What are advantages and disadvantages of a parallel circuit and a series circuit?

Answer 1

There are no advantages of disadvantages to parallel or series circuits in general. They are just different. Each has its own characteristics which may be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on the circumstances.

For example, in a series connection, the same current goes through all the elements. If these elements are old fashion low voltage Christmas lights, then the fact that one one lamp goes out the whole string goes dark is a major disadvantage. If these are LEDs which almost never go out, that isn't a problem, but the fact that you can use ahigh voltage source without converting to a lower voltage is a major benefit. Almost allChristmas lights now use high voltage bulbs wired in parallel, but LED flashlights all use LEDs in series.

Elements connected in parallel all see the same voltage. This is not a problem when th elements can tolerate voltage variations, but is a problem when they can't. Thuslight bulbs in parallel work well. Batteries in parallel don't work as well because each battery really wants a slightly different voltage. If they were forced to have the same, the current would not be evenly balanced. (You can connect batteries in parallel but it takes extra care. That's why flashlights, etc. always use batteries in series.)

When elements are in parallel, you can connect or disconnect an element without affecting the others. For appliances being plugged into wall outlets, this is a major advantage; for other applications (such as the amplifiers for an undersea telephone cable - which use a series connection) it isn't important.