Prepare for the Automotive Service Technician Period 1 exam. Study with flashcards and multiple choice questions, each question has hints and explanations. Get ready for your exam!

Multiple Choice

Which statement about resistive loads in automotive circuits is true?

A resistive load is a device that draws current roughly in proportion to the applied voltage and mainly converts energy into heat through resistance. In automotive circuits, lighting such as bulbs is a classic example, but the idea that only lighting uses resistors isn’t accurate. Devices like radios can also be treated as resistive loads in many simple analyses because their input circuitry often presents a substantial resistance to the supply, so they draw current in a way that follows Ohm’s law for that component. The other statements don’t fit because sensors aren’t the only components that use resistors, and the battery isn’t a resistor in a circuit sense—it’s a power source with some internal resistance, not a load that dissipates power in the same way a resistor does. So the best answer recognizes that resistive loads aren’t limited to lighting; radios and other devices can also appear as resistive loads.

A resistive load is a device that draws current roughly in proportion to the applied voltage and mainly converts energy into heat through resistance. In automotive circuits, lighting such as bulbs is a classic example, but the idea that only lighting uses resistors isn’t accurate. Devices like radios can also be treated as resistive loads in many simple analyses because their input circuitry often presents a substantial resistance to the supply, so they draw current in a way that follows Ohm’s law for that component.

The other statements don’t fit because sensors aren’t the only components that use resistors, and the battery isn’t a resistor in a circuit sense—it’s a power source with some internal resistance, not a load that dissipates power in the same way a resistor does. So the best answer recognizes that resistive loads aren’t limited to lighting; radios and other devices can also appear as resistive loads.