RESISTORS IN SERIES AND PARALLEL Resistors are probably the most commonly occurring components in electronic circuits.

Practical circuits often contain very complicated combinations of resistors. It is, therefore, useful to have a set of rules for finding the equivalent resistance of some general arrangement of resistors. It turns out that we can always find the equivalent resistance by repeated application of two simple rules. These rules relate to resistors connected in series and in parallel.

Figure 18: Two resistors connected in series. Consider two resistors connected in series, as shown in Fig. 18. It is clear that the same current flows through both resistors. For, if this were not the case, charge would build up in one or other of the resistors, which would not correspond to a steady-state situation (thus violating the fundamental assumption of this section). Suppose that the potential drop from point to point resistors is and . This drop is the sum of the potential drops , respectively. Thus, (135) and across the two

According to Ohm's law, the equivalent resistance of the potential drop across these points and the current

between and is the ratio which flows between them. Thus, (136)

giving (137)

Here, we have made use of the fact that the current is common to all three resistors. Hence, the rule is The equivalent resistance of two resistors connected in series is the sum of the individual resistances.

For

resistors connected in series, Eq. (137) generalizes to

Figure 19: Two resistors connected in parallel. Consider two resistors connected in parallel, as shown in Fig. 19. It is clear, from the figure, that the potential drop across the two resistors is the same. In general, however, the currents and which flow through resistors and , respectively, are different.

According to Ohm's law, the equivalent resistance potential drop across these points and the current

between and is the ratio of the which flows between them. This current

must equal the sum of the currents and flowing through the two resistors, otherwise charge would build up at one or both of the junctions in the circuit. Thus, (138)

It follows that (139)

giving (140)

Here, we have made use of the fact that the potential drop is common to all three resistors. Clearly, the rule is The reciprocal of the equivalent resistance of two resistances connected in parallel is the sum of the reciprocals of the individual resistances. For resistors connected in parallel, Eq. (140) generalizes to

Summary of the formulas in series and parallel-connected resistors:

References: y y

http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/302l/lectures/node58.html http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/resis.html

KIRCHHOFFS LAWS Although useful to be able to reduce series and parallel resistors in a circuit when they occur, circuits in general are not composed exclusively of such combinations. For such cases there are a powerful set of relations called Kirchhoff's laws which enable one to analyze arbitrary circuits. There are two such laws:
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the current law or the junction rule: for a given junction or node in a circuit, the sum of the currents entering equals the sum of the currents leaving. This law is a statement of charge conservation. For example, in Fig. 17.6,

Figure 17.6: Illustration of Kirchhoff's junction rule

The junction rule tells us I1 = I2 + I3 .

Two points might need further explanation: a) A node is the technical term for a junction in a circuit, where two or more branches are joined together. b) The phrase algebraic sum reminds us that we have to take account of the current direction, as well as magnitude, when applying Kirchhoffs Current Law.
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the voltage law or the loop rule: around any closed loop in a circuit, the sum of the potential differences across all elements is zero. This law is a statement of energy conservation, in that any charge that starts and ends up at the same point with the same velocity must have gained as much energy as it lost. For example, in Fig. 17.7,

Figure 17.7: Illustration of Kirchhoff's loop rule

where the boxes denote a circuit element, the loop rule tells us 0 = (Vb - Va) + (Vc - Vb) + (Vd - Vc) + (Vd - Va) . The second law entails certain sign conventions for potential differences across circuit elements. For batteries and resistors, these conventions are summarized in Fig. 17.8. Note that in these conventions the current always flows from a high to a low potential. Figure 17.8: Sign conventions for Kirchhoff's loop rule

In analyzing circuits using Kirchhoff's laws, it is helpful to keep in mind the following guidelines. 1. Draw the circuit and assign labels to the known and unknown quantities, including currents in each branch. You must assign directions to currents; don't worry if you guess incorrectly the direction of a particular unknown current, as the answer resulting from the analysis in this case will simply come out negative, but with the right magnitude. 2. Apply the junction rule to as many junctions in the circuit as possible to obtain the maximum number of independent relations. 3. Apply the loop rule to as many loops in the circuit as necessary in order to solve for the unknowns. Note that if one has n unknowns in a circuit one will need n independent equations. In general there will be more loops present in a circuit than one needs to solve for all the unknowns; the relations resulting from these ``extra'' loops can be used as a consistency check on your final answers. 4. Solve the resulting set of simultaneous equations for the unknown quantities. Proficiency in analyzing circuits with Kirchhoff's laws, particularly with regard to the sign conventions and with solving simultaneous equations, comes with practice.

References: y y http://www.reseeds.com/kirchhoff.pdf http://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/physics/curr/node8.html