CURRENT THROUGH SERIES RESISTANCES

Have you ever used those tiny holiday lights that come in strings? If one bulb burns out, the whole set of bulbs goes dark. Then you have to find out which bulb is bad and replace it to get the lights working again. Each bulb works with something like 10 V, and there are about a dozen bulbs in the string. You plug in the whole bunch, and the 120-V utility mains drive just the right amount of current through each bulb.
In a series circuit such as a string of light bulbs, the current at any given point is the same as the current at any other point. An ammeter can be connected in series at any point in the circuit, and it will always show the same reading. This is true in any series dc circuit, no matter what the components actually are and regardless of whether or not they all have the same resistance.
If the bulbs in a string are of different resistances, some of them will consume more power than others. In case one of the bulbs burns out and its socket is shorted out instead of filled with a replacement bulb, the current through the whole chain will increase because the overall resistance of the string will go down. This will force each of the remaining bulbs to carry too much current. Another bulb will burn out before long as a result of this excess current. If it, too, is replaced by a short circuit, the current will be increased still further. A third bulb will blow out almost right away. At this point it would be wise to buy some new bulbs!

مواضيع ذات صلة

Thermal conductivity

Molecular diffusion

Ionic conductivity

The drift speed

Electrical transients

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