Last month's column covered the behavior of electrical components connected in series and demonstrated that when a voltage is applied across a series circuit, the current through each component is the ...

You're probably familiar with the old-fashioned strings of holiday lights that go out completely if one bulb burns out. Although these lights cause hours of frustration during the holidays, they also ...

We all carry supercomputers in our pockets and use dozens of electric gizmos every day but rarely stop to marvel at the magical act of flicking a switch. Use your ordinary conducting and extraordinary ...

Electricity powers everything from your phone to your refrigerator—but have you ever wondered how it’s controlled inside a circuit? It all starts with one small, powerful component: the resistor. In ...

For electricity to flow, everything needs to be connected in a big ring. It’s called a circuit. For example, the lights in most houses and flats are part of a circuit controlled by the consumer unit, ...

Circuit breakers are everywhere. If a technology, product, or piece of equipment runs on electricity, chances are it contains at least one circuit breaker to keep users and internal components safe.

Churning with voltage and resembling an explosion at the wire factory, the breaker panel exudes mystique. But it's just a big switch, filled with other smaller ­switches, which lead to the switches ...