in today's video we're going to explore parallel circuits and in particular we'll consider how they treat potential difference current and resistance parallel circuits are those with more than one loop and generally each loop will only contain a single component this makes parallel circuits much more useful than series circuits because as each component has its own loop if any particular component breaks then the overall circuit is still intact for example if one of the lights in your house blows all of the other ones will still work often though circuits will be a mix of series and parallel parts so although we might have multiple loops we could still have more than one component in some of those loops if you're not sure what series circuits are then it's probably worth checking out our video on that first we put a link to it down in the description now the first thing to know about truly parallel circuits so those with only one component in each loop is that all of the components get their full source potential difference so if we have a 12 volt battery then all of the components will have 12 volts across them the next thing to know is that the current is shared between all of the loops so if this circuit with two loops had a total of four amps flowing through it then it could be that there were three amps flowing in the first loop and one amp through the second or it could be equally split and have two amps flowing through each loop either way if we add the currents in each loop together it will always add up to the total current of the circuit in this case 4 amps the way that the current splits will depend on the resistance of the individual components in the circuit with the loops that have greater resistance taking a lower share of the current you can think of this as if the current is water flowing down a hill if the water can flow down two possible paths then most of the water which represents electrical current will take the path of least resistance which is why we get a higher current flowing through the lower resistance loops the last thing we need to look at is resistance one strange thing about parallel circuits is that the more components we add in parallel the lower the total resistance of the circuit will be it's a pretty odd concept and it could just be one of those facts that you have to accept and remember but it might help to think about it in terms of our river example imagine that we add another possible route for the water to flow even if this route has a high resistance it still increases the options for our water to flow meaning that the water can flow down the hill more easily which is the same thing as saying the overall resistance has decreased so in physics terms the more loops we add in parallel the lower the overall resistance will be even if those loops contain big resistors anyway that's everything for today so if you enjoyed it then please give us a like and subscribe and we'll see you next time you