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Electronic Engineering 2: Resistors, Elementary Resistor Circuits and the

Resistor Paradox

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 Electronic Engineering

Resistors, Elementary Resistor Circuits

and the Resistor Paradox

Thomas Gamsjäger

Lanttberg
Resistance is everywhere, in society, politics, even sometimes in friendship. And practically every bit of
circuitry has some of this special quality. Resistors are the ones which do just an exceedingly good job
in showing off their resistance, and, quite handy for practical purposes, in measured and defined
amounts.

But what is this property 'resistance' about in the first place? At least in our circumstances here we talk
about those mechanisms which oppose the flow of electrical current. The higher the resistance, the
lower the current. Sounds rather straightforward, and it usually is, which is why most sources (textbooks
and the like) leave it just there. But this is only the most obvious beginning. In fact, resistance does not
only affect the current, much more, voltage is always, quite literally, part of the equation. Enter Ohm's
law:

𝑉
𝐼 =  
𝑅
 
 
I ... current, measured in ampere or amps (A)
V ... voltage, measured in volts (V)
R ... resistance, measured in ohms (Ω), where Ω is the Greek letter for omega

We have already seen Ohm's law in heated action in the first part of this series: Voltage (V) and
resistance (R) determine as the two independent parameters the current (I) as the dependent variable.
Here is another explanation approaching the matter from a different angle: R is the ratio between
voltage and current.

𝑉
𝑅=
𝐼

In any given circuit V and I can be easily determined through the skilful employment of a multimeter.
(Just remember: Current is always measured in series, voltage in parallel.) Now imagine we vary the
voltage, say, by increasing it from zero to continuously higher values (but at any instance clearly on the
safe side of potentially hazardous levels frying our breadboard or, even slightly more unfortunately,
throwing you into the abominable abyss of cardiac arrest). Now draw a diagram with voltage on the x-
axis and current on the y-axis. Its name will be IV-curve (or sometimes also called IV-characteristic,
which definitely sounds markedly more assertive, but which has, in any case, nothing remotely in
common with anything applied by an intravenous (IV) route, except in case of your resuscitation).

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 2
 0,06 100 Ω
0,05

Current (A)
0,04
0,03
0,02
200 Ω
0,01  
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Voltage (V)

Figure 1. IV-curves of a 100 Ω and a 200 Ω resistor. Actual current measurements for increasing values of voltage in steps of
0.5 V with linear trend lines. Note that IV-curves quite often have an x-axis extending into negative values, but as resistors have
no polarity, such a diagram would simply make no sense.

The interesting thing in Figure 1 is the fact that it does not look interesting at all. Just a fairly straight
ascending line. But this is nothing but a proper description of the properties of a resistor. Independent of
the actual voltage, the ratio between this voltage and the ensuing current is constant. For the two
resistors in the example of Figure 1, this is for any voltage 0.01 and 0.005, respectively.

The resistance can be seen as a proportionality factor in this linear relationship between voltage and
current. Again, Ohm's law, now with units:

𝑉 1  𝑉
𝑅=         1  Ω =
𝐼 1  𝐴

If a current of 1 A can be observed across a voltage drop of 1 V, the underlying resistance amounts to
1 Ω. 2 A across 2 V signify … the tension rises … still 1 Ω. And so forth. Unsurprisingly, a resistor is a
classical linear electronic component (just look again at Figure 1 to confirm that). This behaviour of
resistors is seen as rather archetypal, so much so that all other constituents of a circuit with similar
properties are called ohmic devices made of ohmic materials. (As opposed to their nonohmic next of
kin, one of which we will encounter quite soon. Expect the dazzling light emitting diode!)

Types of resistors

The main categorisation refers to the fact whether a resistor has a fixed resistance or a variable
resistance. By way of ingenious pragmatism, these are called fixed resistors and variable resistors. The
latter ones are also known by the name of potentiometers, or 'pots' for the always hurried electronics
engineer.

Fixed resistors are two-terminal devices with no polarity, which means that they can be mounted either
way in a circuit, it does not matter. Pots, however, sport three terminals. Between the outermost
terminals, we can find the fixed maximum resistance, and the adjustable wiper is connected to the
centre terminal. Dial potentiometers are quite often to be observed. Other variants are slide pots where

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 3
the resistance is varied on a linear slider, and trim pots which are used when the resistance is adjusted
rather rarely and left unchanged in between. And finally a potentiometer with only two terminals but
pretty much the same functionality carries the even more portentous name 'rheostat'.

Most commonly, resistors are made of the carbon film. Metal film and wire wound resistors and many
more types are also in use and some of them have special applications.

Another categorisation is based on the lead (pronounced /liːd/) arrangement. Axial-lead resistors have
wire leads along the axis of the device (Figure 2), and radial-lead types sprout their leads on only one
side. The third group is called SMT, the acronym for surface-mount technology, or SMD for surface-
mount device. These resistors are to be attached directly to a printed circuit board (PCB), and they don't
look like typical resistors at all.

Characteristics of resistors

Resistance: Obviously, the value of resistance is the pivotal property of a resistor. On many of them,
namely the aforementioned axial-lead resistors, coloured bands are employed to encode the resistance
(Figure 2). Deciphering this kind of cryptography is cumbersome work. It is much easier to store the
resistors in appropriately labelled small boxes, and if all else fails, make use of your multimeter and just
measure the resistance. Which immediately brings up the next topic, tolerance.

Figure 2. Two axial-lead resistors. Can you decipher their resistances? I positively cannot.

Tolerance: If you measure the resistance of a garden variety resistor, which should provide us with, say,
1000 Ω, you might be surprised that the multimeter tells you there are only 981 Ω, or 1005 Ω, or
1042 Ω. Such findings do not necessarily indicate sloppy work on the part of the manufacturer. In fact,
resistors are available with a defined tolerance. Typical tolerance values are ± 2 %, or ± 5 % or even ±
10 %, whereas high-precision resistors exhibit a range of only ± 1 %.

Power rating: Power equals voltage times current, we already know that.

𝑃 =𝑉∙𝐼

This simple equivalence is of existential importance for resistors because they can only withstand a
defined and definitely limited amount of abuse in terms of voltage and current, or power for short. The
reason behind that is that the imparted energy (power over time) is simply converted to heat. And too
much heat (i.e. more heat than one can cope with) is never a good thing. Resistors have, therefore, a
power rating. This is the maximum allowable power a resistor is designed to being capable of handling

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 4
for extended periods of time. A power rating is often 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 or 1 W. Anything beyond that is rarer
but can extend into the range of several watts. A good rule of thumb is to use a rating double the
anticipated power.

What if you want to determine whether the power in your circuit will overwhelm your unsuspecting
resistor friend or not, but your usually extremely dependable multimeter has decided to go on vacation?
Yes, Ohm's law, as always, will help out.

𝑉
𝐼=
𝑅

Now just plug this into the power equation from above:

𝑉 𝑉!
𝑃=𝑉∙ =
𝑅 𝑅

The power a resistor has to deal with is simply the voltage squared divided by the resistance of the
resistor itself.

Determinants of resistance

We have talked a lot about resistors. But what is resistance in the first place? And what factors might
influence it? In fact, resistance is a much broader concept, which is definitely not the prerogative of
resistors.

Resistance, quite simply, impedes the flow of current on the atomic level, the extent of which depends
on a few distinct properties:

Material: Obviously, the type of material is the main determinant. Any material has a specific resistivity,
even a dried out piece of carrot (even though, as far as I am aware of, it has not been properly
described in the scientific literature). Resistivity is a characteristic of the material itself. To approach this
from a more positivistic angle, the mirror image of resistivity, which is its reciprocal by the name of
conductivity, can also be employed. Various materials exhibit a wide range of resistivities and
conductivities, but three main categories have been established: Conductors, semiconductors and
insulators. Table 1 gives some examples.

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 5
 -1
Material Resistivity (Ωm) Conductivity (Ωm)

Conductors
-8 7
Aluminium 2.82 x 10 3.55 x 10

-8 7
Gold 2.44 x 10 4.10 x 10
-8 7
Copper 1.72 x 10 5.81 x 10

Semiconductors

Germanium 0.46 2.17

-3
Silicon 640 1.56 x 10

Insulators

14 -14
Teflon 10 10

Air Extremely high Extremely low

Vacuum Extremely high Extremely low

Table 1. Resistivity and conductivity of conductors, semiconductors and insulators. Air is, in principle, a superb insulator. Just
think of overhead power lines. But air can contain ions and these can carry charges. Vacuum: No substance matter, no ions,
nothing. A perfect insulator. Still, if only the voltage is high enough, by way of electron emission, charges and current can even
move through a vacuum. The good old vacuum tube is an example.1

Cross-sectional area: Current (and electrons) must squeeze themselves through any material they want
to negotiate. Unsurprisingly, this undertaking is a lot more easily accomplished if the cross-sectional
area of, say, the wire, is wider. This is the reason why the mains wires of your house are markedly more
stocky than those you would find in your cell phone recharger cable.

Length: Pretty much the same principle that we have seen at work in case of cross-sectional area
applies to the length of a wire. The longer the wire, the higher the resistance.

Temperature: In most cases, higher temperature is associated with higher resistance, expressed by the
temperature coefficient.2 Exceptions exist: In a thermistor higher temperature can lead to decreased
resistance. A nice property which can be put to good use. We might come across this story later…

Series and parallel

So far we have talked about one singular resistor. But this is a rare sighting. Usually, they can be
observed in organised packs always on the hunt for current. Their manoeuvrings know, we had the
opportunity to experience it in the first part, two basic patterns: Series and parallel.

                                                                                                               
1
Scherz, 2016, p. 26
2
You have caught me! The truth is that temperature affects the resistivity of the material and not 'only' the resulting resistance.

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 6
 Figure 3. A circuit with two resistors in series.

The total resistance of resistors in series (Figure 3) is easily computed: Just add up the individual values:

𝑅!"!#$ = 𝑅! + 𝑅! + ⋯

More resistors, more resistance, less current. Straightforward.

Figure 4. A circuit with two resistors in parallel.

But what is the total resistance of resistors in parallel as in Figure 4? It is not too great a leap of
philosophical deduction that a simple addition of the individual values as in the series layout of
Figure 3 won't do the trick. Reciprocals are needed:

1 1 1
= + +⋯
𝑅!"!#$ 𝑅! 𝑅!

Or algebraically rearranged:

1
𝑅!"!#$ =
1 1
+ +⋯
𝑅! 𝑅!

And still simpler for two (and only two) resistors:

𝑅! 𝑅!
𝑅!"!#$ =
𝑅! + 𝑅!

And if you try this out with real resistors (or at least by plugging in their values into the equations) you
will see that, intriguingly, the total resistance goes down with each and every resistor you add in
parallel fashion. How is that? Each additional resistor offers an additional path for the electrons. And

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 7
they love paths. Happily, the electrons jump along down each avenue, even more so on more of them,
which means higher total current. (Remember Kirchhoff's current law (KCL)?) And from Ohm's law, we
know that higher current indicates less resistance.

What is more, the total resistance of resistors in parallel is always less than the resistance of the smallest
resistor. We will come back to that later. But for now at least an example:

First, two resistors with 1000 Ω and 100 Ω, respectively.

1
𝑅!"!#$ = = 90.9090  Ω
1 1
+
1000 100

Then we add another resistor with 10 Ω.

1
𝑅!"!#$ = = 9.009  Ω
1 1 1
+ +
1000 100 10

Voilà, the resulting total resistance of about 9 Ω is less than the value of the smallest resistor in this
circuit.

The classical example of a resistor circuit

What once was the light bulb is now the almost ubiquitously encountered semiconductor device called
LED, or light emitting diode for long, for most things concerning lighting.3 At the same time, the LED
offers the opportunity to build, as announced in the title of this section, a classical example of a resistor
circuit. Now we are into real electronics.

LEDs are a rather insatiable folk. They take all the energy they can get hold of, even at the cost of utter
self-destruction. Therefore, we need to take care of them and bring some precaution to the table in the
shape of a specific device: Right, a resistor.

Suppose the only voltage source we have is a 9 V battery to illuminate our white LED, which exhibits a
forward voltage of 3.2 V and can cope with a current of 20 mA (the essential bits of information to be
found in the datasheet4). Connecting the LED directly to the 9 V battery will blow it (the LED, not the
battery) into oblivion in milliseconds. (Have you ever wondered where all those p-n-junctions go after
their existence has come to an (sometimes early) end in this world? But I am digressing…) Therefore,
the following circuit layout is already equipped with a resistor (Figure 5). All we have to do is to figure
out the amount of resistance the resistor must have to ensure proper and hazard-free operation.

                                                                                                               
3
For more details on LEDs: They have earned themselves an entire part in this series of their own.
4
This is the reason why bargain price kits of electronics components are often of highly limited use because the first thing the
vendor dispenses with is the proper documentation, i.e. there are no datasheets. And in case of an LED, although you can
measure the forward voltage, you cannot determine the maximum allowable current. All you can do is staying on the safe side,
say, below 20 mA and hope for the best. A low price is not always a good price.

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 8
 Figure 5. Basic LED circuit consisting of a battery, a resistor, the LED (the diode with the two small rays of light), and the ever
present ground symbol.

The common explanation for this example is that the resistor has the noble duty of limiting the current
the LED would otherwise draw from the voltage source. This story is not entirely wrong, but it is at least
heavily misleading as it might be interpreted that an LED can never be operated without a resistor. And
this is definitely not correct. All we have to do is to match the voltage of the power source with the
forward voltage (which is a kind of voltage drop) of the LED. The result is a perfectly happy circuit.
Now we are up to something: Could it be the case that the resistor is also there to bring the voltage
down to the amount the LED can safely handle? Right, this is exactly the underlying mechanism. Just
remember Kirchhoff's voltage law: It states that the sum of all potential differences (i.e. voltages) in a
circuit equals zero. Voltages are observed across individual components within the circuits. In the
example at hand, these are the battery (9 V), the LED (with its forward voltage of 3.2 V) and the resistor.
Therefore, the resistor has to deal with the rest of the voltage. Kirchhoff at work. Now all the ingredients
are ready to be thrown together:

First, determine the amount of voltage the resistor has to drop. Let's call it VR:

𝑉! = 𝑉!"##$%& − 𝑉!"#  !"#$%#&  !"#$%&'

𝑉! = 9 − 3.2 = 5.8  𝑉

Second, plug the things we now know into Ohm's law:

𝑉! 5.8
𝑅= = = 290  Ω  
𝐼!"#  !"#$!%!  !"##$%& 0.02

Third, that's it. A resistor of at least 290 Ω will bring the voltage down to a safe level for the LED and at
the same time limit the current to a maximum of 20 mA. This is the nowadays classical example of a
practical application of a resistor.

Keep in mind: A resistor's duty and work are to limit the current in a circuit, but it has always a direct
(and typically desired) effect on the voltage, too.

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 9
Voltage divider

Speaking of the always present effect of the resistor on voltage, another archetypal resistor circuit is the
voltage divider. In a way, it extends the principle of the LED circuit, as the voltage divider is invoked
when, not too rarely, a power source does not provide the needed voltage or you may need different
voltages with only one supply.

In essence, this is just another application of the fact that an individual component in a circuit causes a
voltage drop due to Kirchhoff's voltage law. One resistor in a circuit 'drops' the entire voltage of the
source. (It has no other choice.) Two resistors in series contribute their share in doing so in proportion
to their resistances. By carefully setting these resistances we are able to provide the aimed for voltage as
the voltage drop across one of the resistors.

Let’s assume we have at hand the following components:

Vin = 12 V
R1 = 1000 Ω
R2 = 2000 Ω

Figure 6. Basic layout of a voltage divider.

The current in the circuit in Figure 6 is (without a load an Vout):

𝑉!" 𝑉!" 12
𝐼= = = = 0.004  𝐴
𝑅 𝑅! + 𝑅! 1000 + 2000

Remember, the current in an unbranched circuit is everywhere the same. Therefore, we can calculate
the voltage drop across R2, which is nothing but Vout in the diagram:

𝑉!"# = 𝐼 ∙ 𝑅! = 0.004 ∙ 2000 = 8  𝑉

Note that these calculations are perfectly consistent with the reality of real resistors on a real
breadboard. Try it!

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 10
In more generic terms, there is a fixed proportionality between the voltages and the resistances:

𝑉!"# 𝑅! 𝑅!
=      𝑜𝑟      𝑉!"# = 𝑉!"
𝑉!! 𝑅! + 𝑅! 𝑅! + 𝑅!

All nice and well, but the same result in this example could have been achieved with totally different
resistances (as long as the proportions remain unchanged, e.g. 100 + 200 Ω instead of 1000 + 2000 Ω).

True. And this fact has to be considered especially with respect to power loss. The higher the total
resistance of the resistors in series, the lower the current and, in due course, the lower the power
consumption of the resistors. In practice, if only a small current is needed via Vout, go for high
resistances in the divider. In case there is relevant load on Vout… Well, that is another matter:

Load on Vout can be considered as a resistor in parallel. Assume Rload is rather low (50 Ω). What is the
effect?

Figure 7. A voltage divider with a load of 50 Ω.

We know that resistors in parallel reduce the effective resistance of the circuit. As a rule of thumb, the
effective resistance is always below the resistance of the 'smallest' resistor.

The equivalent resistance of the two resistors in parallel (R2 = 2000 Ω; Rload = 50 Ω) is:

1 1
𝑅= = = 48.8  Ω  
1 1 1 1
+ +
𝑅! 𝑅!"#$ 2000 50

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 11
And this has the following net effect on our voltage divider:

Figure 8. Due to the parallel layout of the load, the effective resistance of the second resistor in series is reduced from 2000 Ω to
48.8 Ω.

If you now think that such a marked effect on the effective resistance might do something with the
voltage, you are absolutely right:

𝑅! 48.8
𝑉!"# = 𝑉!" = 12 ∙ = 0.56  𝑉
𝑅! + 𝑅! 1000 + 48.8

0.56 V are not exactly the desired 8 V we started with. A complete and total failure.

The consequence of all this is that we have to take the load into account right from the beginning. First,
determine the effective resistance of the load. Second, combine it with a divider resistor of sufficient
size in order to prevent the combined resistance of the resistors in parallel to go down much further.
Ten times the load resistance is a common approach. Third, calculate the equivalent resistance of the
resistors in parallel. Fourth, calculate the appropriate value for R1.

Let's work this out:

Rload = 50 Ω
R2 = 500 Ω (10 times Rload)
Vin = 12 V
Vout = 8 V (the desired output voltage)

𝑅! 𝑅!"#$ 500 ∙ 50
𝑅!"" = = = 45.45  Ω
𝑅! + 𝑅!"#$ 500 + 50

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 12
With the effective resistance at hand, we can pull everything together. Just algebraically rearrange the
following equation for R1 and plug in the values:

𝑉!"# 𝑅!""
=
𝑉!" 𝑅! + 𝑅!""
…

𝑅!"" (𝑉!" − 𝑉!"# ) 45.45(12 − 8)

𝑅! = = = 22.7  Ω
𝑉!"# 8

Variable voltage divider

A common application of the voltage divider is a 'volume control'. A variable resistor R2 can give you
just the voltage (or volume) you need. To make things easier, it is possible to combine R1 and the
variable R2 into one by using a potentiometer (Figure 9).

A potentiometer comes with three connectors instead of two as in an ordinary resistor. The third one
leads to an adjustable mechanism that divides the resistor into two parts equivalent to R1 and R2 in the
voltage divider setup above.

Figure 9. A variable voltage divider by way of a potentiometer.

Above we have seen that the load on Vout has a direct effect on Vout itself and by carefully contemplating
the situation we were able to analytically work out the appropriate values of the resistors in the voltage
divider to avoid any untoward consequences. But there is another option: Haven't you harboured the
desire for a long time to be once a voltage regulator yourself? On this I can help out.

Say, we have again a voltage source with 12 V but we need only 8 V of them. Instead of a calculator to
figure out the necessary resistances all you need is a pot (a potentiometer, of course, not a utensil from
the kitchen). I happen to have one at hand with a total resistance of 48.5 kΩ.5 (Don't ask me why this is
the value of the single pot I can presently find in my holdings.) Now set up the circuit as shown in
Figure 9 and adjust the pot so that you can measure (with the multimeter) 8 V on Vout, i.e. between the
middle terminal of the pot and ground. So far, so easy. Next, place the load resistance (e.g. 20 kΩ)
exactly where you have just measured Vout and determine the voltage again. The multimeter should
read about 5.16 V. As expected the voltage is considerably lower than before. All you have to do now
                                                                                                               
5
Remember, the total resistance of a potentiometer can be found between the two outer terminals.

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 13
is to trim the pot until you can measure the desired 8 V across the load resistance again. That's it. And
the best is every time the load changes just readjust the pot. Who needs a fancy transistor for such a
task as, as of now, you have qualified as your own 'digital'6 voltage regulator.

Incandescent light bulb

What should be the place of the incandescent light bulb in a chapter on resistors? Well, in fact, such a
light bulb is nothing but a very special and specialised variant of the common resistor and, therefore,
absolutely worth mentioning right here.

The colourful and variegated story of the incandescent light bulb since its invention7 and development
in the 19th century fills entire volumes in its own right. Suffice it to say that in a contemporary light bulb
a filament made of the elementary metal tungsten (74W, also known as wolfram8) acts as a resistor,
which is subjected, compared to its relatives in the electronics world, to quite substantial abuse in terms
of voltage, current, and hence, power. The (in this case aimed for) effect is that the filament gets heated
up to 2000 to 3000 °C9, and that is exactly what provides us with the literally warm glow of the light
bulb. But this method of producing light is colossally inefficient. Of a standard 100 watt household light
bulb, only about 2.5 watts of the power is converted to usable light.10 The rest is heat. Think of it again.
Efficiency rating: 2.5 %! Almost unbelievably wasteful. No wonder several countries have banned these
electricity guzzlers altogether, and in many more, they are being phased out over the coming years.

Back to our main theme. The tungsten filament represents a nearly purely resistive load. And its
resistance is temperature dependent. The cold resistance (or more precisely, resistivity) is only a fraction
of its hot value. This property leads to a considerably high initial current, but, as the temperature rises
drastically steep, it stabilises within milliseconds. At least, this is what the textbooks say. Will it stand up
to an experiment under realistic conditions?

The experiment: Left over from their heyday, I have at hand three 100 watt incandescent light bulbs,
still functioning after all those years in a dark and damp corner in the basement. First, I measure their
cold resistance, which is accomplished easily enough with a multimeter. Second, I connect one bulb
after the other via a suitable socket and cable to a wall outlet for about half a minute (to ensure the
filament reaches is top temperature), then I unplug the cable from the wall outlet and quickly measure
again the resistance with the multimeter. (The cable, plug and bulb socket added a stable 2 Ω to both
the cold and hot measurements.)

                                                                                                               
6
'Digital' certainly because I reckon you have used two of your fingers to adjust the pot.
7
I bet you believe that Thomas Edison was the inventor of the light bulb. If you have some spare time at hand, see what you can
find out on this topic.
8
Just to recap: The number 74 in 74W is the atomic number (and at the same time the number of protons in the nucleus).
9
Tungsten is the one element with the highest melting point at roughly 3400 °C. Only a material with such a remarkable property
is able to withstand the inner temperature of a light bulb. For comparison: The temperature in a blast furnace, which is used to
produce iron and steel from iron ore, does not go much higher than 1200 °C. And tungsten is an element of very high density
indicated by its name of Swedish origin, where 'tung sten' means 'heavy stone'.
10
Incandescent light bulb. In: Wikipedia. Retrieved 1 August 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bulb. Right
now I must make a confession: This is the very first time I cite a Wikipedia article. I have dreaded this moment for a long time.
But now once the deed is done, it doesn't feel nearly as improper as I had anticipated.

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 14
These are the results:

Light bulb Resistance (Ω) 'cold' Resistance (Ω) 'hot'

#1 37.4 62.1

#2 40.4 59.3

#3 39.5 60.8

Mean 39.1 60.7

Table 2. Resistance measurements of three 100 watt light bulbs in cold and hot condition. It must be added that the values of the
'hot' resistances diminished rather quickly, apparently as the temperature of the filament went down again. Here the initial values
are shown.

I concede that the setup of this investigation can be deemed fairly crude. Nevertheless, the results show
two things: As expected, the filaments in these light bulbs exhibit a positive temperature coefficient of
resistance: higher temperature, higher resistance. But the huge difference between cold and hot
resistance described above (by a purported factor of up to 15) could not be reproduced in this setting.
Cold filaments showed on average as much as 64.4 % of the resistance under hot conditions. But up
next is the story about the resistor paradox, where a different set of light bulbs appear centre stage, and
whose temperature-dependent resistance behaves much more textbook-like.

Resistor paradox11

It is an important principle that every electrical or electronic device always draws current from a power
source with the height of the current depending on the inner characteristics of the device. Or with other
words, the current never forces itself down a path (and in any case, the driving force is the voltage)
unless it has no other choice, but typically not under normal circumstances. Just think of the fact that on
recharging your cell phone you connect it to the electrical grid, which, in principle, is able to provide
gigawatts of power, but still does not instantaneously vaporise your phone or trip each and every circuit
breaker all the way up to the power station.

Given these premises, it is absolutely consistent that the power consumption of a resistor is higher the
lower the resistance of the resistor is because lower resistance causes higher current and higher current
(and a given voltage) means higher power.

Now let's apply this to a pair of, once again, incandescent light bulbs. As we already know, the
filaments of these bulbs are nothing but resistors which happen to emit light when powered up. One of
the bulbs has, as measured with our Swiss Army knife of electronics, the multimeter, a (cold) resistance
of 12.5 Ω and the other one of 4.5 Ω. Now, which one, at a certain voltage of, say, 10 V, glows
brighter?

                                                                                                               
11
The contents of this part of the Electronic Engineering series are primarily standard textbook knowledge. But this section is
different: I have not encountered any source with a good description or explanation of the seemingly paradoxical behaviour of
resistors under the circumstances laid out here even though, after thinking about it, everything appears almost astonishingly
obvious and self-evident.

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 15
The intuitive answer of the uninitiated might be that the bulb with the higher resistance should be
brighter as the opposition to the current is more intense leading to more 'friction' and, therefore, a
higher temperature. But we are not newbies in this field anymore. As we have stated above, any device
always draws current and is not passively subjected to its onslaught. Duly, on its own, it is the bulb
with 4.5 Ω which draws the higher current and is, therefore, much brighter than the one with 12.5 Ω.
See Figure 10 for the (quite simple) circuit layout, and Table 3 for the measurements, calculations and
observations:

Figure 10. The crossed out circle is the electronics symbol of an incandescent light bulb. Even though the schematic shows a
battery as the power source, I have used a regulated DC power supply instead to avoid any effects of the load on the effective
output voltage (which in a battery are due to its internal voltage drop).

Current (A), Power (W), Resistance (Ω),

Light bulb Voltage (V), set Effect
measured calculated calculated
#1 10 0.229 2.29 109.9 Brighter

#2 10 0.091 0.91 43.7 Dimmer

Table 3. Separate measurements of two low voltage light bulbs. The voltage is set at 10 V, ensuing currents are measured, and
power (P = V x I) and resistance (R = V/I) are calculated. The effects are observed. Note that the calculated resistances are many
times higher compared their respective cold conditions.

So far, so very good. But now let's set up a different circuit configuration, one with both bulbs in series
(Figure 11). The question, as above, is the same. Which bulb is brighter?

Figure 11. The two light bulbs in series.

From what we have just deduced, it would not be excessively far fetched to spontaneously blurt out:
The brighter bulb [in the first part of our experiment] is still the brighter bulb. What else? Don't bother
me with such an apparently stupid question! Or might there be something else up the sleeve…

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 16
To figure this out we head back to the proving ground. The new circuit is easily assembled, and the
voltage gets flicked on. What do we see? Whereas bulb # 2, the dimmer one above, shines almost as
brightly and happily as before, bulb # 1, the formerly brighter one, is able to exhibit only a very sad
faint glow. (Table 4 has the details.) Now that can be classified as somewhat surprising. What went
wrong? Where is the error? Is it a paradox?

Current (A), Voltage drop (V), Power (W),

Light bulb Voltage (V), set Effect
measured measured calculated
#1 10 1.5 0.125 Dimmer
0.083
#2 10 8.5 0.706 Brighter

Table 4. The same two light bulbs in series. The voltage is set again at 10 V, the ensuing current and the voltage drops are
measured, and power (P = V x I) is calculated.

Well, in fact, there is no such thing as an error (in this case, at least). All you have to appreciate is the
voltage drop first. In the case of only one bulb (or resistor) in the circuit, it has to bear the burden of
dropping all the voltage the power supply delivers. But if there is more than one bulb (or resistor)
arranged in series, each of them drops its share of voltage in proportion to its resistance. Higher
resistance, higher voltage drop, right along the line of Ohm's law (V = I x R). And as the current is the
same throughout the entire circuit (in accordance with Kirchhoff's current law), a higher voltage drop
means more power (P = V x I). Therefore, the bulb with the higher resistance has to dissipate more
power by glowing brighter compared to the bulb with the lower resistance. The same is true for any
resistor, just invisibly so. Beware of the voltage drop! Resistors always exert their effects not only on the
current but on voltage, too.

The resistor is undoubtedly the least flamboyant of all the electronic components. But as we have seen,
it has already quite a lot to offer. Just imagine what new adventures still lie ahead…

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 17
 References

It is the policy in this series of topics in electronic engineering that the sources of standard textbook
knowledge are not referenced specifically. Only a list of good books for further reading will be given. In
case of highly specialised scientific aspects, the source is duly indicated in the footnotes with the full
citation in the references section.

Horowitz P. The art of electronics. Cambridge University Press 2015

Quan R. Electronics from the ground up. McGraw-Hill 2014
Scherz P. Practical electronics for inventors. McGraw-Hill 2016

Copyright © Lanttberg

Date of publication: 14 August 2017

Citation: Gamsjäger T. Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox.
Lanttberg 2017

Electronic engineering 2: Resistors, elementary resistor circuits and the resistor paradox 18

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