Wheatstone bridge

(noun)

An instrument used to measure an unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit, one leg of which includes the unknown component.

Related Terms

Examples of Wheatstone bridge in the following topics:

  • Null Measurements

    • The Wheatstone bridge is a null measurement device for calculating resistance by balancing potential drops in a circuit.
    • The device is called a bridge because the galvanometer forms a bridge between two branches.
    • A variety of bridge devicesare used to make null measurements in circuits .
    • The Wheatstone bridge is used to calculate unknown resistances.

  • Turbulence Explained

    • It is imperative to consider turbulent flow when designing many things such as airplanes, medical equipment, heat exchangers, and bridges.
    • It is imperative to take into account turbulent flow when designing certain structures, such as a bridge support, as shown in .
    • The bridge supports must be designed so that they can withstand the turbulent flow of the water in the spring.
    • Turbulent flow is visible around the bridge supports of the Longtown bridge.

  • Forced Vibrations and Resonance

    • At other speeds, it is difficult to feel the bumps at all. shows a photograph of a famous example (the Tacoma Narrows Bridge) of the destructive effects of a driven harmonic oscillation.
    • Unfortunately, heavy winds happened to drive the bridge at its natural frequency, leading to the collapse.
    • In 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed.
    • Heavy cross winds drove the bridge into oscillations at its resonant frequency.

  • Arches and Domes

    • The fixed arch is most often used in reinforced concrete bridge and tunnel construction, where the spans are short.
    • The two-hinged arch is most often used to bridge long spans.

  • Thermal Stresses

    • Railroad tracks and bridges, for example, have expansion joints to allow them to freely expand and contract with temperature changes .
    • Thermal expansion joints like these in the Auckland Harbour Bridge in New Zealand allow bridges to change length without buckling.

  • Induced Charge

    • If a charged object comes in touch with an uncharged object, or the two come sufficiently close to one another to cause a discharge that bridges the gap between them, the previously uncharged object will become charged.

  • Parallel-Plate Capacitor

    • The dielectric between the conductors is meant to act as an insulator, preventing charge from bridging the gap between the two plates.

  • Living Systems and Evolution

    • If I gather iron ore from the ground and convert it into steel and build a bridge, my work (and used energy) has decreased the entropy of that system.

  • Stability, Balance, and Center of Mass

    • A bridge can be in static equilibrium despite the fact that there are multiple forces and torques being applied to the bridge.

  • Linear Systems

    • The goal is to build a bridge to the material covered in GP 404.