Resistors - What they are and How they Work

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Resistors work by resisting the flow of electrons in a circuit. If you hooked up a resistor to a circuit along with a light bulb and a switch, and you turned on that switch, the light bulb will glow, but not as bright as before. This is because the flow of electrons is reduced do to the resistive properties of the material in the resistor. There are many types of resistors. They are most made of carbon with a copper wire going through them. Each resistor has the following characteristics:

• Color bars: Each resistor has so many color bars around the case. These colors are black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, silver, and white. Each color has a number. Black is zero, brown is one, red is two, orange is three, yellow is four, green is five, blue is six, purple is seven, silver is eight, and white is 9.
• Resistance reading: The first two color bands give the resistance. The third color band provides the multiplier in 1000. And the fourth color band (if one is there) gives the tolerance level of the resistor. For example, a resistor with color bands brown, red, and yellow will tell you the resistor has 120000 or 120,000 ohms, or 120K. This resistor has about 120K of resistance to it. This size of resistor would be good in high voltage circuits where the high voltage may need reducing to a lower voltage.

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