Current In a Parallel Circuit.

Basic Electronics
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(2) Current in a Parallel Circuit. Ohm's law states that the current

in a circuit is inversely proportional to the circuit resistance. This fact

is true in both series and parallel circuits.

There is a single path for current in a series circuit.

The amount of

current is determined by the total resistance of the circuit and the applied

voltage.

In a parallel circuit, the source current divides among the

available paths.

The behavior of current in parallel circuits will be shown by a series of

illustrations using example circuits with different values of resistance for

a given value of applied voltage.

View A of figure 45 (on the following page) shows a basic series circuit.

Here, the total current must pass through the single resistor. The amount

of current can be determined.

Given:

Es = 50 volts

R1 = 10 Ohms

Part B shows the same resistor (R1) with a second resistor (R2) of equal

value connected in parallel across the voltage source.

When Ohm's law is

applied, the current flow through each resistor is found to be the same as

the current through the single resistor in part A.

Given:

Es = 50 volts

R1 = 10 Ohms

R2 = 10 Ohms