From one of my favorite books, Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold:
Here, he explains how to setup switches and lightbulbs in two locations with the purpose of communicating by turning the lights on and off according to some previously established protocol/code.
My question: is he oversimplifying - because that isn’t the point of this chapter - which route/path the current would take when both switches are closed? As in:
Would the wire, which I awkwardly marked blue, also become charged and/or carry current? Or would there be no current because the cathodes of the two adjacent batteries cancel out any difference/voltage in the “blue wire” that would otherwise cause a current?
It’s easier to see that this circuit is rather symmetric when you redraw it
Then with both switches closed blue wire (the one in the middle) should only carry small current. If both halves are exactly the same it should be zero
In general when circuit doesn’t include nonlinear components (semiconductors most commonly) you can sum two valid solutions and you’ll get another valid solution. Note that when one switch is closed, current in blue wire goes one way and when the other is closed, in opposite way
Thanks for drawing it so I didn’t have to; I got nerd sniped from seeing what seemed like two identical circuits with shared ground
This was an amazing explanation. I’m saving it. Thank you so much! I wanna learn writing schematics or whatever they’re called so badly but…
Check out the game Spintronics. It’s kind of expensive for the whole set, but absolutely worth it if you want to play around with circuits without shocking yourself.