to tell their value So What does a resistor do ? Just like a tap restricts the flow of Water
A resistor restricts the flow of electricity in a circuit
A rough comparison would be a tap wide open was 0 ohms resistance and a tap almost closed would be high in resistance value This is what a resistor looks like top with paint bottom without painted finish
The electrical symbol for a resistor Here are some symbols of various types of resistors Carbon film resistor A complete range of 1/4W Carbon Film Resistors suitable for most applications. High stability and solid construction ensure a long and stable life. 5% tolerance for the full range from 1R to 10M.
Metal film resistor A wide range of 1/4W Metal Film Resistors with 1% tolerance, suitable for applications requiring tight tolerances. Highly stable and low noise characteristics, together with low temperature co-efficient makes these resistors ideal for the most demanding applications.
Variable resistor New Range of Sliding Potentiometers in Type B, ideal for volume and sound projects
Most resistors are so small that it is impractical to print their values on them using normal numeric characters. Instead, they are marked using a code of coloured bands. Resistors made to tolerance of 5% and 10% are marked with 4 bands while higher precision types, such as 2%, 1% or better, may be marked differently. A method of remembering the colours is to use a ditty like this Barnies Bull Ran Over Your Garden Blue Violets Gone White
-- Black -- Brown -- Red -- Orange -- Yellow -- Green -- Blue -- Violet -- Grey -- White -- 0 -- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4 -- 5 -- 6 -- 7 -- 8 -- 9
Band 1 you simply read the value from the colour Band 2 You read the value of the colour Band 3 Is the multiplier band so the colour (Number) simply means the number of Zeros on the end of reading one and two The tolerance Band The last band (Usually gold or Silver) Resistors that are manufactured to a high degree of accuracy are expensive to produce Therefore they are produced to differing tolerances (therefore price)
Highly accurate are the most expensive etc Tolerance band The tolerance Band If the tolerance band is gold then it has a tolerance of + or 5%
Therefore if it is a 100 resister it would measure between 95 and 105 The tolerance Band If the tolerance band is silver then it has a tolerance of + or 10%
Therefore if it is a 100 resister it would measure between 90 and 110
Tolerance band Additionally there are six other colours that are used in the tolerance band These being
Red + 0r 2% Brown + 0r 1% Green + or 0.5% Blue + or - 0.25% Violet + or - 0.1% Grey + or - 0.05%
However these are not common and you will mostly see gold or silver at school An example of how to read a resistor The first colour is Yellow which equals --- 4 The second colour is Violet which equals -- 7 The third of multiplier is red which equals -- 2 or more correctly 2 zeros on the end of the first two colours
Which means this resistor is 4700 ohms And the gold (or Tolerance band) means that it will have an accuracy of plus or minus 5% Kilo = 1000 - K Mega = 1000000 - M
therefore Green Brown Red Gold Green Blue Yellow Gold Brown Violet Brown Gold Red Red Black Gold Yellow Violet Brown Gold
Yellow Violet Orange Gold
Yellow Violet Blue Sliver
Black Blue Black silver Green Brown Red Gold 5 1 00 +/-5%
Where Green = 5 Brown = 1 Red = 2 or more correct 2 zeros
so the correct answer is = 5100 +/- 5%
It can then be reduced down to By dividing by 1000 or Kilo to
5.1K Green Blue Yellow Gold 5 6 0000 Barnies --Black -- 0 Bull --Brown -- 1 Ran --Red -- 2 Over --Orange -- 3 Your --Yellow -- 4 Garden --Green -- 5 Blue --Blue -- 6 Violets --Violets -- 7 Gone --Grey -- 8 White --White -- 9 A method of remembering the colours is to use a ditty like this