School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and Sciences

3rd Quarter S.Y. 2022-2023

EXPERIMENT #2

SERIES – PARALLEL CIRCUITS

Submitted by: Date Submitted:02/27/23

Delos Reyes, Krisha Alyssa G.

Prof. Charmaine Paglinawan

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School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and Sciences
3rd Quarter S.Y. 2022-2023

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School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and Sciences
3rd Quarter S.Y. 2022-2023

I. Setup
R1 R4
A1 A4

V1 V4
A3

R3 V3

R2 R5
A2 A5

V2V V5
2

Figure 1. Series – Parallel Circuit

II. Data
Table 1. Measured Values

Measured R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 RT
Values 475.1Ω 1.177 𝑘Ω 218.1 Ω 217.7 Ω 98.6 Ω 1.782 𝑘Ω
V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 VT
5.331 V 13.20 V 1.456 V 0.991 V 0.448 V 19.99 V
I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 IT
12 mA 12 mA 5.8 mA 4 mA 4 mA 12 mA

Table 2. Calculated Values

Calculated R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 RT
values 444.25 Ω 1100 Ω 251.03 Ω 247.75 Ω 112 Ω 1665.83 Ω

III. Questions and Problems

1. What are the identifying characteristics of a series circuit?
A series circuit has a one complete path allowing the flow of electric current.
The total voltage across the circuit can be determined by adding the voltages
across resistors while current remains the same all throughout. Additionally,
total resistance can be computed by adding all the values of resistors in the
circuit.
2. What are the identifying characteristics of a parallel circuit?
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School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and Sciences
3rd Quarter S.Y. 2022-2023

A circuit is classified as parallel when there is more than one closed path.
The total current is the summation of all the current flowing through
branches and voltage is same across all resistances. Total resistance in
parallel circuit can be computed as 1 over the sum of inverse resistor values.
3. What changes occur in the total resistance of a circuit as additional
resistances are added (a) in series, (b) in parallel.
a. The resistance will increase.
b. It depends on the setup but most of the time, it will decrease since the
presence of branches will divide the amount of resistance flowing in the
circuit.
4. What are the different types of resistances and their purpose.
• Photoresistor - used in sensor applications
• Fixed resistor – found in electronic circuits which is responsible for
conditioning the setup
• Variable resistor – A type of resistor providing three connections in
which two are considered as variables and one as the slider.
• Thermistor – A resistor sensitive to heat and reacts with temperature
change.
• Varistor – A resistor that varies with voltage supplied that has surge
and spike protection.
5. Why are lamps in a house lighting circuit not connected in series?
If lamps in houses are connected into a series circuit, there are possibilities
for a short circuit specially when there are multiple lamps used. Another
instance that could be affected if the re is a series connection is that there
will be insufficient amount of voltage supplied for all lamps in which why
parallel connection is utilized in households.
6. A small lamp is designed to draw 300mA in a 6V circuit. What is theresistance
of the lamp filament?

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School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and Sciences
3rd Quarter S.Y. 2022-2023

7. A battery with an internal resistance of 1.5 is connected in series with

resistors R1 = 3Ω and R2 = 3.5 Ω if the potential difference across the 3Ω
resistor is 9V. What is the emf of the battery?

8. Determine the ideal voltage source needed by three resistors connected in

series R1 = 6 Ω, R2 = 8 Ω and R3 = 10 Ω if a required current of 0.5A flows in
the circuit.

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School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and Sciences
3rd Quarter S.Y. 2022-2023

9. Determine the total resistance of the circuit.

1 14 4.5

1.5

2 5
Fig. a

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School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and Sciences
3rd Quarter S.Y. 2022-2023

IV. Interpretation
A circuit pertains to a relative path that allows the flow of electricity (Wright, 2023).
In building a circuit, different components and setups must be considered to ensure an
efficient flow of electricity. This experiment utilized a combination of a series and parallel
circuit, which consist of 5 resistors and a voltage source. The main objective of this
experiment is to apply the basic principles of circuit law and verify the value of resistance,
which is attained after two trials. Furthermore, Ohm's law guides the computation for
resistance value in the formula below.
𝑉
𝑅=
𝐼
The first trial failed to provide the approximate computed resistance value due to the
high resistivity measured from the fourth and fifth resistors. At the same time, the second
trial consisted of R1 to R5 with values of 475.1Ω, 1.177 kΩ, 218.1 Ω, 217.7 Ω, 98.6 Ω
consecutively. The overall resistance was measured with the value of 1.782 kΩ, which serves
as the basis for the calculated values using the formula from the circuit law. The computed
values show that R1 and R3 have a resistance lower than the measured value, while R2 and
R5 are above the maximum. R4 has a resistance that lies within the range of 207.195Ω -
229.005Ω. However, the computed values are still approximate to the measured values
indicating that the experiment meets the objectives. It is observed that the voltage across
the circuit sums up to 21.426V, which forms a slight discrepancy since it is higher than the
voltage source. On the other hand, the measured current for I1 and I2 has the same value of
12mA, and this pattern can be observed for I4 and I5 resulting in 4mA. The current measured
from the parallel port in the circuit proves the theory behind ohm’s law stating that the total
current is the summation of all individual branches (All about circuit, n.d.).

V. Conclusion
• The characteristics of a series-parallel circuit is demonstrated in this experiment.
Using multimeter and an analogue ammeter, we were able to determine the measure
values for resistance, voltage, and current that flow across the circuit.
• Ohm’s Law was used in the calculation of resistance suggesting measured current and
voltage are needed to verify the measurements. The resulting values suggest that

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School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and Sciences
3rd Quarter S.Y. 2022-2023

there are slight discrepancies with measured and calculated values yet both
parameters are approximate.
• The basic principles of series, parallel, and series-parallel served as guide in forming
the interpretation of data.

Reference

Wright G. (2023). Circuit. https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/circuit

All about Circuit (n.d.). Parallel Circuits and the Application of Ohm’s Law.

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/direct-current/chpt-5/simple-parallel-

circuits/#:~:text=In%20a%20parallel%20circuit%2C%20all,all%20the%20individual%20bra

nch%20currents.