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Electricity and Magnetism
Quick questions on Simple electric circuits: N(T) Science Electricity and Magnetism
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are circuit symbols?Show answer
Instead of drawing the real parts, we use simple circuit symbols to draw a circuit diagram. You should know the common ones: a cell (a long thin line and a short thick line), a battery (two or more cells together), a switch (a line that lifts to break the circuit), a bulb (a circle with a cross inside), a buzzer, and wires (straight lines joining the parts). A neat circuit diagram uses these symbols joined by straight lines.
What are series circuits?Show answer
In a series circuit, all the parts are connected one after another in a single loop, so the current has only one path to follow.
What are parallel circuits?Show answer
In a parallel circuit, the parts are connected on separate branches, so the current has more than one path to follow.
What is comparing the two?Show answer
The simple comparison: a series circuit is one single loop, so one break stops everything and extra bulbs share the energy. A parallel circuit has separate branches, so each part works on its own and one break does not stop the rest.
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