A meter with potential

Of course, your multi-meter can measure voltage, too. But how should it be connected into the circuit to do it? Well, the answer is that you don’t connect it into the circuit — because voltage you remember, is across a component, not through it. So, to measure the voltage across a component you must connect the multi-meter across the component, too. Figure 3.9 shows a simple example of a circuit comprising two resistors and a battery. To find the voltage across, say, the lower resistor, the multi-meter is just connected across that resistor. Like the measurement of current, the red (+) lead of the multi-meter is connected to the more positive side of the circuit and, the black (–) lead to the more negative side.

Meter connections to find the voltage across a single resistor

Figure 3.9 Meter connections to find the voltage across a single resistor

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