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Saturday, June 26, 2010

Drawing circuit diagrams

Drawing circuit diagrams the 'electronics way'

Circuit diagrams for electronics are drawn with the positive (+) supply at the top and the negative (-) supply at the bottom. This can be helpful in understanding the operation of the circuit because the voltage decreases as you move down the circuit diagram.

Circuit diagrams for science are traditionally drawn with the battery or power supply at the top. This is not wrong, but there is usually no advantage in drawing them this way and I think it is less helpful for understanding the circuit.

I suggest that you always draw your circuit diagrams the 'electronics way', even for science!

[I hope your science teacher won't mind too much!]

Note that the negative supply is usually called 0V (zero volts).
This is explained on the Voltage and Current page.

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