Sorry.... I didnt catch your post until this morning... thanks for the reply
In essence I suppose I am trying to understand how the current flowing through a resistor affects the amount of heat dissipated, and therefore the drop in voltage across the resistor..... specifically regarding resistors in series.
A battery with just a wire attached to each end will blow because there is almost zero resistance and therefore nothing to dissipate the energy as it flows through. Whereas with just one resistor the entire voltage is consumed. The coulombs exiting, even though they have no energy, continue on their way to the cathode due to the pressure exerted by fresh charge coming from the anode?
With an additional resistor added, the current may halve (for example) and therefore the amount of charge (per sec) passing through the first resistor has halved.