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Physics
DC Circuit Lab
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Closed circuit · current flows
Click the switch to turn the lamp off
Yellow dots: conventional current (+ → −)
3/48
Click to place (or drag in). To wire, drag from one round terminal to another.
Try: add a second lamp in series, then in parallel, and compare brightness.
Drawing
Reset restores the opened sample circuit. Undo restores the previous edit, including clearing the circuit.
3/96 wires
Closed return path
- Current through E1
- 0.6 A
- Equivalent resistance
- 10 Ω
- Load power
- 3.6 W
Select a component or wire on the workbench to edit it and read U, I, P.
Model notes
- Steady-state linear DC circuits. Voltage sources, wires and closed switches are ideal; battery capacity, heat, transients and AC are not simulated.
- A lamp is a fixed resistive load. Brightness is a qualitative indicator based on P / 3.6 W, not a real lamp characteristic. The two-terminal rheostat ranges from 0.1 to 1000 Ω.
- An ideal ammeter has zero resistance and can short a source. An ideal voltmeter has infinite resistance and draws no current. U and I are signed from A to B; negative P means power is supplied.
- Each connected network has its own voltage reference. Voltage across disconnected networks is undefined. Ideal wire loops or parallel ideal sources can have non-unique branch currents; arrows appear only for determined readings.
- Equivalent resistance is seen from the selected source with other independent sources suppressed. Animation illustrates conventional current, not electron velocity. Limit: 48 components and 96 wires.