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SERIESCIRCUIT
Acircuitcomposedsolelyofcomponentsconnectedinseriesisknownasaseriescircuit
ASimpleSeriesCircuit
Let'sstartwithaseriescircuitconsistingofthreeresistorsandasinglebattery:

Thefirstprincipletounderstandaboutseriescircuitsisthattheamountofcurrentisthesamethroughanycomponentinthecircuit.Thisisbecausethereis
onlyonepathforelectronstoflowinaseriescircuit,andbecausefreeelectronsflowthroughconductorslikemarblesinatube,therateofflow(marble
speed)atanypointinthecircuit(tube)atanyspecificpointintimemustbeequal.
Fromthewaythatthe9voltbatteryisarranged,wecantellthattheelectronsinthiscircuitwillflowinacounterclockwisedirection,frompoint4to3to2to
1andbackto4.However,wehaveonesourceofvoltageandthreeresistances.HowdoweuseOhm'sLawhere?
AnimportantcaveattoOhm'sLawisthatallquantities(voltage,current,resistance,andpower)mustrelatetoeachotherintermsofthesametwopointsin
acircuit.Forinstance,withasinglebattery,singleresistorcircuit,wecouldeasilycalculateanyquantitybecausetheyallappliedtothesametwopointsin
thecircuit:

Sincepoints1and2areconnectedtogetherwithwireofnegligibleresistance,asarepoints3and4,wecansaythatpoint1iselectricallycommontopoint
2,andthatpoint3iselectricallycommontopoint4.Sinceweknowwehave9voltsofelectromotiveforcebetweenpoints1and4(directlyacrossthe
battery),andsincepoint2iscommontopoint1andpoint3commontopoint4,wemustalsohave9voltsbetweenpoints2and3(directlyacrossthe
resistor).Therefore,wecanapplyOhm'sLaw(I=E/R)tothecurrentthroughtheresistor,becauseweknowthevoltage(E)acrosstheresistorandthe
resistance(R)ofthatresistor.Allterms(E,I,R)applytothesametwopointsinthecircuit,tothatsameresistor,sowecanusetheOhm'sLawformula
withnoreservation.
However,incircuitscontainingmorethanoneresistor,wemustbecarefulinhowweapplyOhm'sLaw.Inthethreeresistorexamplecircuitbelow,weknow
thatwehave9voltsbetweenpoints1and4,whichistheamountofelectromotiveforcetryingtopushelectronsthroughtheseriescombinationofR1,R2,
andR3.However,wecannottakethevalueof9voltsanddivideitby3k,10kor5ktotrytofindacurrentvalue,becausewedon'tknowhowmuch
voltageisacrossanyoneofthoseresistors,individually.

Thefigureof9voltsisatotalquantityforthewholecircuit,whereasthefiguresof3k,10k,and5kareindividualquantitiesforindividualresistors.Ifwe
weretoplugafigurefortotalvoltageintoanOhm'sLawequationwithafigureforindividualresistance,theresultwouldnotrelateaccuratelytoanyquantity
intherealcircuit.
ForR1,Ohm'sLawwillrelatetheamountofvoltageacrossR1withthecurrentthroughR1,givenR1'sresistance,3k:

But,sincewedon'tknowthevoltageacrossR1(onlythetotalvoltagesuppliedbythebatteryacrossthethreeresistorseriescombination)andwedon't
knowthecurrentthroughR1,wecan'tdoanycalculationswitheitherformula.ThesamegoesforR2andR3:wecanapplytheOhm'sLawequationsifand
onlyifalltermsarerepresentativeoftheirrespectivequantitiesbetweenthesametwopointsinthecircuit.
Sowhatcanwedo?Weknowthevoltageofthesource(9volts)appliedacrosstheseriescombinationofR1,R2,andR3,andweknowtheresistancesof
eachresistor,butsincethosequantitiesaren'tinthesamecontext,wecan'tuseOhm'sLawtodeterminethecircuitcurrent.Ifonlyweknewwhatthetotal
resistancewasforthecircuit:thenwecouldcalculatetotalcurrentwithourfigurefortotalvoltage(I=E/R).
Thisbringsustothesecondprincipleofseriescircuits:thetotalresistanceofanyseriescircuitisequaltothesumoftheindividualresistances.This
shouldmakeintuitivesense:themoreresistorsinseriesthattheelectronsmustflowthrough,themoredifficultitwillbeforthoseelectronstoflow.Inthe
exampleproblem,wehada3k,10k,and5kresistorinseries,givingusatotalresistanceof18k:

Inessence,we'vecalculatedtheequivalentresistanceofR1,R2,andR3combined.Knowingthis,wecouldredrawthecircuitwithasingleequivalent
resistorrepresentingtheseriescombinationofR1,R2,andR3:

Nowwehaveallthenecessaryinformationtocalculatecircuitcurrent,becausewehavethevoltagebetweenpoints1and4(9volts)andtheresistance
betweenpoints1and4(18k):

Knowingthatcurrentisequalthroughallcomponentsofaseriescircuit(andwejustdeterminedthecurrentthroughthebattery),wecangobacktoour
originalcircuitschematicandnotethecurrentthrougheachcomponent:

Nowthatweknowtheamountofcurrentthrougheachresistor,wecanuseOhm'sLawtodeterminethevoltagedropacrosseachone(applyingOhm'sLaw
initspropercontext):


Noticethevoltagedropsacrosseachresistor,andhowthesumofthevoltagedrops(1.5+5+2.5)isequaltothebattery(supply)voltage:9volts.Thisis
thethirdprincipleofseriescircuits:thatthesupplyvoltageisequaltothesumoftheindividualvoltagedrops.
However,themethodwejustusedtoanalyzethissimpleseriescircuitcanbestreamlinedforbetterunderstanding.Byusingatabletolistallvoltages,
currents,andresistancesinthecircuit,itbecomesveryeasytoseewhichofthosequantitiescanbeproperlyrelatedinanyOhm'sLawequation:

TherulewithsuchatableistoapplyOhm'sLawonlytothevalueswithineachverticalcolumn.Forinstance,ER1onlywithIR1andR1ER2onlywithIR2
andR2etc.Youbeginyouranalysisbyfillinginthoseelementsofthetablethataregiventoyoufromthebeginning:

Asyoucanseefromthearrangementofthedata,wecan'tapplythe9voltsofET(totalvoltage)toanyoftheresistances(R1,R2,orR3)inanyOhm'sLaw
formulabecausethey'reindifferentcolumns.The9voltsofbatteryvoltageisnotapplieddirectlyacrossR1,R2,orR3.However,wecanuseour"rules"of
seriescircuitstofillinblankspotsonahorizontalrow.Inthiscase,wecanusetheseriesruleofresistancestodetermineatotalresistancefromthesum
ofindividualresistances:

Now,withavaluefortotalresistanceinsertedintotherightmost("Total")column,wecanapplyOhm'sLawofI=E/Rtototalvoltageandtotalresistanceto
arriveatatotalcurrentof500A:

Then,knowingthatthecurrentissharedequallybyallcomponentsofaseriescircuit(another"rule"ofseriescircuits),wecanfillinthecurrentsforeach
resistorfromthecurrentfigurejustcalculated:


Finally,wecanuseOhm'sLawtodeterminethevoltagedropacrosseachresistor,onecolumnatatime:

Justforfun,wecanuseacomputertoanalyzethisverysamecircuitautomatically.Itwillbeagoodwaytoverifyourcalculationsandalsobecomemore
familiarwithcomputeranalysis.First,wehavetodescribethecircuittothecomputerinaformatrecognizablebythesoftware.TheSPICEprogramwe'llbe
usingrequiresthatallelectricallyuniquepointsinacircuitbenumbered,andcomponentplacementisunderstoodbywhichofthosenumberedpoints,or
"nodes,"theyshare.Forclarity,Inumberedthefourcornersofourexamplecircuit1through4.SPICE,however,demandsthattherebeanodezero
somewhereinthecircuit,soI'llredrawthecircuit,changingthenumberingschemeslightly:

AllI'vedonehereisrenumberedthelowerleftcornerofthecircuit0insteadof4.Now,Icanenterseverallinesoftextintoacomputerfiledescribingthe
circuitintermsSPICEwillunderstand,completewithacoupleofextralinesofcodedirectingtheprogramtodisplayvoltageandcurrentdataforourviewing
pleasure.ThiscomputerfileisknownasthenetlistinSPICEterminology:

seriescircuit
v110
r1123k
r22310k
r3305k
.dcv1991
.printdcv(1,2)v(2,3)v(3,0)
.end

Now,allIhavetodoisruntheSPICEprogramtoprocessthenetlistandoutputtheresults:

v1v(1,2)v(2,3)v(3)i(v1)
9.000E+001.500E+005.000E+002.500E+005.000E04

Thisprintoutistellingusthebatteryvoltageis9volts,andthevoltagedropsacrossR1,R2,andR3are1.5volts,5volts,and2.5volts,respectively.
VoltagedropsacrossanycomponentinSPICEarereferencedbythenodenumbersthecomponentliesbetween,sov(1,2)isreferencingthevoltage
betweennodes1and2inthecircuit,whicharethepointsbetweenwhichR1islocated.Theorderofnodenumbersisimportant:whenSPICEoutputsa
figureforv(1,2),itregardsthepolaritythesamewayasifwewereholdingavoltmeterwiththeredtestleadonnode1andtheblacktestleadonnode2.
Wealsohaveadisplayshowingcurrent(albeitwithanegativevalue)at0.5milliamps,or500microamps.Soourmathematicalanalysishasbeenvindicated
bythecomputer.ThisfigureappearsasanegativenumberintheSPICEanalysis,duetoaquirkinthewaySPICEhandlescurrentcalculations.

Insummary,aseriescircuitisdefinedashavingonlyonepathforelectronstoflow.Fromthisdefinition,threerulesofseriescircuitsfollow:allcomponents
sharethesamecurrentresistancesaddtoequalalarger,totalresistanceandvoltagedropsaddtoequalalarger,totalvoltage.Alloftheserulesfindroot
inthedefinitionofaseriescircuit.Ifyouunderstandthatdefinitionfully,thentherulesarenothingmorethanfootnotestothedefinition.

REVIEW:
Componentsinaseriescircuitsharethesamecurrent:ITotal=I1=I2=...In
Totalresistanceinaseriescircuitisequaltothesumoftheindividualresistances:RTotal=R1+R2+...Rn
Totalvoltageinaseriescircuitisequaltothesumoftheindividualvoltagedrops:ETotal=E1+E2+...En