For equal resistors, a series connection adds their resistances, reducing the current supplied by a fixed ideal voltage source. Parallel branches each experience the full source voltage and their currents add at the junctions. The animated markers indicate continuity and branching; they are not electrons being created at a junction or consumed inside a bulb.
Light, sound and electricity · Discover & try
How do different circuit paths change the result?
Reading level 3 of 5 · IndependentChange
Word help
series
Components connected along one common current route.
parallel
Branches connected across the same pair of nodes.
Watch · Try · Explain
See how it works
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Ideal DC source and equal ohmic loads; glow is explanatory, not calibrated bulb brightness.
What to look for
- Series shares one current route
- Parallel shares two connection nodes
- One open branch need not break another
Explain what you noticed
Three equal loads use separate parallel branches. One branch is opened. What happens to the other two in this ideal model?
Keep this idea: Trace paths and shared connections before judging a circuit.
Follow the sources
Source material checked 2026-10-28. Explanations and activities by Nepedia. Source links do not imply endorsement.
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