the current through the resistor and voltage

are 3 V, 6 V, 9 V, and 12 V. In the first source voltage 3 V, we got that the voltage in R 1 is 3

and in R2 is 3 . While the strong electric current each resistor are I 0.29 mA, I 0.06
1 2

mA. If we add the value both of it so we got its total current. . In the first source voltage 6 V, we

got that the voltage in R1 is 6 and in R2 is 6 . While the strong electric current each

resistor are I1 0.38 mA, I2 0.10 mA. In the source voltage 9 V, we got that the voltage in R 1 is 9

and in R2 is 9 . While the strong electric current each resistor are I 0.58 mA, I 0.14
1 2

mA. In the source voltage 12 V, we got that the voltage in R 1 is 10 and in R2 is 10 .

And strong electric current each resistor are I 1 0.70 mA, I2 0.18 mA. In parallel circuit, we

known that
V tot =V 1=V 2 and
Ip =
I1 +
I 2 . Results we obtained in accordance

with the theory.

CONCLUSION
From the experiment we have done, we can conclude that type of arrangement
determine the value of a variable resistor and a strong voltage electric current in the circuit. In
the series arrangement, serves as a resistor voltage divider, which means if the voltage across
each resistor is added together then the amount is equal to the voltage source. Whereas if the
resistors are arranged in parallel, it serves as a divider resistor currents, which means that if a
strong electric current passing through each resistor is measured, it will have a value equal to the
total current before branching points.

REFERENCE
Sheils, James. 2011. An Introduction to Theoretical Physics (Part 1 of 5).
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April 13rd 2014.
Serway & Jewett. 2004. Physics for Scientists and Engineers 6th Edition. Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Pomona.
Tim Dosen Fisika Dasar 2 Jurusan Fisika FMIPA UNM. 2014. Penuntun Fisika Dasar II. Fisika
FMIPA UNM. Makassar.

Young & Freedman. 2012. Sears and Zemanskys University Physics with Modern Physics 13 th
Edition. Pearson Education. San Francisco.