Parallel/Series Combination Circuits

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N2L48
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I understand the concepts of whether a resistor is in parallel or in series with each other. But I thought of a weird case that i can't seem to find examples for.

http://imgur.com/b2YMOnAIn this case, would R3 be in parallel or in series to R2? Or could this just be an impossible case?

Thanks in advance
 
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N2L48 said:
I understand the concepts of whether a resistor is in parallel or in series with each other. But I thought of a weird case that i can't seem to find examples for.

Can you do this circuit?

Circuit schematic with a battery on the left in series with resistor R1 along the top wire, then resistor R2 in a branch and resistor R3 in a second branch, all connected in parallel across the two branches.


How does it differ from yours?
 
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  • Circuit schematic with a battery on the left, resistor R1 in series on the top wire, then resistor R2 in a branch and resistor R3 in a further branch, all drawn as zigzag symbols.
    circuit2.png
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willem2 said:
Can you do this circuit?

Circuit schematic with a battery on the left feeding three resistors R1, R2 and R3; R1 is in series with the top branch, while R2 and R3 are each in vertical branches connected across the same two nodes.


How does it differ from yours?

Thanks for the reply.

For that circuit, R3 and R2 would be parallel, so it would be the sum of the reciprocals of R2 and R3. Afterwards, R3+2 will be in series to R1 (Sum of both will give the Req).

My initial assumption was that the circuit I posted was the same as the one you posted, that R3 is parallel to R2, since there's more than 1 flow from R3 to R2. However I read something that confused me, and I just wanted to verify if my assumption was correct.
 
N2L48 said:
Thanks for the reply.

For that circuit, R3 and R2 would be parallel, so it would be the sum of the reciprocals of R2 and R3. Afterwards, R3+2 will be in series to R1 (Sum of both will give the Req).

My initial assumption was that the circuit I posted was the same as the one you posted, that R3 is parallel to R2, since there's more than 1 flow from R3 to R2. However I read something that confused me, and I just wanted to verify if my assumption was correct.

Yes, you're assumption was correct, and the 2 circuits are identical.