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In my last post I discussed Ohm’s Law and Watt’s Law, presenting some basic formulas that will be needed to calculate power, voltage, current and resistance in an electronic circuit. In this post I intend to discuss how to calculate total resistance in an electronic circuit.
A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines, among other uses.
The schematic symbol for a resistor can be seen in the screenshot below:-
If a circuit has only one resistor in it, it is a very simple matter to calculate the total resistance in the circuit. If there is more than one resistor, and if the circuit is series, parallel, or complex, it can be more difficult to calculate the total resistance. It is for that reason that we need to rely on the laws of physics to develop formulas that will enable us to calculate total resistance in a circuit.
A series circuit comprised of three resistors can be seen in the screenshot below. The formula for calculating the total resistance of a series circuit is:-
