Lights connected in series form a chain with each light connecting to adjacent lights via one wire. Therefore, if one of the lights burns out and breaks the series, none of the other lights will receive power and they'll go dark. Lights connected in parallel each connect to the positive and negative nodes of the power source and would not go dark if one of their neighbors burnt out.

A transformer utilizes an inductor to increase or decrease the voltage in a circuit. AC flowing in a coil wrapped around an iron core magnetizes the core causing it to produce a magnetic field. This magnetic field generates a voltage in a nearby coil of wire and, depending on the number of turns in the wire of the primary (source) and secondary coils and their proximity, voltage is induced in the secondary coil.

The transistor is the foundation of modern electronic devices. It is made entirely from semiconductor material (making it a solid state device) and can serve many different functions in a circuit including acting as a switch, amplifier, or current regulator. A transistor works by allowing a small amount of current applied at the base to control general current flow from collector to emitter through the transistor.

In the NM cable used for wiring homes, each cable has three wires inside a sheath with each wire covered in a different color of insulation to indicate its type. The wire with the black insulation is the 'hot' wire, white is the neutral wire, and the ground wire is either covered in green insulation or left bare.

Circuits containing transistors are packaged into integrated circuit chips that allow encapsulating complex circuit designs (CPU, memory, I/O) for easier integration into electronic devices and machines.