A rheostat is a device used to vary resistance in an electrical circuit, often in the form of a dimmer or slider for lighting. It exploits the characteristic of current flow varying with resistance. Charles Wheatstone is credited with its development, and the simplest type uses a coil or rod of wire. Rheostats are a type of potentiometer and are often sealed to prevent environmental interference. Replacement rheostats are available in hardware or electrical stores.
A rheostat is a device that is used to vary the resistance in an electrical circuit without breaking the circuit. People may be most familiar with rheostat in the form of a dimmer or slider which is used to vary the intensity of a light. Rheostats are used to set lighting levels for comfort or mood, allowing people to change light levels without having to change lights. Rheostats are also used in a number of electrical applications and in a variety of industries. Many companies make these devices, and people may even make their own, as is sometimes done in science classes to introduce students to electrical resistance.
This device relies on the fact that the current flowing through a circuit will vary depending on the amount of resistance it encounters. Low resistance means high current, because there is nothing blocking the current, and high resistance means low current. This characteristic of electrical circuits can be exploited to modify the performance of a circuit to meet specific needs.
The development of the rheostat is sometimes credited to Charles Wheatstone, a 19th-century British inventor who contributed to the sciences with a number of discoveries relating to electricity, among many other things. Wheatstone certainly worked with electrical circuits and learned a great deal about resistance and the ways it could be manipulated in the process. The basic rheostat designs developed during this period continue to be in use today.
The simplest type of rheostat uses a coil or rod of wire. A cursor can be moved along the wire to create more or less resistance in the circuit. As the cursor moves along the wire, it either increases the length of the wire that the current must traverse to complete the circuit, or decreases it. Increases create more resistance, resulting in less current flowing through the circuit, while decreases work in the opposite way.
Rheostats are a kind of potentiometer. These devices can be used in a variety of settings and are usually designed to be sealed so that environmental factors cannot interfere with the operation of the circuit. The gasket keeps out dust, moisture, and similar materials so the circuit stays clean. Rheostats sometimes fail, as do other circuit components, and many hardware or electrical stores carry replacement rheostats for various devices so people can fix circuits rather than replace them. It is important to use a replacement that has been rated for the circuit in question to reduce the risk of electric shock or other hazards.
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