In: Physics
Would the voltage of a battery in circuit be larger or smaller than the voltage of a battery out of circuit? Why?
The current in a series circuit is everywhere the same. Charge does NOT pile up and begin to accumulate at any given location such that the current at one location is more than at other locations. Charge does NOT become used up by resistors such that there is less of it at one location compared to another. The charges can be thought of as marching together through the wires of an electric circuit, everywhere marching at the same rate. Current - the rate at which charge flows - is everywhere the same. It is the same at the first resistor as it is at the last resistor as it is in the battery. Mathematically, one might write
Ibattery = I1 = I2 = I3 = ...
where I1, I2, and I3 are the current values at the individual resistor locations.
These current values are easily calculated if the battery voltage is known and the individual resistance values are known. Using the individual resistor values and the equation above, the equivalent resistance can be calculated. And using Ohm's law (?V = I