MOTM

On Tue, 9 Nov 1999, Tkacs, Ken wrote:

> Are box caps marked "*470 nk 63" and "D474 J*" both 0.47mfd caps?

  Yes.  470n = 470 x 10^-9 = 0.470 x 10^-6

        474 = 47 x 10^4 x 10^-12 = 47 x 10^-8 = 0.470 x 10^-6

> And a rhetorical question--why is "violet" specified in the resistor
> color code when they always use lavender to mark the parts?

  Resistor part colors tend to vary for specific colors.  Sometimes I
think the factory personnel who program the marking machines try to play
mind games and create colors that are amazingly difficult to discern, such
as reddish-brown.

  As far as the color scale goes, it they were orignally taken from the
"pure" color scale of chromatic light frequencies: red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo, violet.  The common mnemonic taught every astronomer
is "Roy G. Biv".  Now, true violet might be tough to tell from black,
brown or blue on a resistor, thus they lighten it up a bit.  Personally I
think they can afford to print the actual value on resistors anymore; they
got rid of capacitor color codes eons ago.

  --Crow

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