INTRODUCTION TO BASIC ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS: RESISTOR

Yusak Tanoto, M.Eng

INTRODUCTION

Lets take a look at the movie first: resistor_movie.mp4 Another movie: Resistor_Color_Bands.mp4 Check this out: Movie\MAKE_presents__The_Resistor.mp4

INTRODUCTION

Resistors are made for the purpose of creating a precise quantity of resistance for insertion into a circuit. They are typically constructed of metal wire or carbon, and engineered to maintain a stable resistance value over a wide range of environmental conditions.

The most common schematic symbol for a resistor is a zigzag line:

INTRODUCTION

Real resistors look nothing like the zig-zag symbol. Instead, they look like small tubes or cylinders with two wires protruding for connection to a circuit.

SYMBOL OF RESISTOR

Resistor values in ohms are usually shown as an adjacent number. If several resistors are present in a circuit, they will be labeled with a unique identifier number such as R1, R2, R3, etc. As you can see, resistor symbols can be shown either horizontally or vertically:

FIXED AND VARIABLE RESISTOR

In keeping more with their physical appearance, an alternative schematic symbol for a resistor looks like a small, rectangular box:

Resistors can also be shown to have varying rather than fixed resistances. This might be for the purpose of describing an actual physical device designed for the purpose of providing an adjustable resistance, or it could be to show some component that just happens to have an unstable resistance:

FIXED AND VARIABLE RESISTOR

Variable resistors must have some physical means of adjustment, either a rotating shaft or lever that can be moved to vary the amount of electrical resistance.

Beside is a photograph showing some devices called potentiometers, which can be used as variable resistors:

FOUR BAND RESISTOR

Four-band identification is the most commonly used color-coding scheme on resistors. The first two bands encode the first two significant digits of the resistance value, The third is a power-of-ten multiplier or number-of-zeroes, The fourth is the tolerance accuracy, or acceptable error, of the value. The first three bands are equally spaced along the resistor; the spacing to the fourth band is wider. Sometimes a fifth band identifies the thermal coefficient, but this must be distinguished from the true 5-color system, with 3 significant digits.

FOUR BAND RESISTOR

Example: Green-blue-yellow-red: 56104 = 560 k 2%. An easier description can be as followed: the first band, green, has a value of 5 and the second band, blue, has a value of 6, and is counted as 56. The third band, yellow, has a value of 104, which adds four 0's to the end, creating 560,000 at 2% tolerance accuracy. 560,000 changes to 560 k 2% (as a kilo- is 103).

METAL FILM RESISTOR

Generally, this kind of resistor have low tollerance value (1%), its color is blue, with more band color than carbon resistor.

FOUR BAND RESISTOR

Each color corresponds to a certain digit, progressing from darker to lighter colors, as shown in the chart below.

OTHER BAND COLOR SCHEME

POWER RATING OF RESISTOR

Resistors dissipate heat energy as the electric currents through them overcome the "friction" of their resistance. Resistors are also rated in terms of how much heat energy they can dissipate without overheating and sustaining damage. Naturally, this power rating is specified in the physical unit of "watts." Most resistors found in small electronic devices such as portable radios are rated at 1/4 (0.25) watt or less. The power rating of any resistor is roughly proportional to its physical size. Note in the first resistor photograph how the power ratings relate with size: the bigger the resistor, the higher its power dissipation rating. Also note how resistances (in ohms) have nothing to do with size!

PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION OF RESISTOR USEFULNESS

The various components on this circuit board are identified by printed labels. Resistors are denoted by any label beginning with the letter "R".

This particular circuit board is a computer accessory called a "modem," which allows digital information transfer over telephone lines.

PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION OF RESISTOR USEFULNESS

There are at least a dozen resistors (all rated at 1/4 watt power dissipation) that can be seen on this modem's board. Every one of the black rectangles (called "integrated circuits" or "chips") contain their own array of resistors for their internal functions, as well. Another circuit board example shows resistors packaged in even smaller units, called "surface mount devices." This particular circuit board is the underside of a personal computer hard disk drive, and once again the resistors soldered onto it are designated with labels beginning with the letter "R. There are over one hundred surface-mount resistors on this circuit board, and this count of course does not include the number of resistors internal to the black "chips.

SURFACE MOUNT RESISTOR

Surface mounted resistors are printed with numerical values in a code related to that used on axial resistors. Standard-tolerance surface mount resistor (SMR) resistors are marked with a three-digit code, The first two digits are the first two significant digits of the value and the third digit is the power of ten (the number of zeroes). For example:
334 = 33 10^4 ohms = 330 kilo ohms 222 = 22 10^2 ohms = 2.2 kilo ohms 473 = 47 10^3 ohms = 47 kilo ohms 105 = 10 10^5 ohms = 1.0 mega ohm

SURFACE MOUNT RESISTOR

Resistances less than 100 ohms are written: 100, 220, 470. The final zero represents ten to the power zero, which is 1. For example:

100 = 10 10^0 ohm = 10 ohms 220 = 22 10^0 ohm = 22 ohms

Sometimes these values are marked as 10 or 22 to prevent a mistake. Resistances less than 10 ohms have 'R' to indicate the position of the decimal point. For example:

4R7 = 4.7 ohms 0R22 = 0.22 ohms 0R01 = 0.01 ohms

SURFACE MOUNT RESISTOR

Precision resistors are marked with a four-digit code, in which the first three digits are the significant figures and the fourth is the power of ten. For example:

1001 = 100 10^1 ohms = 1.00 kilo ohm 4992 = 499 10^2 ohms = 49.9 kilo ohm 1000 = 100 10^0 ohm = 100 ohms

000 and 0000 sometimes appear as values on surface-mount zero ohm link, since these have (approximately) zero resistance. More recent surface-mount resistors are too small, physically, to permit practical markings to be applied.

This image shows four surface-mount resistors (the component at the upper left is a capacitor) including two zero-ohm resistors. Zero-ohm links are often used instead of wire links, so that they can be inserted by a resistor-inserting machine. Of course, their resistance is finite, although quite low. Zero is simply a brief description of their function.

OTHER TYPES

Wire wound resistor: Its resistance is made of wire. (a) Fix (b) adjustable Thermistor: The resistance change affected by the temperature. (PTC: positive Temperature Coefficient: the higher the temperature, the bigger the resistance, opposite with NTC) LDR (Light Dependent Resistor): the resistance change affected by the light.

RESISTOR AS A SYMBOL OF LOAD

In schematic diagrams, resistor symbols are sometimes used to illustrate any general type of device in a circuit. Any non-specific electrical device is generally called a load, so if you see a schematic diagram showing a resistor symbol labeled "load," especially in a tutorial circuit diagram explaining some concept unrelated to the actual use of electrical power, that symbol may just be a kind of shorthand representation of something else more practical than a resistor.

SUMMARY

To summarize what we've learned in this lesson, let's analyze the following circuit, determining all that we can from the information given:

All we've been given here to start with is the battery voltage (10 V) and the circuit current (2 A). We don't know the resistor's resistance in ohms or the power dissipated by it in watts.

SUMMARY

We find two equations that give us answers from known quantities of voltage and current:

Inserting the known quantities of voltage (E) and current (I) into these two equations, we can determine circuit resistance (R) and power dissipation (P):

For the circuit conditions of 10 volts and 2 amps, the resistor's resistance must be 5 . If we were designing a circuit to operate at these values, we would have to specify a resistor with a minimum power rating of 20 watts, or else it would overheat and fail.

SUMMARY
REVIEW: Devices called resistors are built to provide precise amounts of resistance in electric circuits. Resistors are rated both in terms of their resistance (ohms) and their ability to dissipate heat energy (watts).

Resistor resistance ratings cannot be determined from the physical size of the resistor(s) in question, although approximate power ratings can. The larger the resistor is, the more power it can safely dissipate without suffering damage. Any device that performs some useful task with electric power is generally known as a load. Sometimes resistor symbols are used in schematic diagrams to designate a non-specific load, rather than an actual resistor.