Parallel and series circuits

Question 1

How is a voltmeter connected to measure the potential difference between two chosen points?

Answer 1

To measure the potential difference across two points the voltmeter should be connected in parallel.

Question 2

What happens to the voltage when you add more batteries to a circuit in series and in parallel?

Answer 2

The more cells connected in series, the larger the potential difference.
The more cells connected in parallel, the amount of energy in the circuit will increase but the potential difference will not.

Question 3

When two or more components are connected in series to a battery, what happens to the current and voltage?

Answer 3

The current is the same across through each component.

The potential difference is split and the pd across the components add up to the pd across the battery

Question 4

In series, where is the largest potential difference across a component?

Answer 4

The pd is largest across the component with the largest resistance, this is because more work must be done by the charge through a large resistance than a small one

Question 5

What happens to the voltage and current when several components are connected in parallel?

Answer 5

The potential difference (voltage) across each component is equal to the pd of the battery.
The current through each component is the same as if there was only one component

Question 6

In parallel, where is the current largest through a component?

Answer 6

the current is largest through the component with the smallest resistance, because the
same voltage causes a larger current to flow through a smaller resistance
than through a bigger one.