CMS ID: 45239 March 26, 2019

Experiment No 02:
Resistor color code chart-Understanding resistance color coding.
About this experiment:
The “color coding” is used to know the value of the resistors because the colors in the resistors
identify the resistance of that resistor. So that’s why we saw the colors that were printed top of the
resistors. Due to this we can easily know by the colors that what the value of the resistor is.

Tools:
Resistor.

How to identify the resistor color code

Identifying resistors

Most axial resistors use a pattern of colored stripes to indicate resistance. SMT ones follow a numerical
pattern. Cases are usually brown, blue, or green, though other colors are occasionally found like dark red
or dark gray.

4-band axial resistors

Four band identification is the most commonly used color coding scheme on all resistors. It consists of
four colored bands that are painted around the body of the resistor. The scheme is simple: The first two
numbers are the first two significant digits of the resistance value, the third is a multiplier, and the fourth
is the tolerance of the value. Each color corresponds to a certain number, shown in the chart below . The

tolerance for a 4-band resistor will be 2%, 5%, or 10%

Color 1st band 2nd band 3rd band Multiplier Tolerance Temp. Coefficient
Black 0 0 0 ×100
Brown 1 1 1 ×101 ±1% (F) 100 ppm
Red 2 2 2 ×102 ±2% (G) 50 ppm
Orange 3 3 3 ×103 15 ppm
4
Yellow 4 4 4 ×10 25 ppm
Green 5 5 5 ×105 ±0.5% (D)
CMS ID: 45239 March 26, 2019

Blue 6 6 6 ×106 ±0.25% (C)

Violet 7 7 7 ×107 ±0.1% (B)
8
Gray 8 8 8 ×10 ±0.05% (A)
White 9 9 9 ×109
Gold ×0.1 (10−1) ±5% (J)
−2
Silver ×0.01 (10 ) ±10% (K)
None ±20% (M)

For example, if you are looking for a 12K (12000 ohm) resistor with ±5% tolerance, you would be
looking for a Brown (1) Red (2) Orange (×103) Gold (±5%) resistor.

12×103 ohm = 12000 Ω = 12 kΩ

Note that red to violet are the colors of the rainbow where red is low energy and violet is higher energy.
Resistors use specific values, which are determined by their tolerance. These values repeat for every
exponent, 6.8, 68, and 680. This is useful because the digits, and hence the first two or three stripes, will
always be similar patterns of colors, which you will learn to recognize without checking a chart. To help
you remember them, the standard values for 10% resistors are:

1 0
1 2
1 5
1 8
2 2
2 7
3 3
3 9
4 7
5 6
6 8
8 2

5-band axial resistors

1. 5-band identification is used for higher precision (lower tolerance) resistors (1%, 0.5%, 0.25%,
0.1%), to notate the extra digit. The first three bands represent the significant digits, the fourth is
the multiplier, and the fifth is the tolerance.

SMD/SMT resistors
CMS ID: 45239 March 26, 2019

SMD (surface mounted device) or SMT (surface mount technology; same thing) resistors are found
mostly on devices where large scale integration is present. They generally use an alphanumeric
numbering system.

For surface mount resistors, a numerical code is used. For 10% tolerance resistors, 3 numbers are used,
for 1% resistors, 4 digits are used. The scheme is similar to color codes, in that the first two or three digits
are the significant digits, and the last digit is the multiplier (expressed as an exponent of 10). This is easy
to remember as "the first digits then as many zeros as the last digit after it" ohms. "683" for instance,
represents 68 with three zeros after it: 68 000 = 68 kΩ. Likewise, "4991" represents 499 with 1 zero after
it: 499 0 = 4.99 kΩ.

For small resistance values, an alternate notation is often used. For these, an R is used in place of the
decimal. For example, 5R6 = 5.6 Ω.

They are the smallest class of discrete resistors available.

CMS ID: 45239 March 26, 2019

Written Lab Report

Experiment # 02: Color coding of resistor
Questions for this experiment:
Assignment:
Complete the written report as follows:
Answer the Questions.
Find out the value of the resistance of the given resistor.
Color Code Value in ohm and tolerance
1. Brown, black, brown, silver 100 ohm +-10%
2. Green, blue, brown, silver 560 ohm +-10%
3. Red, red, orange, gold 22 kohm +-5%
4. Orange, orange, red, gold 3.30 kohm +-5%
5. Red, red, yellow 220 kohm +-20%
6. Brown, red, red, silver 1.20 kohm +-10%
7. Orange, orange, green, gold 3.30 Mohm +-5%
8. Brown, black, yellow 100 kohm +-20%
9. Blue, grey, brown, silver 680 ohm +-10%
10. Yellow, green, yellow 450 kohm +-20%
11. Black, brown, black, gold 1 ohm +-5%
12. Yellow, violet, red, silver, 4.70 kohm +-10%
13. Violet, violet, brown, silver 770 ohm +-10%
14. Brown, black, red, gold 1 kohm +-5%
15. Brown, black, silver, gold 0.10 ohm +-5%