Let’s learn a little about circuits!

Electric circuits have many usages in our everyday life – our lights, fridges, phones, computers, cars, and so much more.

Let’s take a simple circuit with two resistors (both 4 Ohms) and a battery with voltage 8 V.

An important relation in circuits is the equation V = IR, where V is the potential difference (in this case, 8 V), R is resistance, in Ohms, and I is current, in Amperes.

To calculate resistance, we first must determine if the resistors are in series or parallel.

If the resistors are in series, then the total resistance is calculated by summing the resistance of each individual resistor. However, if they are in parallel, then we take the reciprocal of the resistance of each resistor and then sum them together. After summing them, we take the reciprocal of our sum to calculate the total resistance of the current.

Thus, if the two resistors are in series, the total resistance is 8 Ohms, and by V = IR, we calculate the current to be 1 Ampere.

If the two resistors are in parallel, then we have the total resistance to be 1/(1/4 + 1/4) = 2 Ohms, and by V = IR, the current is 4 Amperes.

Hooray! Now we have solved a simple circuit problem 🙂

If you want another problem, consider the following:
We have two resistors in series, with resistance 2 Ohms and 4 Ohms, respectively. These resistors are in parallel with another resistor of 6 Ohms. Calculate the current of the circuit if these resistors are in a closed loop circuit with a battery of voltage 9 V.

A solution will be attached to the next post!