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2 ! 3%&(+%-*% #4 256 '%,*,$#-,

7 '%,*,$#- .(/0%,8 (&) 9#/%-(&:%,

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:<@ =A& !/"/0 !/'& < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < <

7
:
@
@

Reading Resistors;

9<% ,%$ #4 =25> .(/0%,?

@ today,
A#B%- and ever after, you will want to be able to read
@
In the lab exercises,
resistor values
without
pulling./'#(9
out a#,'meter
to measure
the parts
value
(sometimes
desperate
B, .A&
"#7 &C&0>+$&$9
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$.?'&,.$
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resort
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The process
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soon,6&#,$I<
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get used to at least the common resistance values, you will be able to read many (/?
F+""color
7& #7"&
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.A#.enough
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codes
a glance.
We #.
will
use resistors
that0&$+$./0$
are big
to be readable.
The=A&
,/FK$.#,'#0' $%&'#(")!*%+, 5#0.$ #0& $/ .+,( .A#. .A&( ,/06#""( #0& ,/. "#7&""&' #. #""< =A+$ $5#0&$ (/? .A& .0/?7"&
now-standard surface-mount parts are so tiny that they normally are not labeled at all.
H#,' /55/0.?,+.(I /E 0&#'+,- .A&6< BE (/? 6+C # E&F $?0E#>&K6/?,. 5#0.$ /, .A& 7&,>A9 (/? >#, /,"( $F&&5 .A&6 ?5
This spares you the trouble (and opportunity) of reading them. If you mix a few surface#,' $.#0. /D&0L?,"&$$ (/? #0& F+""+,- ./ 6&#$?0& &#>A<
mount parts on the bench, you can only sweep them up and start overunless you are
willing to measure each.

! 3%&(+%-*% #4 256 '%,*,$#-,

A Menagerie of 10k Resistors

M#?" 5?. ./-&.A&0 .A+$ A#,'$/6& >/""&>.+/, E/0 ?$) %;NG$ +, # D#0+&.( /E 5#>N#-&$)

C*+0-% 2D 256 -%,*,$#-,

The type that we usethe carbon composition resistors at the topare nearly obsolete,
=A&and
.(5&relatively
.A#. F& ?$&L.A&
>#07/, But
>/65/$+.+/,
#. .A&
/7$/"&.&9
0&"#.+D&"(
expensive.
we like0&$+$./0$
them for
lab./5L#0&
work, ,&#0"(
because
(on a#,'
good
day-)&C5&,$+D&9
we can #$
# 0&$?".< O?. F& "+N& .A&6 E/0 "#7 F/0N9 7&>#?$& H/, # -//' '#(KI -" (#+ &"#. ,/"!< =A& /.A&0$ #0& 50&..( ,#$.(
read them. The others are pretty nasty for breadboarding. The one with the value written
E/0 70&#'7/#0'+,-< =A& /,& F+.A .A& D#"?& F0+..&, /?. +, ,?6&0#"$ 6#( #55&#" ./ (/?9 +E (/? '/,G. F#,. ./ "&#0,
out in numerals may appeal to you, if you dont want to learn the color codesbut it
.A& >/"/0 >/'&$L7?. +. 0&#""( +$,G. 6?>A E?, ./ F/0N F+.A9 7&>#?$& +E +. A#55&,$ ./ 7& 6/?,.&' F+.A .A& D#"?& "#7&"
really
isnt
much
.*-+9
(/?G0&
/?. /E
"?>N< fun to work with, because if it happens to be mounted with the value
label
down,
youre
out of luck.
%
*&D+$+/,) #'' M#?"G$ >/""&>.+/, /E * 5#>N#-&$ HPQ;8I<

Resistor Values and Tolerances

Below is a resistor of the sort we use in this courses labs: it is a 5% carbon
composition. 5% means that its actual value should lie within 5% of its nominal
value. If it is labeled 100 k (100,000 ohms), its actual value can be expected to lie
between about 95,000 ohms and 105,000 ohms. The first problem one confronts, on a
first day with resistors, is which way to orient the part:

2&"/3 +$ # 0&$+$./0 /4 .5& $/0. 3& 6$& +, .5+$ 7/60$&8$ "#9$) +. +$ # :;< 7#09/, 7/=>/$+.+/,? >#0. @$&& 22A #9/B&CD
:;<? =&#,$ .5#. +.$ !"#$!% B#"6& $5/6"' "+& 3+.5+, ;< /4 +.$ &'()&!% B#"6&D E4 +. +$ "#9&""&' :%FF G? @%FFAFFF /5=$CA
+.$ #7.6#" B#"6& 7#, 9& &H>&7.&' ./ "+& 9&.3&&, #9/6. I;F /5=$ #,' %F;F /5=$D J5& !0$. >0/9"&= /,& 7/,40/,.$A /,
# !0$. '#( 3+.5 0&$+$./0$A +$ *+)"+ *!, ./ /0+&,. .5& >#0.)

3%4,(# !5 67%17 8*92 :,& &7# !"#$%&'($ $&(%;# &' &7# (%47&
1 .5#.a +$ $+"B&0
tolerance
stripe?,
protest.
How
do I .5#.
know
that is?
The answer
Find
:#'%-.!&"/#.)0-1A? (/6
>0/.&$.Dyou
:K/3
'/ E G,/3
35+75
+$L?which
J5& #,$3&0
+$A :M+,'
# 4/60.5 is,
$.0+>&
/0 -/"'D?fourth stripe that is silver or gold. (if you are using 1% resistors, the tolerance value is

the fifth band. You need the first three bands to have enough significant figures for the
value and the fourth band for the multiplier)
0'+#(*.1#
Tolerances

!<=

N,"( .3/ ./"&0#,7& B#"6&$ #0& 7/==/,A 4/0 .5& OP9#,' 7#09/, 7/=>/$+.+/, >#0.$ (/6 #0& "+G&"( ./ =&&. +, .5& "#9$)
O
;< #,' %F<
Only two tolerance values are common, for the 3-band carbon composition parts you are

likely to meet in the labs: 5% and 10%

$+"B&0) 10%
silver: 10%
-/"') 5%

gold: 5%

!"#$$ % &''() *&#'+,- *&$+$./0$

Value

!"!

#$%&'
Once youve oriented it properlytolerance to the rightyou can read off the value
colors, and then can translate those to numbers. Finally, with the three numbers in hand,
2,3& (/456&
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70/7&0"(8./"&0#,3&
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/:: resistor
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discover
the 3#,
value.
just #,'
looked
is .0#,$"#.&
.9/$& ./brown-black-yellow:
,4<=&0$> ?+,#""(; @+.9 .9& .90&& ,4<=&0$ +, 9#,'; (/4 @+"" 9#6& &,/4-9 +,:/0<#.+/, ./ '+$3/6&0 .9& 6#"4&>
1

/60 "#9$A @&

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is an exponenta power of ten. So, this one is 100 k.
/: O.&,>
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4' ./"&0#,7&
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The Color Code

!"5 63' 74%4+ 748'
The colors represent numbers, as set out below. A variety of mnemonics have arisen,
most
of them,4<=&0$;
more-or-less
offensive,
in6#0+&.(
order /:
to <,&</,+3$
help engineers
memorize
A9& 3/"/0$
0&70&$&,.
#$ $&. /4.
=&"/@> O
9#6& to
#0+$&,;
</$. /:this
.9&<code.
</0&D/0D"&$$
One
of
the
blander
mnemonics
is
Big
Boys
Race
Our
Young
Girls,
But
Violet
Generally
/::&,$+6&; +, /0'&0 ./ 9&"7 &,-+,&&0$ ./ <&</0+F& .9+$ 3/'&> 2,& /: .9& ="#,'&0 <,&</,+3$ +$ GE+- E/($ *#3& 240

P/4,- Q+0"$; E4. R+/"&. Q&,&0#""( S+,$>J A9+$ <,&</,+3 +$ ,/. 6&0( 3"&6&0> T. :#+"$ ./ '+$.+,-4+$9 .9& .0+/ E"#3C;
E0/@, #,' E"4& #,' #"$/ =&.@&&, .9& 7#+0 Q0&&, #,' Q0#(> !"#$% +$ # 7"#4$+="& 0&70&$&,.#.+/, /: .9& 6#"4& F&0/;
$+,3& ="#3C 0&70&$&,.$ .9& #=$&,3& /: 3/"/0U .9& 3/"/0 E0/@, +$ 3"/$& ./ .9& 3/"/0 E"#3CU 7&09#7$ /,& <+-9. 0&<&<=&0
Q0#(5$ 7/$+.+/, #$ G,&L. ./ S9+.&>J V/,& /: .9+$ +$ 6&0( $#.+$:#3./0(> S& C&&7 39#0.$ /: .9& 3/"/0 3/'&$ 47 /, .9&
@#""$ /: /40 /@, .&#39+,- "#=>

Wins. This mnemonic is not very clever. It fails to distinguish the trio Black, Brown and
Blue and also between the pair Green and Gray. Black is a plausible representation of the
value zero, since black represents the absence of color; the color Brown is close to the
color Black; perhaps one might remember Grays position as next to White. None of
this is very satisfactory. It is suggested that you find a color chart you like and affix it
into your lab notebooks for reference.
Here are the colors and the values they represent:
black: zero
brown: one
red: two
orange: three
yellow: four
green: five
blue: six
violet: seven
gray: eight
white: nine
the next two are used as multipliers only:
gold: 0.1
silver: 0.01
The set of 10% valuesaka, the E12 Series
It is hard to get used to the strange set of values that are standard in the lab. They are
not the nice, round values that one might expect. They seem weird and arbitrary at first.
But their strangeness does make sense. Because of our uncertainty about the actual value
of a resistor, it doesnt make sense to specify distinct nominal values that are too close
together; if we specify nominal values that are too close, their actual values are likely to
overlap. To avoid this, the nominal values are placed far enough apart so as to make
overlap slight. A 10% resistor of nominal value 10 ohms, for example, could be as
large as 11 ohms. A 12 ohm resistor could be 10% smallera bit under 11 ohms. So,
12 is about as close as it makes sense to place the next 10% value after 10. And so
onthe steps growing slightly (exponentially actually) as the values rise, producing such
unfamiliar numbers as 27, 39, 47, and so on. Here is the 10% set, also called the E12
series of resistors.

It is named such that E means exponential steps of 12 different values across a decade.

Most of our laboratory circuits will use these 10% values (with appropriate multipliers:
we rarely use 10 ohm resistors, but often use 10k ohm parts, for example). This is so even
though our lab resistors are better than 10% partsnormally they are good to 5%. There
are other E series, e.g., E24 and E48 that make a given number of exponential steps
across a decade. Of course, the more steps...the more precise the resistor value.
Consequently, you only need to know the 12 step values across one decade to figure out
what they are for other decades, e.g., 22 ohms is a value in the 10-100 decade. 2.2 ohms
would be the value in the 1 to 10 decade. 220 ohms would be the value in the 100 to 1000
decade. 2,200 would be the value in the 1000 to 10,000 decade, etc.
Power
Only now and then are we obliged to consider power ratings of the components we use in
the labs. That is true because our signal voltages are modest and our currents are small.
Power in our components, therefore, is modest as well, since power is the product of the
two: Voltage times Current. 10V X 10mA, for example, dissipates 100mWone tenth of
a Watt. But our standard resistors cannot handle much power: 1/4 Watt is the most they
can stand, sustained. So, recall this limitationor you may be reminded by burned
fingertips.
Incidentally may need to remind yourselftill your intuition catches up with your book
knowledgethat it is low- valued resistors that are likely to overheat. 10V across 1k is no
problem; 10V across 100 ohms will hurt, if you touch that quarter-watt resistor.