Voltage Drops in a Series Circuit:
Charge gains energy (and electric potential) in the battery and loses energy (and electric potential) in the external circuit. The amount of electric potential gain in the battery is equal to the loss in the external circuit. For series circuits, this loss occurs in a stepwise fashion as the charge passes through each resistor. The sum of the voltage drops across each resistor is equal to the voltage rating of the battery. The voltage drop across an individual resistor within a series circuit can be determined from the resistance of the resistor and the current through the circuit. For example:
∆V1= I • R1 ∆V2= I • R2 ∆V3= I • R3
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