capacitor placement: series or parallel with IC?
Figure 1. OP's original circuit.

The capacitor symbol indicates that it is made of two parallel plates with no contact between them. The capacitor can hold charge on the plates and can absorb some current while it charges up. In your arrangement it blocks battery power reaching the IC as DC cannot flow through it.







simulate this circuit &ndash; Schematic created using CircuitLab

Figure 2. The correct installation of the decoupling capacitor.

The purpose of C1 is to act as a tiny battery right beside the chip. When the chip switches its output a very brief surge in demand can cause a momentary drop in voltage at the chip terminals due to resistance and inductance of the battery and wiring. The capacitor provides a tiny energy reservoir to supply the current during these momentary high demands. It can also absorb transients in the supply caused by other chips on the same power lines.


  I didn't know that ignorance is something to be punished.


You're not being punished. Read the comments from a neutral point of view. You've got a pile of guys trying to help within an hour of the post! If you can respond to the comments well - which I think you did - it's a great site.