Everyone, probably, had to see streams running in the spring several times. Here is one trickle in a hurry somewhere. Here's another one running. But they connected, and only one flows further. If we draw an analogy with electric current, then each trickle can be considered a conductor through which electric current flows. And when two streams connect, then again, by analogy, we can say that we have witnessed the connection of conductors.
We see the same picture when one river flows into another. Two rivers flowed, and then one flows, but wider and more full-flowing. But to understand this association, we will conduct a simple experiment, it can be done even mentally. Take two short pieces of rubber hose. After all, it’s only important for us now that water can flow through the hose.
These hoses will serve as conductors, clearly demonstrating what happens with electric current. We put the end of the hose on the tap with water and empty the water. She will flow from the tap through the hose. So we made a connection - a tap with a hose. It is called sequential when the end of one conductor is connected to the beginning of the other, in this case the faucet and hose are connected.
Now we take two hoses and connect the end of each of them to the tap (even if just placing these ends inside the spout of the tap), and lower both other ends into a container, for example, a bucket, and let the water go. Water from the faucet will flow into a bucket, and it will flow through both hoses. We will see that water flows from each hose. Thus, we performed a parallel connection of conductors.
That's about the same picture and occurs when an electric current flows. Only in this case, current flows through the conductors, which are used as wires. If the two ends of two wires are connected to one point and the other two to the other, this will be a parallel connection of conductors. And if the wires are joined together, and then two free ends are connected to the right places (to the source and to the load), it will be a serial connection.
It would seem, why such difficulties? And everything is very simple. When the conductors are connected in parallel , the total current flowing through all the wires is greater than each individually. Recall hoses and water. There will be more water flowing through several thin hoses than through each of them individually, and, having thin hoses, large volumes of water can be passed through them.
The same thing happens when electric current flows. If there is no wire of the desired cross section, capable of passing a large current, then you can make a parallel connection of conductors. Then the same current will flow through several thin wires as through one thick one.
The purpose of the serial connection of wires. It is used when there is not enough wire length. In this case, connect several short wires, thereby increasing their length, and use this composite wire instead of one long one.
This is how the simplest options look when using parallel and serial connection of conductors. When wiring, situations are much more complicated. In many cases, various methods of connecting wires can achieve the desired goal, using the available limited resources. At the same time, knowledge of the laws of parallel and serial connection allows you to avoid errors when performing wiring and in the calculation of electronic circuits. Correct execution of serial or parallel connection of wires is a mandatory requirement when performing any electrical work.
The material presented on the simplest examples and analogies allows us to understand what are the connections of conductors, what are the connections (serial, parallel), and gives examples of the use of such compounds in technology.