I have noticed that a majority, if not all, of calculators for determining values for series/parallel resistance and capacitance don't also display the actual effect on the voltage, wattage, and tolerance ratings.
Do resistors in series multiply/add or subtract/divide the wattage rating? (Parallel should be the opposite?)
Do capacitors in series/parallel effect voltage and tolerance as well?
This are important calculations and I am a bit boggled as to why this information is usually left out of the calculators, even most modern books.
Voltage Ratings
Think about it for a second.
Let's suppose you have two caps and two resistors.
The caps have a voltage rating of 30V.
If you put them in parallel , are they still rated for 30V ?
Does the voltage rating say "30V-parallel" or "30V-series" ?
If you put two caps in parallel, unlike resistors, the capacitance adds instead of divides.
Knowing this allows you to make custom capacitors by selecting multiple caps of specific values that
together add up so some specific capacitance you need for an application.
Power Ratings
The resistors are 1k/1/4W.
If you put them in parallel, the parallel resistance is R/2 = 1000 ohms/2 = 500 ohms.
They are still 1/4W but since you have two of them 1/4 + 1/4 = 1/2W (as you already stated)
Tolerance Ratings
So if you have 10% tolerance caps, and you put them in series or parallel, does that change their
tolerance, which is the measure of the how close to the labeled value they are ?
Is a 10% tolerance cap closer or further away from the labeled value depending on whether you
put in series or parallel ?
If you buy tires rated for 50000 miles , does that change depending on how many you put on your car ?
Take resistors. Is a 1% resistor suddenly 5% or 10% depending on whether it is in series or parallel.
If the tolerance is based on the manufacturer picking the resistors that meet that criteria and separating
them from the rest of the batch, does their resistance value change when you put them in series or
parallel, making them closer or further from the value denoted by the color coded bands , or does it
stay the same no matter what you do (short of overheating it) ?
BTW, of course I could have played the Google card, but I don't think these questions warrant a Google search. I think this is a case where common sense should be sufficient. Of course the parallel and series combination effects on capacitance and resistance would definitely warrant a Google search because that requires some knowledge of electronics.
FYI, temperature rating is like tolerance ratings, it doesn't change based on series or parallel configuration.
Here's something that might interest you:
Electronic Component Derating Standards
What you'll see is that at some specific temperature the power rating starts going downhill at some
linear rate (about a 45 degree angle downward) with respect to temperature , so a 1/4 resistor would
no longer be 1/4 at any temp above that threshold temp where the derating slope starts.
In retrospect, do you think you might have figured this out if you thought about long enough ?