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We can set up electrical circuits in more than one way. Two of these common setups are known as series and parallel.
In a series circuit (Fig 1), the components are placed end to end and electricity has to flow between every component to ‘make’ the circuit work. Look at Fig 1. What would happen if we removed one of the LED’s? Would the circuit still work?
In a series circuit (Fig 1), the components are placed end to end and electricity has to flow between every component to ‘make’ the circuit work. Look at Fig 1. What would happen if we removed one of the LED’s? Would the circuit still work?
Fig 2 shows a circuit set up in parallel. We can see from the diagram that this time the two LED’s are in separate tracks in the circuit. What do you think would happen if we removed one of the LED’s from the circuit in Fig 2?
It would be an interesting experiment to those of you who are new to electronics to build these two circuits on a prototype board (see section entitled 'using prototype board') and experiment with numbers of LED’s in each circuit and numbers of parallel tracks.
You should be able to notice the subtle differences between these two sets of circuits and you may wish to note the brightness of the LED’s if you add more in either setup.As you work through the exercises in this book you will be able to note where series and parallel circuits are used and why they are important to us.
It would be an interesting experiment to those of you who are new to electronics to build these two circuits on a prototype board (see section entitled 'using prototype board') and experiment with numbers of LED’s in each circuit and numbers of parallel tracks.
You should be able to notice the subtle differences between these two sets of circuits and you may wish to note the brightness of the LED’s if you add more in either setup.As you work through the exercises in this book you will be able to note where series and parallel circuits are used and why they are important to us.
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