P2 : Potential difference in series & parallel

Question 1

Potential difference in series

Answer 1

In a series circuit, voltage supplied by the battery is shared by the components. So the sum of the potential difference across the components equals the battery voltage
This is because work done by battery on charge must be equal to work done on the components otherwise energy would be lost
As more bulbs are added, each bulb has less potential difference and bulbs dimmer
Component with the highest resistance will have the largest potential difference because higher the resistance, more work is done by the charge passing through it

Question 2

POtential difference in parallel

Answer 2

In parallel, potential difference across each bulb is the sake as the potential difference
across the battery, this means all bulbs have the same brightness and are brighter than the same amount of bulbs in a series circuit. However this means battery will run down faster