Explain the Schematic Diagrams of Electric Circuits

Since figuring out what is happening in a circuit depends upon the way the elements are connected, one of the first hurdles in this chapter is to be able to read the diagrams and be familiar enough with them so that you can use them to help you solve problems.

A battery is indicated by alternating short and longer parallel lines. Each pair of lines indicates one cell of the battery: the shorter line indicates the negative end of the battery, and the longer line indicates the positive end of the battery.

A resistor is represented by a zigzag line end labelled with its resistance. A capacitor is indicated by two parallel lines, similar to the battery (which is not too surprising since batteries are basically charged up capacitors). A switch is shown as a break in the circuit when open. A fuse is shown as one cycle of a sine curve.

There are many other symbols that you will see if you look at the schematic diagram to your stereo amplifier, television set or computer. Some of them will be mentioned later but the ones listed below are the ones you need to be able to use.