ELECTRiCiTY: blog 10 :)

Everyone loves Christmas and the many traditions that accompany the holiday. One such tradition is decorating a tree with a string of lights. What many people don't usually think about is, if one of the lightbulbs go out, why dont the others all go out too? That is all thanks to physics :)

Christmas lights are not all connected in series, but in parallel. The difference is that when lights are connected in parallel, the lights are virtually in their own independent circuits. In a parallel circuit, the voltage difference across each section is equivalent, but the current is not. In a series circuit, because there is only one pathway for charge, the current is the same throughout. Parallel circuits are used because if all of the lights were connected in series, if any one of the lightbulbs happened to burn out, all of the lights would no longer light up because there would no longer be a complete closed circuit for the charge to travel across.