Eman Hamed 10A

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SERIES AND PARALLEL CIRCUITS
Vocabulary Review
For each description on the left, write the letter of the matching item.

series circuit 1. a circuit in which there is only one current path a. ammeter
fuse 2. a short piece of metal that melts if a current that is too b. circuit breaker
large passes through it c. combination
short circuit series-parallel
3. the occurrence when a circuit forms that has a very low circuit
resistance
d. equivalent
4. a circuit in which there are several different paths for a resistance
parallel circuit current e. fuse
5. an automatic switch that opens a circuit when the f. ground-fault
circuit breaker current reaches some set value, stopping electric interrupter
charge flow g. parallel circuit
combination 6. a circuit that has some branches in parallel and some in h. series circuit
series-parallel series
circuit i. short circuit
equivalent 7. the value of a single resistor that could replace all j. voltage divider
resistance resistors in a circuit without changing the current k. voltmeter
ammeter 8. a device used to measure the current in part of a circuit
9. a device used to measure the potential difference
voltmeter between two points
ground-fault
10. a device that detects small differences in current caused
interrupter
by an extra current path and opens the circuit
11. a series circuit used to produce a voltage source from a
voltage divider
higher-voltage battery

SECTION 1 Simple Circuits

In your textbook, read about currents in series circuits.
Circle the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

1. The current is ____ a series circuit.

a. higher at the beginning of c. lower at the beginning of
b. the same everywhere in d. variable in

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2. In an electric circuit, the potential difference provided by the generator or other energy source,
Vsource, is equal to the ____ of drops in electric potential across the resistors.
a. difference c. sum
b. product d. average
3. Which of the following equations is not correct?
a. I = Vsource/(R1 + R2) c. I = Vsource/(R1 + R2+ R3)
b. I = Vsource/(R) d. I = R3 + (Vsource)/(R1 + R2)
4. Which of the following equations computes the equivalent resistance for a series circuit with
four resistors?
a. R = R1 + R2 + R3 + R4 c. 1/R = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3 + 1/R4
b. R = R1  R2  R3  R4 d. R = (R1  R2) (R3  R4)
5. In a series circuit, the equivalent resistance is ____ any single resistance.
a. larger than c. equal to
b. determined by d. smaller than
6. If the potential difference across the battery does not change, adding more devices in the
series ____ the current.
a. sometimes decreases c. sometimes increases
b. always decreases d. always increases
7. To find the current in a series circuit, first calculate the ____ .
a. potential difference c. power
b. equivalent resistance d. equivalent voltage

In your textbook, read about parallel circuits.

Refer to the circuit diagram below to answer questions 14–18. Circle the letter of the choice that best answers each
question.

14. What type of circuit does the diagram represent?

a. a series circuit c. a combination series-parallel circuit
b. a parallel circuit d. a tandem circuit

Chapter 23  Series and Parallel Circuits

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 15. How many current paths are in this circuit?
a. one c. four
b. three d. five
16. How would you calculate the total current of this circuit?
a. Find the average of the currents through each path.
b. Subtract the currents through each path.
c. Add the currents through each path.
d. It is not possible to calculate total current for this circuit.
17. If the 10- resistor were removed from the circuit, which would not be true?
a. The current through the 20- resistor would be unchanged.
b. The sum of the current in the branches of the circuit would change.
c. The total current through the generator would change.
d. The current through the 50- resistor would change.
18. Which of the following is true for this circuit?
a. The equivalent resistance of this circuit is smaller than 10 .
b. R = R1 + R2 + R3
c. R = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3
d. R = R1  R2  R3

Chapter 23  Series and Parallel Circuits

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SECTION 2 Applications of Circuits

In your textbook, read about safety devices.
For each statement below, write true or rewrite the italicized part to make the statement true.
True
1. _________________________ When appliances are connected in parallel, each additional
appliance placed in operation reduces the equivalent resistance
in the circuit and causes more charge to flow through the wires.
True
2. _________________________ A short, thin piece of metal in a fuse melts to break an
overloaded circuit.
True
3. _________________________ When a circuit breaker opens, it allows charge to flow in the circuit.
True
4. _________________________ Ground-fault interrupters can be used to detect small
differences in current caused by an extra current path.
Parallel circuits
5. _________________________ Electric circuits at home are primarily series circuits.
6. _________________________
high Low resistance causes the current to be very small and may
result in a short circuit.

In your textbook, read about combined series-parallel circuits.

Answer the following question. Use complete sentences.

7. Describe the strategy you would use to calculate resistance in a combined series-parallel circuit.

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Circle the letter of the choice that best answers the following question.

8. Which diagram represents a combined series-parallel circuit in which a 30- resistor and a 75-
resistor are connected in parallel to a 125-V source through a 2- resistor in series?

a. c.

b. d.

In your textbook, read about ammeters and voltmeters.

Refer to the circuit diagram below to answer questions 9a–c.

9. Redraw the circuit diagram according to the following directions.

a. Insert a voltmeter that would measure the potential difference across the 10- resistor.

b. Insert an ammeter in the circuit that would measure the current of the entire circuit.

c. Insert an ammeter in the circuit that would measure the current through the 60- resistor.

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Write the term that correctly completes the statement.
voltmeter
10. _________________________ A(n) ____ measures the potential difference across a resistor.
ammeter
11. _________________________ A(n) ____ measures current.
high
12. _________________________ The resistance of a voltmeter should be as ____ as possible so
that it will change the current as little as possible.
low
13. _________________________ The resistance of an ammeter should be as ____ as possible so
that it will change the current as little as possible.
Series
14. _________________________ An ammeter is placed in ____ with the resistor if you want to
measure the current through the resistor.
parallel
15. _________________________ A voltmeter should be connected in ____ with a resistor to
measure the potential difference across that resistor.
ammeter
16. _________________________ A(n) ____ always has low resistance and is connected in series.
High … parallel
17. _________________________ A voltmeter always has ____ resistance and is connected in ____
with the part of the circuit being measured.
ammeter
18. _________________________ The result of connecting a(n) ____ across a resistor is to lower
the potential difference across it.
resistance
19. _________________________ The higher the ____ of a voltmeter, the smaller the voltage
change.
ammmeter
20. _________________________ If you want to measure the current in a branch or part of a
circuit, use a(n) ____ .

Chapter 23  Series and Parallel Circuits

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