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Basic Electronics - Resistors
Resist is the word which means “to oppose”. Resistance is the property of opposing the
flow of electrons, in a conductor or a semiconductor. A Resistor is an electronic
component which has the property of resistance.
Symbol and Units
The symbol for a Resistor is as shown below.
The units of resistance is Ohms, which is indicated by Ω omega.
The formula for resistance is
R = V/I
Where V is Voltage and I is Current. It would really be difficult to manufacture the
resistors with each and every value. Hence, few values are chosen and the resistors of
such values are only manufactured. These are called as “Preferred Values”. In practice,
the resistors with near values are chosen to match the required applications. This is how
a practical resistor looks like −
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Color Coding
A process called color coding is used to determine the value of resistance for a resistor,
just as shown in the above figure. A resistor is coated with four color bands where each
color determines a particular value. The below table shows a list of values which each
color indicates.
COLOUR DIGIT MULTIPLIER TOLERANCE
Black 0 100 = 1
Brown 1 101 = 10 1
Red 2 102 = 100 2
Orange 3 103 = 1000
Yellow 4 104 = 10000
Green 5 105 = 100000 0.5
Blue 6 106 = 1000000 0.25
Violet 7 107 = 10000000 0.1
Gray 8 108 = 100000000
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White 9 109 = 1000000000
Gold 10-1 = 0.1 5
Silver 10-2 = 0.01 10
none 20
The first two colored bands indicate the first and second digit of the value and the third
color band represents the multiplier numberof zeroesadded. The fourth color band
indicates the tolerance value.
Tolerance is the range of value up to which a resistor can withstand without getting
destroyed. This is an important factor. The following figure shows how the value of a
resistor is determined by color code.
The five color band resistors are manufactured with tolerance of 2% and 1% and also for
other high accuracy resistors. In these five band resistors, the first three bands
represent digits, fourth one indicates multiplier and the fifth represents tolerance.
Let us look at an example to understand the color coding process.
Example 1 − Determine the value of a resistor with a color code yellow, blue, orange
and silver.
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Solution − The value of yellow is 4, blue is 6, orange is 3 which represents multiplier.
Silver is ±10 which is the tolerance value.
Hence the value of the resistor is 46×103 = 46kΩ
The maximum resistance value for this resistor is
46kΩ or 46000Ω + 10% = 46000 + 4600 = 50600Ω = 50.6kΩ
The minimum resistance value for this resistor is
46kΩ or 46000Ω - 10% = 46000 - 4600 = 41400Ω = 41.4kΩ
After having gone through different details regarding resistors, we have some terms to
learn. Also we have to deal with different behaviors of a resistor for few types of
connections.
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Important Terms
There are a few terms which we need to discuss before going into the type of resistors
we have. One needs to get introduced to these terms at this stage and can understand
them as we progress further.
Resistance
Resistance is the property of a resistor that opposes the flow of current. When
alternating current goes through a resistance, a voltage drop is produced that is in-phase
with the current.
Indication − R
Units − Ohms
Symbol − Ω
Along with resistance, there are other important terms, called as reactance and
impedance.
Reactance
The resistance offered to the alternating current because of the capacitances and
inductances present in the circuit, can be understood as reactance. When alternating
current goes through a pure reactance, a voltage drop is produced that is 90°out of
phase with the current.
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Depending upon the phase i.e., +90° or -90° the reactance can be termed as inductive
reactance or capacitive reactance.
Indication − X
Units − Ohms
Symbol − Ω
Impedance
Impedance is the effective resistance to alternating current arising from the combined
effects of ohmic resistance and reactance. When alternating current goes through an
impedance, a voltage drop is produced which is somewhere between 0°to 90°out of
phase with the current.
Indication − I
Units − Ohms
Symbol − Ω
Conductance
This is the ability of a material to conduct electricity. It is the reciprocal of resistance.
Indication − G
Units − Mhos
Symbol − ℧
