Hello Admins & Members,

First of all thank you for letting me into this most excellent community. This site is simply amazing.

Second, I am not actually a student of electricity/electronics. I come from the world of biology, but my research in the years to come will rely heavily on electronics so I need to have a solid grounding therein.

Third, here is my question. From a very basic, layman's point of view what is the significance of having a resistor and capacitor in parallel? What would be the advantage of such a setup versus having a resistor and capacitor in series? What kinds of electronics have RC circuits which the resistor and capacitor in parallel?

Thanks again everyone.

 

First, welcome to the forum. You will find a group willing to help with almost anything related to electronics/electrical subjects.

Resistors in parallel with capacitors have several functions. A basic example would be to have a resistor in parallel with the filter capacitor of a power supply. The intent is to provide a discharge path so that the cap would not retain a charge after the load and input power have been removed.

A slightly more complex usage would be to provide different feedback characteristics for an OP Amp circuit for the DC component (resistor) and the AC component (capacitor or capacitor and resistor in series) These are just the first usages that come to mind. Many more exist, depending upon the results needed.

For a good start into electronics, check out the link tabs a the top of the forum page. It is a very good collection of information starting with the basics and going forward from there.