Why do short circuits occur?
When components are in parallel the combination has a lower resistance than either of the lone components. So, if a component is in parallel with a piece of conducting wire the shorted out component combination has less resistance than the component or piece of wire alone would have and therefore the shorted out component is part of a combination that has less resistance than a connecting wire!.It will therefore get a very little share of the voltage in the strand (unless it is on its own…. then it gets the lot anyway!). If a bulb in series with others is shorted out, it is as if it was not connected into the strand at all. It gets virtually no share of the potential drop from the battery and therefore very little current and it does not light up. The current in the strand will increase (as the resistance of the strand has decreased) and so the other bulbs will light up more brightly (as they would if it was not connected in at all). If a bulb on its own in a strand is shorted out, i
