Question

A student needs to wire a model house for a class project. The house has one light in each room but the

student would like to keep all of the lights on one circuit, but still be able to turn each light on and off
individually while keeping all of the other lights on.

Answer 1

To keep all lights in a model house on one circuit but still control them independently, a parallel circuit must be used. This allows each light to use the full voltage and operate independently of the others, much like appliances in real houses or components in an automobile.

Step-by-step explanation:

Wiring Model Houses and Parallel Circuits:

If a student wants to wire a model house so that each light can be turned on and off independently, while keeping all other lights on, parallel circuits should be used. In a parallel circuit, each resistor (or light bulb, in this case) is connected to the voltage source in such a way that they all utilize the full voltage and can operate completely independently. This is analogous to how appliances in a real house are connected, or even components in an automobile like headlights and the radio.

In series circuits, like the old holiday lights, if one bulb burns out, the entire circuit is broken and all lights would go out. However, in a parallel circuit, each bulb is connected separately to the voltage source, so even if one goes out, the others would continue to function. Hence for the model house project, wiring the lights in parallel allows each light to operate independently, which is ideal for controlling them separately.