Series circuit or parallel

Status
Not open for further replies.
My take is that the phrases "series circuit" and "parallel circuit" are intended to facilitate calculations of how voltages and currents behave when you have more than one load. My answer to Dennis' question is that the phrases have no meaning for a circuit with only one source and only one load.

  • It is true that the source and the load are in series with each other, in that all the current flowing in one will also flow in the other.
  • It is also true that the source and the load are in parallel with each other, in that the voltage across one will always be the same as the voltage across the other.
  • But neither of these circumstances would cause the circuit to be described as either a "series circuit" or a "parallel circuit."

 
The whole discussion strikes me as not useful. Circuits are not necessarily one or the other. It's connections that are one or the other.
 
jaggedben said:
The whole discussion strikes me as not useful. Circuits are not necessarily one or the other. It's connections that are one or the other.
Click to expand...


Yes, that may be true for you but it has been acknowledged by myself and others that it doesn't matter, however it has created some interesting discussion and that was all it was meant to do.
 
I am pretty much with Charlie B. The terms Series and Parallel are best used to describe portions of circuits, not entire circuits.

For example you might discuss multiple lamps as being in parallel (parallel loads as per a normal building electrical installation) or you might discuss placing multiple batteries in parallel (parallel sources to get higher current capacity) or cells in series (series sources to get higher voltage).

-Jon
 
Wire-Smith said:
series, current is same in every portion of the circuit
Click to expand...

I disagree. Say you have a feeder serving a bunch of branch circuits. The feeder conductors are in series with loads, and with each other. This does not mean the current in each branch circuit is the same, or that they are the same as the fedeer conductors. And a 3 or 4 wire feeder conductor doesn't have the same current on each conductor either.
 
jaggedben said:
I disagree. Say you have a feeder serving a bunch of branch circuits. The feeder conductors are in series with loads, and with each other. This does not mean the current in each branch circuit is the same, or that they are the same as the fedeer conductors. And a 3 or 4 wire feeder conductor doesn't have the same current on each conductor either.
Click to expand...
1 source and 1 load - entire circuit is one never ending series.

Add additional loads, additional sources, or any other alternate path and you have combinations of series and parallel items in the circuit.
 
181129-1021 EST

From an on-line dictionary:
Circuit "a roughly circular line, route, or movement that starts and finishes at the same place." .
Series "a number of things, events, or people of a similar kind or related nature coming one after another." .

.
 
181129-1049 EST

The word circuit dates from around the 1300s, and series from around 1600s.

So from the general meaning of these words, circuit and series, we have a single closed path. Thus, a voltage source connected to a single load is a series circuit.

From on-line Webster for parallel:
4a: the state of being physically parallel
b: an arrangement of electrical devices in a circuit in which the same potential difference is applied to two or more resistances with each resistance being on a different branch of the circuit— compare SERIES"

"resistance" should probably be read as "load".

.
 
I'll bite. This question is incomplete. It doesn't off enough information. Other examples:

How far away is San Francisco? For this to be a complete question one must indicate "from where". If two people are sitting together in New York then the likely assumption would be "from New York" but not necessarily correct.
How many volts are there? One always assumes the question means between the wires, but that is a assumption. The question really requires a reference point.

In Dennis question, the logical answer would be parallel because virtually all loads are hooked up in parallel with other loads. However, each wire is a load regardless of how insignificant so it is a series circuit in relation between the wires and the load. It is parallel in relation to the substation. It is series in relation to the circuit breaker, etc.
 
Strathead said:
I'll bite. This question is incomplete. It doesn't off enough information. Other examples:


In Dennis question, the logical answer would be parallel because virtually all loads are hooked up in parallel with other loads. However, each wire is a load regardless of how insignificant so it is a series circuit in relation between the wires and the load. It is parallel in relation to the substation. It is series in relation to the circuit breaker, etc.
Click to expand...


Yes but we are talking about the circuit. If we went back to a substation then there wouldn't ever be a series circuit. The clue is circuit, IMO
 
jaggedben said:
I disagree. Say you have a feeder serving a bunch of branch circuits. The feeder conductors are in series with loads, and with each other. This does not mean the current in each branch circuit is the same, or that they are the same as the fedeer conductors. And a 3 or 4 wire feeder conductor doesn't have the same current on each conductor either.
Click to expand...
your describing a combination parallel series circuit

if they were in series with each-other the current would be the same anywhere in the circuit, it's not in your scenario because it's parallel in the branch circuit part, i don't know how you came to the conclusion that what your describing is what dennis originally posted on


Dennis Alwon said:
If I have a single circuit that feeds one load is that a parallel circuit or a series circuit? My opinion is it is neither since you can't have a parallel or series circuit with one load. My argument was you can't draw a parallel line with one line nor can you have a series with one number or object.
Click to expand...

where are you coming up with me meaning multiple parallel loads and feeders is series?
 
Dennis Alwon said:
Yes but we are talking about the circuit. If we went back to a substation then there wouldn't ever be a series circuit. The clue is circuit, IMO
Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree, the clue is...

Strathead said:
I'll bite. This question is incomplete. It doesn't off enough information.


What you are saying is, we should accept a parameter not in evidence. We could go back to panel, it would be parallel. For all we know there is another pair of wires going out to another load at the panel on the same breaker. Every single answer to your question requires a clarification or a supposition.
Click to expand...
 
Dennis Alwon said:
Yes but we are talking about the circuit. If we went back to a substation then there wouldn't ever be a series circuit. The clue is circuit, IMO
Click to expand...

it would be a series circuit if there was only one load like in your original post, think of old simple dc theory and your "substation"(transformer/generator) is in the place of the battery, one big square with one light bulb in the run. series
 
Strathead said:
I respectfully disagree, the clue is...

Strathead said:
I'll bite. This question is incomplete. It doesn't off enough information.


What you are saying is, we should accept a parameter not in evidence. We could go back to panel, it would be parallel. For all we know there is another pair of wires going out to another load at the panel on the same breaker. Every single answer to your question requires a clarification or a supposition.
Click to expand...
So if you are asked about a circuit you would involve the power plant and everything else. I don't see it that way so we will have to agree to disagree. :)
Click to expand...
 
Dennis Alwon said:
Strathead said:
I respectfully disagree, the clue is...


So if you are asked about a circuit you would involve the power plant and everything else. I don't see it that way so we will have to agree to disagree. :)
Click to expand...

No, that isn't what I am saying. I am saying that any answer to your question has to make at least one assumption. Or, it isn't a complete question. It is only a circuit in series or parallel with an unknown parameter that you failed to define.
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top