Electronic Switching Quiz
October 1967 Popular Electronics

October 1967 Popular Electronics   Table of Contents Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

I found one more electronics quiz in a copy of my vintage Popular Electronics magazine collection. Robert P. Balin published scores of these quizzes over the span of a couple decades. Unless you have created a few quizzes yourself, it might seem like there is nothing to it, but even relatively simple ones like this requires the creator to think up the problems and then guarantee that the answers given are correct. No, it's not rocket science, but try creating a dozen quizzes with 8 to 10 questions; it could take a while. Anywho[sic], this Electronics Switching Quiz requires you to consider the switch positions and then determine which lamps will turn on.

Electronic Switching Quiz

By Robert P. Balin

In the circuits shown below (1-8), the position of each switch can cause all, one or more, or none of the lamps to light. Exactly what happens can be completely specified by selecting one statement (A-L) from each of the four sets of switch positions listed. Lamps are considered as "on" when lit to any degree of brightness. Find the four statements that describe the behavior of each circuit under all switching conditions, and insert the four letters corresponding to the applicable statements in the spaces provided.

S1 Open; S2 Closed

A All lamps will light

B One or more will light

C No lamps will light

S1 Closed; S2 Open

D All lamps will light

E One or more will light

F No lamps will light

S1 Open; S2 Open

G All lamps will light

H One or more will light

I No lamps will light

S1 Closed; S2 Closed

J All lamps will light

K One or more will light

L No lamps will light

See answers below.

Quizzes from vintage electronics magazines such as Popular Electronics, Electronics-World, QST, and Radio News were published over the years - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert P. Balin created most of the quizzes for Popular Electronics. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

Switching Quiz Answers

1)  B E H J

2)  A D I K

3)  CD I J

4)  A E J K

5)  C D I K

6)  A F I K

7)  B E G J

8)  A D H K

Posted September 14, 2018