Photos of Basic Parallel & Series Circuits

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the request for photographs of basic parallel and series circuits, specifically seeking images that depict practical setups rather than schematic diagrams typically found in textbooks.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants suggest searching for specific terms related to prototype circuits and printed circuit boards, while questioning the utility of such images for understanding basic circuit setups.

Discussion Status

Some participants have provided links and suggestions for finding relevant images, while others have expressed concerns about the practicality and relevance of printed circuit boards in illustrating basic circuit concepts. The original poster clarifies their need for simpler, more accessible examples.

Contextual Notes

The original poster indicates a lack of prior experience in setting up basic circuits, which informs their request for straightforward visual references typically encountered in introductory physics labs.

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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