| Series circuit | Parallel circuit |
|---|---|
| The element is said to be connected in series if they are connected in cascade fashion, end to end, one after the other. if the finish point of the one element is connected to the start point of the next element and so on just like the links in the chain. | The elements are said to be connected in parallel if they are connected across each other one end of each element is bunched together to form one junction and the remaining end of each element is bunched together to form the other junctions. |
| The circuit said to be a series circuit if the same circuit I pass through all its branches (elements) all resistances R1, R2 and R3 the carry same current I. | The circuit said to be a series circuit if the same voltage (p.d) v appears all its branches(elements)all resistances R1, R2 and R3 have the same voltage V. |
| The effective or equivalent resistances R of the series circuit is the sum of the resistances connected in series. R=R1+R2+R3 |
The reciprocal of the effective or equivalent resistance R of the parallel circuit is the sum of the reciprocals of the resistances connected in parallel. 1/R = 1/R1+1/R2+1/R3 |
| Effective resistance R of the series circuit is always greater than the greatest of the series connected resistance. | Effective resistance R of the parallel circuit is always smaller than the resistances of all the parallel connected resistances. |