Electricity Circuits

nSeries circuit:

   There is only one voltage supply to the circuit. Voltage is used up as it flows through the circuit. More voltage is used up where there is more resistance. The current is the same in all areas of the circuit. A series circuit is a circuit where there is only one path from the source through all of the loads and back to the source. This means that all of the current in the circuit must flow through all of the loads.

One example of a series circuit is a string of old Christmas lights. There is only one path for the current to flow. Opening or breaking a series circuit such as this at any point in its path causes the entire circuit to "open" or stop operating. That's because the basic requirement for the circuit to operate a continuous, closed loop path is no longer met. This is the main disadvantage of a series circuit. If any one of the light bulbs or loads burns out or is removed, the entire circuit stops operating. Many of today's circuits are actually a combination of elements in series and parallel to minimize the inconvenience of a pure series circuit.