Why is it that (a) people say it matters not whether the resistor is on the anode end or cathode end of an LED? and (b) Usually one sees the resistor drawn as placed on the negative (cathode) side?
How does a convention like that arise? Is there a rationale other than monkey see monkey do? Or maybe it's deeper than that: People follow this as a convention because the consistency makes things less complicated later on when someone else is trying to debug the circuit?
Granted, I'm largely uninformed about electronics, but intuitively it seems to me that putting the resistor in the Anode side makes more sense because one is preventing a spike or surge of excess voltage.
I sort of, kind of, get it that placing the resistor on the cathode end is OK because if the power is resisted anywhere along the circuit it is resisted everywhere. That is to say that the power can't flow beyond the resistor's ability to limit it.
I found this paragraph:
"A semiconductor with extra electrons is called N-type material, since it has extra negatively charged particles. In N-type material, free electrons move from a negatively charged area to a positively charged area."
Is this why? Because the power is flowing in exactly the opposite direction from what I assumed?
My assumption ( a life long one) is that the + side of a power supply is the hot side from whence the electrons flow.
I still think this is correct. The flow of electrons across the depletion zone is merely the flow of electrons inside the diode as it eliminates the depletion zone and not necessarily that power going to or from it - yes ?
But if the resistor is on the cathode end what about one element in the circuit malfunctioning and admitting some excess of power? Wouldn't a resistor on the Anode end prevent that power from surging?
How does a convention like that arise? Is there a rationale other than monkey see monkey do? Or maybe it's deeper than that: People follow this as a convention because the consistency makes things less complicated later on when someone else is trying to debug the circuit?
Granted, I'm largely uninformed about electronics, but intuitively it seems to me that putting the resistor in the Anode side makes more sense because one is preventing a spike or surge of excess voltage.
I sort of, kind of, get it that placing the resistor on the cathode end is OK because if the power is resisted anywhere along the circuit it is resisted everywhere. That is to say that the power can't flow beyond the resistor's ability to limit it.
I found this paragraph:
"A semiconductor with extra electrons is called N-type material, since it has extra negatively charged particles. In N-type material, free electrons move from a negatively charged area to a positively charged area."
Is this why? Because the power is flowing in exactly the opposite direction from what I assumed?
My assumption ( a life long one) is that the + side of a power supply is the hot side from whence the electrons flow.
I still think this is correct. The flow of electrons across the depletion zone is merely the flow of electrons inside the diode as it eliminates the depletion zone and not necessarily that power going to or from it - yes ?
But if the resistor is on the cathode end what about one element in the circuit malfunctioning and admitting some excess of power? Wouldn't a resistor on the Anode end prevent that power from surging?
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