Series and Parallel Circuits

This activity uses Tinkercad® circuits to look at the difference between series and parallel
circuits in two ways. The first is by connecting resistors together in series and parallel and
measuring resistance. The second is by connecting light bulbs to a battery in series and
parallel and observing the differences.

If you are not familiar with how to use Tinkercad® circuits then watch the "Introduction to
Tinkercad®" video before using the following steps:

1. Log in to your account on the Tinkercad® website and create a new circuit

2. Open the Components menu, select "All Components", find the Multimeter and
drag it into the workspace. Instead of looking through the list, you can click the
search window and start typing the name of any component you are searching for.

3. Drag three resistors into the workspace and close the Components menu.

Note: New resistors on Tinkercad® always start as 1kΩ by default, which is 1000Ω (The Ω
symbol is Ohms, the standard unit of resistance). These will be coloured with bands of
brown, black, red and gold. The bands are codes for the resistance value. More information
can be found at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_color_code

4. Click to select a resistor then click the "rotate" button multiple times until it has
rotated to horizontal. Now change the value of the resistor from 1kΩ to 120Ω by
using the blue resistor menu to the top-right.

5. Repeat the previous step until all three resistors are 120Ω and horizontal.

6. Connect a wire from the terminals of the multimeter to either side of the middle
resistor.

7. Your workspace should look similar to the picture below.

“Autodesk screen shots

reprinted courtesy of
Autodesk, Inc.”

8. Click the "Start Simulation" button. The multimeter display will turn on.

9. You will see that the multimeter has three buttons labelled "A", "V" and "R". These
represent different modes for measuring current (A = Amps), voltage and resistance.

IOT2x IoT Sensors and Devices - Module 2 – Series and parallel Circuits
 Change the mode to measure resistance by clicking "R".

10. You will see that it measures the resistor at its value of 120Ω.

11. Click the "Stop Simulation" button.

12. Click on one of the two wires and it will be highlighted with circles as handles at each
end.

13. Click and drag the wire by the handle so that it moves from the resistor to connect to
the far side of another resistor.

14. Now connect a new wire which will join these two resistors together, as in the
picture below.

“Autodesk screen shots

reprinted courtesy of
Autodesk, Inc.”

15. Start the simulation and notice the effect on total resistance when two resistors are
connected in series. What is the reading?

16. Stop the simulation and move the other wire to the other resistor and connect a new
wire so that all three resistors are connected in series, as in the picture below.

17. Start the simulation again and notice the total resistance of the three resistors in
series.

18. What is the reading?

19. Now stop the simulation, select and delete all wires. Do not delete the resistors or
multimeter.

IOT2x IoT Sensors and Devices - Module 2 – Series and parallel Circuits
 20. Move the three resistors so they are stacked above each other.

21. Connect a wire from each terminal of the multimeter to each end of the closest
resistor.

22. Connect a wire between each end of that resistor to the one below.

23. Your circuit should look similar to the diagram below.

“Autodesk screen shots

reprinted courtesy of
Autodesk, Inc.”

24. Start the simulation and notice the difference in the total resistance of two 120Ω
resistors. They are in parallel with the multimeter because each terminal connects to
both resistors. What is the reading?

25. Stop the simulation and connect the third resistor so it is also in parallel, as in the
picture below. Start the simulation. What is the reading now?

Explanation
When a multimeter measures resistance, it applies a voltage between its terminals and uses
Ohm's Law to calculate the resistance between the two.

When the three resistors were in series, the current only had one path it could travel
between the terminals. All current had to pass through all resistors, and was impeded a little
more by each one. From the point of view of the multimeter, the circuit looked the same as
though it was a circuit with a single 360Ω resistor.

IOT2x IoT Sensors and Devices - Module 2 – Series and parallel Circuits
When the three resistors were in parallel, the current could flow through three separate
paths of equal resistance, so one third of the current flowed through each path. From the
point of view of the multimeter, the circuit looked the same as though it had a single circuit
through a 40Ω resistor.

Now let's look at what happens in terms of voltage and current in series and parallel
circuits by looking at the brightness of light bulbs.

26. Stop the simulation. Delete all wires and resistors. Do not delete the multimeter.

27. Open the components menu and find the light bulb. Add three light bulbs to your
workspace.

The filament in an incandescent light bulb has similar properties to a normal resistor but is
designed to emit light. The brightness of the light increases with an increase in the amount
of current flowing through it.

28. Also add the 9V battery and the breadboard called "Breadboard Small" from the
components menu. You may need to zoom out by using the scroll wheel on your
mouse to fit them all in your view.

29. Leaving the 9V battery lying on its side, connect its terminals to the holes labelled +
and - on the lower-right corner of the breadboard (see picture below to confirm).

As you hover your mouse over various holes on the breadboard, you will notice some green
circles appear in the row or column or column near the hole your mouse is over. Holes in the
highlighted row or column are all electrically connected to each other. You will also notice a
grid reference for each hole to make it easier to refer to, e.g. b6 or h24

30. Position the three light bulbs along row 'e' in the following way: one bulb can be
connected to e1 and e2, another to e15 and e16 and the other one to e29 and e30.
31. Make sure the multimeter is to the left of the breadboard. A picture of this is below.

“Autodesk screen shots

reprinted courtesy of
Autodesk, Inc.”

IOT2x IoT Sensors and Devices - Module 2 – Series and parallel Circuits
32. First we will connect a single light bulb to the battery. Connect a wire from column 1
of the positive power rail (the very lowest, left-most hole) up to a1.

33. Connect another wire from column 2 of the negative rail to a2.

34. Now connect a wire from the red terminal of the multimeter to b1 and from the
black terminal of the multimeter to b2. These wires will cross over each other.

“Autodesk screen shots

reprinted courtesy of
Autodesk, Inc.”

35. Start the simulation. Click the 'V' on the multimeter to change the mode back to
measuring Volts. Take notice of the light bulb's brightness. What is the reading on
the multimeter?

36. Stop the simulation. Now we will connect the other two light bulbs to the battery in
parallel. Connect a wire from the positive rail to a15 and from the negative rail to
a16.

37. Also connect a wire from the positive rail to a29 and from the negative rail to a30.

38. Start the simulation. Is the brightness of the light bulbs noticeably different? Is there
much change in the voltage across the first light bulb measured on the multimeter?

IOT2x IoT Sensors and Devices - Module 2 – Series and parallel Circuits
 39. Now we will change the circuit so the light bulbs are all in series with the battery.

40. Stop the simulation and delete the four wires that connect to a2, a15, a16 and a29.

41. Connect a wire from d2 to d15.

42. Connect a wire from d16 to d29. You circuit should look similar to the picture below.

“Autodesk screen shots

reprinted courtesy of
Autodesk, Inc.”

43. Start the simulation. Do you notice a difference in the brightness of the light bulbs?
How has the voltage reading on the multimeter changed?

Explanation
When the light bulbs were connected in parallel with the battery, the current could flow from
the positive terminal, through a light bulb and back to the negative terminal of the battery
separately without having to pass through the other bulbs. They act as three separate
circuits despite having the same power source. This is why the brightness of the bulbs and
the voltage across were virtually the same as when a single bulb was connected to the
battery.

When the light bulbs were connected in series with the battery, the current had to flow
through all three light bulbs before returning to the battery. The light bulbs had to share so
that each one could only have one third of the battery's voltage, and were much less bright.

You may notice that the multimeter showed displayed slightly less than a third. Any slight
differences can be explained by the limitations of the amount of current a battery can
supply. This discrepancy would increase if you added more light bulb circuits. You may like to
try this activity again and replace the 9V battery with the "Power Supply", and set it to 9V. It
can supply far more current than the battery.

IOT2x IoT Sensors and Devices - Module 2 – Series and parallel Circuits