How Does a resistor work? Use easy terms?

Question

no big words :)

Answer 1

Some of the other answers are good but to be more simplistic.

The name implies what it does, a resistor works by being made of a material that doesn't conduct electricity as well as the wire that carries it. The material "resists" this flow of electricity and because of this releases the energy of the resisted electricity as heat.

The technical explanation refers to the atomic behavior of the energy shells around an atom, and how easily or difficult it is for an electron to adhere or move from each of these shells.

Answer 2

Basically they turn some of the electricity into heat which they then dissapate from their surface. The bigger the resisitor, the more heat they can dissapate. Resistors are made of a semi-conductor material which allows only some of the electrons passing through it to continue on their way. Others go to heating up the material. They are rated both in Ohms and wattage. A 10-watt resistor is about an inch and a half long and about a 1/4-inch square.

Answer 3

Conductors, like copper, have outer shell electrons that are not bound very tightly. If you have a wire made of copper, you can think of it like a hose filled with water. IF you push a little water into the hose, all the water in the hose will move toward the other end of the hose. A copper wire is sort of like that. If you push a few extra electrons into it, all the outer electrons on the copper atoms will move to the next copper atom, sort of like the water moving easily through the hose.

In a resistor, the electrons are more tightly bound to their atoms. So it is harder to get them to move from one silicon atom to the next. If you put a resistor in between two copper wires, it will slow the flow of electrons through the wires, when you try pushing more electrons through it.

I hope that wasn't too simple...