In a 4-band resistor color code, what does the third band represent?

In a 4-band resistor color code, what does the third band represent?

• A. The tolerance
• B. The multiplier, i.e., how many zeros to append
• C. The first significant digit
• D. The voltage rating

Answer: (B)

Resistor color codes convert bands into numbers that describe the resistance. In a four-band code, the first two bands give the significant digits, the third band is the multiplier—the factor by which you scale those digits by a power of ten. The fourth band then tells you the tolerance. So if the first two digits are 47 and the multiplier is 100 (red), the resistance is 47 × 100 = 4700 ohms. Voltage rating isn’t determined by the color bands in this scheme.

Resistor color codes convert bands into numbers that describe the resistance. In a four-band code, the first two bands give the significant digits, the third band is the multiplier—the factor by which you scale those digits by a power of ten. The fourth band then tells you the tolerance. So if the first two digits are 47 and the multiplier is 100 (red), the resistance is 47 × 100 = 4700 ohms. Voltage rating isn’t determined by the color bands in this scheme.