Basic concepts of electric circuits 27

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(a) (b)

Figure L1.3 Building a simple circuit on the breadboard

standard resistor colour code can be used to interpret the values of dif-
ferent resistors.
To determine the value of a resistor from the colour band markings, hold
the resistor so that the colour bands are closest to the left end as shown in
Figure L1.4.

Figure L1.4 Resistor colour bands

The first two colour bands on the left side of the resistor represent two digits
(09), the third band represents the number of zeros to add to the integers
(multiplier), and the fourth band represents the tolerance of the resistance.
The resistor colour code is shown in Table L1.1, and the tolerance of the
resistance is shown in Table L1.2.

Table L1.1 Resistor colour code

Colour Digit
Black 0
Brown 1
Red 2
Orange 3
Yellow 4
Green 5
Blue 6
Violet 7
Grey 8
White 9

Note: Memory aid: Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West
Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Discussion:Remember-Electrical-Resistor-
Color-Codes