Photos of Basic Parallel & Series Circuits

AI Thread Summary
Photos of basic parallel and series circuits are sought for educational purposes, specifically setups typically found in high school physics labs. The request emphasizes the need for images showing simple configurations with power sources, wires, and lightbulbs, rather than complex printed circuit boards or schematic diagrams. While some users suggest searching for prototype resistor circuit photographs, they note that professional PCBs often do not reflect textbook designs. The discussion highlights that textbook examples serve educational purposes and are rarely seen in practical applications. Overall, the focus remains on finding straightforward images to aid in understanding basic circuit setups.
Benny
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Hi, I am looking for pictures (photos) which show how basic parallel and series circuits are set up. I have done a quick search on google but I haven't been able to find what I need. Any help would be really good thanks.

Note: I am not looking for the schematic (circuit) diagrams which are normally found in physics textbooks.
 
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I googled prototype resistor circuit photograph, and got lots of hits that should give you what you want. This one has both schematic and pictures of the final hand-built circuit. Is that what you were looking for?

http://www.techlib.com/electronics/crystal.html
 
Thanks for the help.
 
So you want photos of printed circuit boards with series and parallel circuits on them?

That's not going to be terribly useful, because one of the advantages of printed circuit boards -- those with two or more layers, anyway -- is that they permit topologies that are decidedly non-planar.

The other advantage is that PCBs allow you to pack the components into the smallest board area, regardless of their interconnection. Only very rarely will you see the traces on a professional PCB resemble the wires on a schematic. In other words, you could design a PCB which looks exactly like a schematic, but it would be, in general, a terrible waste of board space.

In general, even experienced electrical engineers cannot look at the traces on the surface of a PCB and determine, without a doubt, how the components are interconnected.

- Warren
 
In addition to Chroots comments I must add that you rarely, if ever, find a circuit employing the textbook schematic of a resistor network. If it can be reduced to a single resistance then that is what will be there, a single resistor, not a network.

The textbook circuits are for teaching principles, not practical applications. The principles of parallel and series are ever present but rarely appear as straight forward as the textbook example.
 
Hi, I should have made my situation more clear. I'm not looking for 'high-end' stuff. I'm after pictures/photos of basic circuits that are normally encountered in a high school physics or introductory physics lab. The set up basically consists of a power source, a couple of wires, maybe some lightbulbs and some circuit boards which you 'plug' the wires into. For one reason or another, I've never really learned how to even set up a basic parallel or series circuit before so that's why I'm after some pictures.
 
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