Technical Education Department

The Harris-Tech Zone

 

Parallel Circuits

A circuit in which the identical voltage is presented to all components, and the current divides among the components according to the resistance of the components.

 

To find the total current within a parallel circuit use Ohm's Law in each loop then sum, using the formula:

Itotal = V/(R1 + R2 + ...), where V is voltage and I is current

 

To find the total resistance of all the components in a parallel circuit use the given formula;

1 / Rtotal = 1 / R1 + 1 / R2, where R is Resistance

 

To find the current in any particular component with resistance Ri , use Ohm's law again:

Ii = V/Ri, where V is voltage and I is current

Note, that the components divide the current according to their reciprocal resistances, so I1/I2 = R2/R1