What is a Parallel Circuit?

• battery- 6 volt or 2 D cell
• 4 Christmas lights per group with 3 inch wire ends still attached (strip the wire ends)
• eight, 9-inch pieces of wire
• series and parallel circuits data collection sheet

1. Divide the girls into groups of four girls. Each group is to strip the ends of the Christmas tree lights so that there is a half inch of exposed wire leads.

2. Next, have the girls attach the wires to the Christmas tree lights according to the diagram.

3. The girls will then connect the two ends of the string of lights to the battery.

4. Everyone is to observe what happens to the lights. Have the girls explain what they think happened. Ask the girls if they think the circuit is complete.

5. Now have the girls remove one light bulb from its base. Have the girls try to explain what happened. Ask them if they still have a complete circuit. (This might be confusing at first to the girls, because parallel circuits can have an incomplete and a complete circuit at the same time.)

6. Let the girls experiment by removing different lights and observing what happens. Have the girls draw a picture of the various light configurations they try. Make sure the girls record what happens for each test.

7. What conclusions can the girls make about a parallel circuit? Ask them if they need all the lights to work to complete a circuit.

Ask them "what is the difference between the wiring of the bulbs in the parallel circuit and wiring of the bulbs in the series circuit?"

What conclusions can they make about the parallel circuit? In a series circuit, even if one or more light bulbs are out the remaining light bulbs will stay on. Is this the same for a parallel circuit? Have them give a definition for a parallel circuit.

You may want to use the series and parallel circuits data collection sheet to help them define a parallel circuit.

Circuits can be wired so that each resistor (light) has a separate unbroken path to and from the power source. This is called a parallel circuit.

Any bulb in a parallel circuit will continue to burn as long as the circuit is complete. The circuit is complete in this activity as long as there is one remaining bulb lit.

When a single bulb is taken out, the electricity is still able to bypass that one missing bulb and the electricity continues to operate the other bulbs.

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