What is a serial connection?

A serial connection is a connection in which the elements are connected by only one end. The sequence is characterized by the fact that it excludes any branching.

A serial connection from parallel is distinguished by the fact that a parallel connection is made in parallel, in which there must be at least two nodes.

Resistors are elements of artificial resistance. They are used in electronics as an additional load to reduce the current or voltage of the circuit. How is this done?

If it is necessary to reduce the current, a series connection of the resistors is made. In this case, the current of each resistance is the same, and the potential difference is different. It should be noted that the potential difference is the magnitude of the voltage drop, it directly depends on the resistance of the resistor.

For example, in a circuit with a voltage of 220 V there is a coil with a resistance of 1 ohm. If one of its ends feed the phase, and the second - zero, then in fact there will be a short circuit, since 1 Ohm - this is too small. There will be a huge current, the coil will burn, and the network will knock out. If in series the coil is put two resistors of 500 kOhm, then there will be no short circuit, and the coil will work as it should.

With parallel connection, the currents of each branch will differ, and the voltages will be the same. Thus, the magnitude of the current of each section depends on the resistance of this section. This circuit is used to increase the voltage drop. For example, the resistance of the coil is rated at 50 V. To connect it to a 220 V network, it is necessary to place a corresponding resistance in parallel to it. It will create a voltage drop, and the coil will not burn.

Thus, parallel and serial connection is used in special cases and works according to Ohm's law.

If the LEDs are connected in series, you should remember that if one of them fails, the whole chain goes out. As already mentioned, the current is one, in the place of the cutoff charges stop flowing, and the circuit breaks. With parallel connection it does not matter which LED is faulty, the others will continue to light.

If the series resistance is carried out using the same resistor values, then the total value of it will be equal to the product of one of the resistors by the total number of elements.

If the resistor values differ, then their total resistance will be equal to the sum of the resistances of each element.

With a parallel connection, the calculation is somewhat different. For example, there is a chain of three resistances of R1, R2, R3. To determine the total resistance of the circuit in parallel connection, it is necessary to calculate the sum of the reciprocals of these values, that is, add three fractions 1 / R1 + 1 / R2 + 1 / R3. Fractions are reduced to a common denominator - and the result is calculated. The resulting fraction is inverted and the final value is considered.

In order to pick up resistance for any circuits, it is necessary to make correct calculations. Some experts try to select resistors by the method of experiments. However, even in this case it is necessary to at least approximately know which resistor values can be optimal.