Series Circuit (left) is a circuit with only one path of current and one voltage. You can hook up as many light bulbs (resistors) as you want on to the series circuit but the more you put on the circuit, the dimmer each bulb will be. If you have 1 bulb then that bulb will be the maximum brightness, if you have 2 bulbs then each bulb will be half of the maximum brightness. If you break the circuit by either having two bulbs then taking one out, or having a switch in the line, the current will not flow until you have two bulbs in the circuit or the switch is turned on.
A parallel circuit (right) is a circuit in which you can have as many paths as you want. You can hook up as many bulbs to this circuit as you need. The voltage will be the same through each of the paths of electricity but the current will be different through all of them. No matter how many bulbs you put on the circuit the brightness will always be the same for all of the bulbs. If one path is broken in parallel, the electricity will continue to flow through the rest of the paths just not the path that has been broken.
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