Carbon Resistor Colour Code

You will be very familiar with the word resistor because it is the most used word in physics. If you you are interested in electricity, then it is quite obvious that you know what the resistor is. Don't worry if you do not have any idea about this topic. Basically, a resistor comes from the resistance, which means the nature of a conductor for which it prevents electric current. So, we get the idea that resistors prevent electric current. In some cases, it is necessary to prevent a high amount of current. For this reason, we use different types of resistors. Carbon resistor is one of the most famous and used resistors. It is very much confusing to detect the resistance of a resistor. For this reason, we use Colour code to detect the resistance. To learn more about the Colour code, keep reading. We will discuss the Colour code in the carbon resistor in detail.

Different Types of Resistors

There are two main types of resistors made commercially for home or laboratory use: carbon and wire-bound resistors. By winding wires consisting of an alloy, such as manganin, constantan, nichrome, or comparable ones, wire-bound resistors are created. These materials' selection is mostly influenced by the fact that their resistivities are largely unaffected by temperature. These resistances typically range from a few hundred ohms to a fraction of an ohm.

MaterialResistivity ρ (ohm m)Temperature coefficient a per degree C
Silver1.59x10-8.0038
Copper1.68x10-8.00386
Copper, annealed1.72x10-8.00393
Aluminium2.65x10-8.00429
Tungsten5.6x10-8.0045
Iron9.71x10-8.00651
Platinum10.6x10-8.003927
Manganin48.2x10-8.000002
Lead22x10-8...
Mercury98x10-8.0009
Nichrome (Ni, Fe, Cr alloy)100x10-8.0004
Constantan49x10-8...
Carbon* (graphite)3-60x10-5-.0005
Germanium*1-500x10-3-.05
Silicon*0.1-60...-.07
Glass1-10000x109...
Quartz (fused)7.5x1017...
Hard rubber1-100x1013...

What is a Carbon Resistor?

To create resistance, many metals and alloys are employed, including nichrome, brass, platinum, and tungsten. In contrast to carbon resistors, the majority of these metals have low electrical resistance. It is common to practise calibrating resistance using carbon resistors since they may produce resistance values with a high degree of accuracy. Carbon resistors are inexpensive, small, and easily added to the circuit boards of CPUs in tablets, smartphones, and laptops. They are more desired due to all these useful applications because producing metal wires is more expensive than producing carbon, which is readily available in vast amounts. The resistance is replicated by the carbon resistors to meet the practical need. The most typical representation of a resistor in electrical and electronic circuit designs is a zigzag line, with the unit of measurement for its resistance being the Ohm. Typically, fixed resistors only have one resistance value. In contrast, variable resistors allow for an infinite number of resistance values between zero and their maximum value. Carbon resistors are denoted as "CR" (CR10k) and come in three different tolerance levels: E6 (+20% accuracy tolerance), E12 (+10% tolerance), and E24 (+5% tolerance).

Colour Code of the Carbon Resistor

Printing resistance values on the resistors is difficult because of their diminutive size. The Radio Manufacturers Association created the resistor Colour coding to address this issue in the 1920s. Below is the table of Colours and their values in the Colour code.

Colour codeColourNumberMultiplierTolerance
BBlack0100 
BBrown1101 
RRed2102 
OOrange3103 
YYellow4104 
GGreen5105 
BBlue6106 
VViolet7107 
GGrey8108 
WWhite9109 
 Gold 10-15%
 Silver 10-210%
No Colour20%

Use of Colour Code

The resistors are marked with a series of co-axial Coloured rings, the meaning of which is indicated in the table. The first two bands represent the first two significant values of the resistance in ohms. The decimal multiplier (as specified in the table) is indicated in the third band. The final band represents tolerance or likely percentage variation around the given values.

This last band can occasionally be absent, which denotes a tolerance of 20%. In the case of orange, blue, yellow, and gold as the four Colours, the resistance value is 36×10^4, and the tolerance value is 5%.

The phrase "BB ROY of Great Britain had a Very Good Wife" can be used to assist recall the resistor Colour codes; the capital letters in this sentence stand in for the first letters of the Colours and their places. For instance, the first letter, "B", represents black, and the second "B", represents brown.