Hi folks,
I believe I'm OK with respect to understanding what happens to current along a basic DC circuit and I believe I'm now OK with the voltage drop resulting from resistors but I'm struggling to understand what happens to voltage along the entirety of a basic DC circuit. I thought it best to include 2 example circuits with a reed switch included; one circuit has no resistors while the other has 1 5600 ohm 20% resistor. I've also included 4 different points on each circuit to represent where voltage & current measurement might take place. I understand from what I've read that the method of measurement can distort the circuit but for the sake of helping me understand voltage along the length of the circuit lets leave this distortion out.
Below is the diagram of the 2 circuits and further below i've listed out what I think would be observed at each of the 4 points on the circuits. I suspect that voltage drops proportionally over the length of the circuit since once it reaches the - here V should be 0...again if i've understood what i've read. What I am ultimately trying to accomplish is monitor the circuit and detect when the switch is opened and closed but before I dive back into that I want to clearly understand this basic concept.
Sean
I believe I'm OK with respect to understanding what happens to current along a basic DC circuit and I believe I'm now OK with the voltage drop resulting from resistors but I'm struggling to understand what happens to voltage along the entirety of a basic DC circuit. I thought it best to include 2 example circuits with a reed switch included; one circuit has no resistors while the other has 1 5600 ohm 20% resistor. I've also included 4 different points on each circuit to represent where voltage & current measurement might take place. I understand from what I've read that the method of measurement can distort the circuit but for the sake of helping me understand voltage along the length of the circuit lets leave this distortion out.
Below is the diagram of the 2 circuits and further below i've listed out what I think would be observed at each of the 4 points on the circuits. I suspect that voltage drops proportionally over the length of the circuit since once it reaches the - here V should be 0...again if i've understood what i've read. What I am ultimately trying to accomplish is monitor the circuit and detect when the switch is opened and closed but before I dive back into that I want to clearly understand this basic concept.
- Circuit A
- Open
- Position 1: V = 12.00, A = 0.000
- Position 2: V = 12.00, A = 0.000
- Position 3: V = 00.00, A = 0.000
- Position 4: V = 00.00, A = 0.000
- Closed
- Position 1: V = 12.00, A = 0.001
- Position 2: V = 12.00, A = 0.001
- Position 3: V = 11.58, A = 0.001
- Position 4: V = 11.58, A = 0.001
- Open
- Circuit B
- Open
- Position 1: V = 12.00, A = 0.001
- Position 2: V = 12.00, A = 0.001
- Position 3: V = 06.38, A = 0.001
- Position 4: V = 06.38, A = 0.001
- Closed
- Position 1: V = 12.00, A = 0.001
- Position 2: V = 12.00, A = 0.001
- Position 3: V = 11.58, A = 0.001
- Position 4: V = 11.58, A = 0.001
Sean