Draw a proper circuit diagram for each description: straight lines, right angles, labelled values.
1. A cell, a switch, and one lamp.
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Four straight sides, components spaced along them, no diagonal wires. The cell is a long line and a short line — not a battery-shaped rectangle.
2. Two cells in series, a switch, and two lamps in series.
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Everything on one loop. Cells drawn end to end with the long line of one against the short line of the next — that is what “in series” means for cells, and it is what adds their voltages.
3. A cell and two lamps in parallel, each branch with its own switch.
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Two branches between the same two junction points, each branch carrying one lamp and one switch. Both branches must meet again before returning to the cell.
4. A cell, a resistor, and an ammeter reading the current through it.
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The ammeter is in the loop, in line with the resistor. Label the resistor — an unlabelled component is an incomplete diagram.
5. Question 4 again, with a voltmeter added across the resistor.
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The voltmeter sits on its own short branch bridging the two ends of the resistor, while the ammeter stays in the loop. Two meters, two different connections.
6. A circuit where one switch controls both lamps and a second switch controls only one.
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The first switch goes in the main line before the branches; the second sits inside one branch. If your first switch is inside a branch, it cannot control both.
Then answer
7. In question 3, what happens to lamp 2 when switch 1 is opened?
Answer
Nothing — it stays lit. Each branch is a complete path on its own, so opening one leaves the other untouched. That is why houses are wired in parallel.
8. Why must the voltmeter be in parallel and the ammeter in series?
Answer
An ammeter measures the current through something, so the current has to pass through the meter. A voltmeter compares the energy at two points, so it must touch both points at once — which means bridging the component.
Swap them and the ammeter short-circuits whatever it is across.
9. Redraw question 2 as a parallel circuit. Which is brighter?
Answer
Parallel is brighter. In series the two lamps share the supply voltage, so each gets about half. In parallel each lamp gets the full voltage. Total resistance also falls in parallel, so more current flows overall.
Reference: Circuit Components and Symbols