3 How do you know that homes are not wired in series? Are the two headlights of a car in series or parallel? Are fuses put in parallel or in series with devices they are meant to protect? Why is it unsafe to replace a fuse that keeps burning out with one which has a higher amp rating? A bulb and pair of batteries might have the batteries connected to each other in series or parallel. What are the advantages of each arrangement?

Question

Physics

Mohamed Gould

4 May, 19:03

3 How do you know that homes are not wired in series? Are the two headlights of a car in series or parallel? Are fuses put in parallel or in series with devices they are meant to protect? Why is it unsafe to replace a fuse that keeps burning out with one which has a higher amp rating? A bulb and pair of batteries might have the batteries connected to each other in series or parallel. What are the advantages of each arrangement?

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Answers (1)

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Micah Johnson · Answer 1

1. If turning off one device turns off all the devices then it means home is wired in series.

2. Headlights of a car are connected in parallel.

3. Fuse is installed in series with a device.

4. The device will get damaged to excessive current

5. Refer to the explanation

Explanation:

1. How do you know that homes are not wired in series?

We use parallel wiring in home wiring so that each device gets the same voltage, if we use a series connection then each device will get different voltage depending upon its resistance. Moreover, in case you want to use more than 1 device then you would have to turn on both of them to complete the circuit, these are the reasons we dont use series wiring at homes.

2. Are the two headlights of a car in series or parallel?

The headlights of a car are wired in parallel so that even if one headlight gets damaged and stops working, the other headlight keeps on working. If it was wired in series then both would have stopped working when any of them gets damaged.

3. Are fuses put in parallel or in series with devices they are meant to protect?

Fuses are always connected in series, when a high fault current flows through the fuse, it gets melted and breaks the path so that the fault current doesn't flow through the device.

4. Why is it unsafe to replace a fuse that keeps burning out with one which has a higher amp rating?

The ampere rating of the fuse is selected with respect to the device it is connected to. Lets say you have a device which cannot withstand a current of 10A. So you have connected a fuse of 10A rating in series with the device. The fuse got burnt out several times now if you decided to replace the fuse with a higher ampere rating lets say 12A then what would happen? it means that now a current of 10A can flow through the device which will damage the device for sure.

5. A bulb and pair of batteries might have the batteries connected to each other in series or parallel. What are the advantages of each arrangement?

Advantages of series arrangement:

If you have pack of batteries and you want to increase the voltage then a series connection would get the job done since in a series circuit voltage gets added together. There is a single path for the current to flow so you need less amount of wire.

Advantages of parallel arrangement:

If you have pack of batteries and you want to increase the current then a parallel connection would get the job done since in a parallel circuit current gets added together. When multiple bulbs are connected in parallel, each bulb get the same voltage. When multiple bulbs are connected in parallel, if one of the bulb gets damaged then rest of the bulbs are not affected.