What is the impedance across a resistor?

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 3K views
Monsu
Messages
38
Reaction score
1
hi, i want to ask, what is the impedance across a resisitor? isn't it just the value of the resistor? say i have a resistor of 50ohms, then its impedance is 50ohms, right??
thanks!
 
Engineering news on Phys.org
Yes, it's 50 ohms. It's common practice (such as in audio and radio technology) to refer to a pure resistance as an "impedance." It's technically correct, since a pure resistance is just an impedance where X = j0. There's something that should be mentioned, though. Sometimes, real-world resistors may exhibit excessive reactance for a particular application. For instance, you can't use a 50 ohm wirewound resistor as an RF dummy load--it has too much inductance.