Multimeter Principles for Dummies

multimeter working principles

Around the Antisocial Network we're all agreed that if someone asks you how a machine works, you explain the way it works. You don't tell the other guy what it does, you tell him how it does it. If, for instance, Sally asks you how a bicycle works, you break it down into simple machines and explain the application of force to the pedals and its transmission to the wheels. You don't merely say, "It moves people from place to place." Well, you don't unless you're freelancer Robin Hewitt and eHow.com asks you "How Does a Multimeter Work?"

Hewitt, whose chief writing experience appears to have been books on grandparenting, apparently didn't know the answer. That didn't stop her, however... she launched into her expose of the inner workings of a multimeter by explaining what one is:

"Multimeters are tools used to troubleshoot electrical and electronic circuits. They are also used to check voltages to ensure correct operating levels."

Ummm, yeah. No, Robin, how do they work? Well, here's what Hewitt has to say about that question:

• "The ammeter function of a multimeter measures the number of electrons that are passing a given point in a certain amount of time." 
• "The voltmeter function of a multimeter measures the electrical potential between two points and is measured in volts." 
• "The ohmmeter function of a multimeter measures the resistance to current flow."

Ummm, yeah. With the exception of the clumsiness of the sentence about voltmeters, that's more or less correct. Of course, that doesn't tell us how a multimeter works, it just says what the device does – people who have one, presumably, already know that information. That. in and of itself, is more than enough to earn Hewitt her DotD nomination.
Had Hewitt read further in the Wikipedia article she cribbed that information from, she might have learned how multimeters work, although it's an open question whether she would have understood what she read. Whatever the case, choosing to avoid the "hard stuff" is all Robin needed to pick up her second Dumbass of the Day award.

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