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Series and parallel circuitsIB MYP Physics: Flashcards

What these 14 flashcards ask

  • What is true of the current in a series circuit?
  • How do potential differences behave in a series circuit?
  • State the total resistance equation for resistors in series.
  • What is true of the p.d. across each branch of a parallel circuit?
  • How do currents behave in a parallel circuit?
  • How does the total resistance of parallel resistors compare with the smallest one?
  • Why does adding a branch lower the total resistance?
  • What happens in a series circuit if one lamp breaks?
  • What happens in a parallel circuit if one lamp breaks?
  • What is the total p.d. of two 1.5 V cells in series?
  • Give two advantages of wiring a house in parallel.
  • A 4.0 Ω and 6.0 Ω resistor are in series. What is the total resistance?
  • What is the danger of plugging many appliances into one socket?
  • How do you find the p.d. across a resistor if you know I and R?

Exam questions on Series and parallel circuits

  1. A student builds a circuit for a model greenhouse. A 6.0 V cell is connected in series with two resistors, one of 4.0 Ω and one of 8.0 Ω. The cell has negligible internal resistance.
    Calculate the potential difference across the 8.0 Ω resistor.2 marks
  2. An electrician connects two lamps in parallel across a 12 V supply. One lamp has a resistance of 6.0 Ω and the other has a resistance of 12 Ω. The supply has negligible internal resistance.
    Calculate the total current drawn from the supply.2 marks
  3. A group of students investigates how the way lamps are connected affects their brightness. They use three identical lamps and a 4.5 V supply. They connect the lamps first in series and then in parallel, and use an ammeter and a voltmeter to take readings in each arrangement.
    Identify the independent variable, the dependent variable and one control variable.3 marks
See the full worksheet

Written by the Exaim team, led by Shaun Daswani (Head of Upper Secondary, Improve ME Institute; MSc Financial Mathematics, Imperial College London; BSc, UCL) and Jason Daswani (operational lead, Improve ME Institute; LSE).