Why Is Current the Same in a Series Circuit?

[Ed Quanta]

Why is current the same everywhere in a series circuit? If we have a series circuit with a 10 ohm resistor and a 15 ohm resistor, how is the current flowing through each resistor the same if they are resisting the flow of electrons to different degrees? How is the current in the wire which has even less resistance also equal to the current in the resistor?

 

[wilgory]

The simple answer is that there is only one path for the current to flow through. The total resistance is what would regulate the current.

It would be the voltage drop by each resistor that would vary according to the value of the resistors.

 

[lpfr]

Let's begin saying that, only in the steady state, the current is the same.

Imagine that the 10 ohms resistor "refuses let pass the current coming from the 15 ohms resistor". The charges will cumulate and the voltage will grow so high that the current will be "forced" through the 10 resistor (even against its will). The charges stop growing or decreasing when the current is the same in the two resistors.