# Question about basic electronics



## Carpetfizz (Jul 5, 2011)

Hello,
I've begun to learn how to use the Arduino and electronic prototyping. However, there is this one thing that always confuses me. It may sound silly, but how do you know where the wire or resistor goes in relation to the LED that you are trying to light up on the breadboard? A picture here will probably make it more clear. 









The rectangular boxes I have highlighted are the parts that I am talking about. Does the resistor pin have to always be one peg away from the LED, and if so how do they communicate? Another question I have is how the power and ground wires send the signals to the resistor and LED, and how does their placement matter. 

I know that there's a bunch of stuff I asked there, so one person doesn't have to answer all of it, and maybe if one of my questions is answered it can lead me to figure out the answer to the next. 

Thanks much for taking the time to go through this!

Carpetfizz


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## octaneman (May 13, 2009)

Carpetfizz said:


> how do you know where the wire or resistor goes in relation to the LED that you are trying to light up on the breadboard?


Placing the resistor before the LED acts as a current limiter to prevent the LED from going up in smoke. 



Carpetfizz said:


> Does the resistor pin have to always be one peg away from the LED, and if so how do they communicate? Another question I have is how the power and ground wires send the signals to the resistor and LED, and how does their placement matter.



The bread board is designed in such a way that the pin holes communicate horizontally and vertically, this eliminates putting jumpers all over the place which would create a huge mess especially when you have to troubleshoot. 


The power and ground wires are placed in relation to a components polarity on a schematic. But unlike resistors, transformers, non-polarized capacitors where there's no polarity, components such as these don't care if its positive or negative voltage going through them just as long as that their specs are respected.


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## Carpetfizz (Jul 5, 2011)

Wow thanks much for the detailed explanation. All of this is definitely more clear now.


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