Unit 2 — Electricity and Magnetism

Science — Third Preparatory

1.7 Circuit symbols and circuit diagrams

Engineers draw circuits with standard symbols cell, battery, switch (open and closed), light bulb (a circle with a cross), fixed resistor (a rectangle or zigzag), variable resistor (rectangle with an arrow, or zigzag with arrow), ammeter (circle with A) and voltmeter (circle with V).
To draw a circuit diagram from a real circuit:

choose the correct symbol for each component;
connect them in the same way as the real circuit (series with series, parallel with parallel, meters in the right places);
draw straight lines for wires, with neat corners.

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