Electric circuits are classified in several ways. A direct-current (direct current) circuit carries current that flows only in one direction. An alternating-current (alternating current) circuit carries current that pulsates back and forth many times each second, as in most household circuits. A series circuit comprises a path along which the whole current flows through each component. A parallel circuit comprises branches so that the current divides and only part of it flows through any branch. The voltage, or potential difference, across each branch of a parallel circuit is the same, but the currents may vary. In a home electrical circuit, for instance, the same voltage is applied across each light or appliance, but each of these loads draws a different amount of current, according to its power requirements. A number of similar batteries connected in parallel (see illustration, bottom) provides greater current than a single battery, but the voltage is the same as for a single battery. See also integrated circuit; tuned circuit.

The network of transistors, transformers, capacitors, connecting wires, and other electronic components within a single device such as a radio is also an electric circuit. Such complex circuits may be made up of one or more branches in combinations of series and series-parallel arrangements.