Wheatstone bridge
Four-resistor diamond circuit
A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit for measuring unknown resistances with high precision.
Four resistors form a diamond shape, with a voltage source across one diagonal and a meter across the other.
When the bridge is balanced—no current flows through the meter—the unknown resistance can be calculated from the three known values.
Named for physicist Charles Wheatstone, though he didn't invent it.
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Wheatstone bridgeohmmeter
Instrument measuring electrical resistance
ammeter · galvanometer · voltmeter · wattmeter · oscilloscope
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