> wire up say a garage with fluros from my switch then to the next light and so on I would say there then in series? But how would you wire in parallel
Slit the cable/conduit, pull all the individual wires out, spread them around the floor so you can see what's really happening.
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Switch and lamp(s) are in Series.
All switch+lamps strings are in Parallel across the power source.
In general you "never" have loads (lamps, heaters, toasters) in series. You buy a load to suit your local voltage. 230V lamps in 230V districts.
A special-case may illustrate. Say you have 230V supply but somehow you got a big box of 115V lamps. You could wire two 115V lamps in Series across the 230V supply and (if identical) they work fine. (Until one blows, of course, and you have to find which it is.) "Fine" electrically-- the wire between the two series lamps is a gray-area in building wiring rules because you just never do things this way.
> 2330 at college
School work must cover many more things than are found in a garage. Obviously you do have Series in the form of switch & lamp, though mainly everything comes out Parallel. However in Electronics we sometimes have long strings of series resistors (or other parts) to sub-divide an available voltage into smaller voltages. You need to do all those problems in the book to get foundation for further study.
Special Case: Voltage Dividers. Nearly everything can be reduced to a voltage divider and some insight gained. The switch plus lamp series string has two conditions. Lamp is (say) 100 ohms. Switch can be 0.1 ohms "on" or 500Meg (million) ohms "off". When "on", the division ratio is 0.9999... the lamp gets 229.8V and the switch gets 0.23V. The lamp runs bright. When "off" the division ratio is 0.000,000,2.... lamp gets 0.000,05V and switch is blocking 229.999,95V. While this example is near-enough "on/off", 100 and 220 ohms divider makes more interesting results and (with different numbers) is found everywhere in electronics.
> Xmas is series
Many are. Series uses less wire. Low-power high-voltage lamps are tricky. Series-stacking 12V lamps up to line voltage is cheaper. Also: one failure forces repair. If the string is both dead and tangled, many users will ---- it aside "for later" (never) and go buy another string. A very merry Xmas for the stores and factories.
There are parallel strings but they cost more and are going out of style.
> would never wire fluorescents in series
There is a special case for huge installations. Many tubes wired in series on one ballast from a HIGH voltage line. It is certainly not common; because of danger and also because other light sources compete better in huge jobs. It's the kind of thing Patto *might* run into in a textbook.