does a DC voltage regulator have a positive and negative end where you plug a wire to get a current flowing .?

Question

doing science fair need help

Answer 1

Yes. The output voltage has two or three terminals. One is positive. The other is negative. The third, if it has one, is in the middle of the two. It gives you a common with a voltage above and a voltage below the common. It is sometimes useful for biasing.

Answer 2

Are you talking about a three legged Integrated circuit Voltage regulator? Or are you talking about one that plugs into the wall and converts AC to DC for use with some other electronic device. if you are talking about an AC to Dc adapter that plugs into the wall the orientation of the plug usually makes no difference. but the DC leads that go to your device definitely do have a positive and negative polarity. If you are talking about the three legged IC device used in a power supply circuit to regulate the output voltage then the answer is once again yes there is a definite positive and negative polarity. These both may not be with respect to earth ground.

Answer 3

Sorry, but most regulators are single ended output devices. There are specialty devices that have a dual output. To go on in your question, if the output of a basic rectifier has one side of it's output grounded. The positive side of the rectifier is connected to the input of the regulator. Current flow, the popular explanation, is from the output of the regulator, to the load, through that and to ground for the return to the rectifier circuit.
If you are using a dual polarity power supply, then the rectifier circuit has a positive, and a negative output, and the center of the transformer is connected to ground. The set up of the regulators is essentially the same, with polarity of the regulators taken into account, that is, negative output goes to the negative regulator, and the positive output goes to the positive regulator. I would recommend getting some circuit diagrams for this from a source such as the magazine Nuts and Volts, or a later issue of an ARRL Amateur radio handbook for details that you might need for this project.

Answer 4

In order for current to flow between two points, two conditions are required: 1) a difference in electrical potential exists between the two points 2) a "conduit having finite resistance at the given potential difference "exists between the two points In the absence of either, current will not flow. [(2) is long-winded to include the phenomena of "arcing" -- when the potential difference is large enough (and the distance between the two points is small enough) to allow the air itself to be used as a conduit. (think "lightning" or "spark plug.")] The terminals of the battery define the magnitude and direction of the potential difference. Attaching a wire to one terminal only ensures that the wire is at the same potential as the terminal to which it is attached. Effectively, the wire simply defines an equipotential line in space, whose value is equal to that of the terminal to which it is connected. Since a conduit between that equipotential line and the other terminal still does not exist, current cannot flow. >The positive end recieves the electrons because there is a potential difference between the two terminals This is not true. The potential difference exists because there is an excess of electrons on one terminal and a deficit on the other. By connecting the wire, no additional electrons are added to the mix -- there is no net receipt of electrons by either terminal. If there were, then the potential difference between the terminals would simply increase. Until something provides a conduit between the terminals, no electrons will flow anywhere.