Resistance and Multimeters

March 12, 2025  •  EPISODE 256

How do we measure electricity? In this episode of Science LIVE, Roger Billings shows how multimeters work to measure voltage, resistance, and ohms. Learn why these tools are important and how they’re used in everyday technology.

About DrB

Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as “DrB” to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology. As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to “give back” by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.


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About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program »

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378 Comments

  1. Keren

    Cool episode!

    Reply
  2. Zane

    This was super cool

    Reply
  3. Abraham

    That’s cool!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  4. Tyler

    lol this is so funny im 10 and love the part where you say nope that is my watch lol I love science live

    Reply
  5. Brianna

    Love loved this!

    Reply
  6. Adria

    I think electricity is very interesting.

    Reply
  7. Dustin

    I found it interesting that the muscle wire reforms back to its original position when heated up.

    Reply
  8. Lane

    I can’t imagine having to use the arrow keys to control my cursor. We are lucky to have people willing to innovate.

    Reply
  9. Dillen

    I wish I could go to science live

    Reply
  10. Dean

    I love science live I hope a new one is come in 10 days(づ。◕‿‿◕。)づ

    Reply
  11. Deion

    I love learning science!

    Reply
  12. Evelyn

    This was so cool!

    Reply
  13. Alina

    This is so amazing!!

    Reply
  14. Jordan

    So each piece of memory wire can only remember one memory. So how many would it take to move like a person?

    Reply
  15. Aviles

    I liked the live demo of meters and resistors! It was cool to learn more about what volts truly measure: How hard the electricity is pushing through it’s current.

    Reply
  16. Allegra

    Very interesting! I liked learning about resistance.

    Reply
  17. Hannah

    This was really cool!

    Reply
  18. Samil

    Love all the opportunities to learn from someone who knows their stuff !!

    Reply
  19. Dalton

    I heard you can pay to have a star named after you

    Reply
  20. Makayla

    Measuring energy is a very cool

    Reply
  21. Kiana

    I had no idea that the mouse used to be wood.

    Reply
  22. Megan

    I had no idea that is how the mouse was made! Amazing!

    Reply
  23. Nikolai

    My Dad has one.

    Reply
  24. Tenley

    I love this program and all the learning opportunities!

    Reply
  25. Anthony

    I love watching science live!

    Reply
  26. Aaron

    What’s your favorite subject in science

    Reply
  27. Arianna

    I found it interesting how if heated up, the muscle wire goes back to he state it remembers.

    Reply
  28. Sugar

    Hello my name is Sugar Lauren Freeman,
    I would like meterader in purple please and can you teach me how to make a robot I love science

    Reply
  29. Dennis

    Really enjoyed learning about resistance and everything else y’all talked about. Thank you!

    Reply
  30. Mackay

    I think that you should do Acellus golden colored multimeaders

    Reply
  31. Yochanan

    YESSS!!!!! I WANT A MULTI METER IN THE GOLD STORE!!!

    Reply
  32. Charlie

    you guys make learning entertaining thank you

    Reply
  33. Grace

    I love this science live video !

    Reply
  34. Jason

    What are transmitters?

    Reply
  35. Breelyn

    The evolution of the mouse was so cool .

    Reply
  36. Alina

    ❤‍🔥

    Reply
  37. Alina

    I wish I could go to science live so bad

    Reply
  38. Jayden

    Thanks for this lesson on measuring electricity. Multimeters are such useful tools for checking voltage, resistance, and current in everyday devices.

    Reply
  39. Noah

    Electricity is so cool

    Reply
  40. Skyeler

    I never thought about how life was like using a computer with no mouse!!

    Reply
  41. Anassa

    How do you build a robot?

    Reply
  42. Sloan

    Acting and Filmmaking courses would be amazing!

    Reply
  43. Liam

    yes, I think a multimeter would definitely be a good addition to the Acellus Store, and it should be in the Acellus blue.

    Reply
  44. Layten

    I have been doing Acellus for 3 years and I started in four grade now I’m in 7 it is the best school I have ever done I really love this school it has helped me so much I don’t have many friends on here but that is fine but, I love science live it is so cool.

    Reply
  45. Journi

    I enjoy learning about electricity. My parents just bought us a new home and my dad talks about it a lot and how the lights work in the house.

    Reply
  46. Bako

    Wow I wish I could go to science live!!

    Reply
  47. Zoey

    How does energy transfer to battery’s?

    Reply
  48. Gabe

    Love how he starts every episode keeps them fun and entertaining.

    Reply
  49. Auastynn

    I think it’s so cool that this program has come so far but you’re still looking for suggestions thank you

    Reply
  50. Asher

    Hello Dr. Billings! I wanted to say that I believe your program, Acellus, is the best school program I have attended! I would also like to say that, and I’m sure everyone in these comment sections can agree, we all love you Science LIVE Videos. Your videos always are interesting, fun, and always entertaining!
    I also wanted to congratulate Charlie, he seems to be working hard, and his work has paid off!
    I also want to thank my AMAZING classmates for helping push me to do well and me to push them. I can’t name them all, but I can thank a few of them here.
    Thank you
    Nakova C.
    Luis Daneil P.
    Raya H. (Who always wins the weekly leaderboard, great job)
    and the other classmates I didn’t name but thank y’all. When you said to send feedback about ways to improve Acellus, I started to think. Of course I couldn’t say anything about the school work(which is amazing btw) but maybe about our profiles! I was thinking that maybe y’all could add background music. Which would be pretty cool. Or maybe class groups, that are monitored by Acellus Staff.
    Thank you all for your dedication to Acellus and us, the students.
    Thank you Dr. Rodger Billings!!

    Reply
  51. Preston

    I love that this teaches me about tools that measure electricity.

    Reply
  52. Azylynn

    I love this keep it up.

    Reply
  53. Han

    I REALLY love watching SCIENCE LIVE !!!

    Reply
  54. Martyn

    Multi meters is very fascinating. I would like a Science LIVE video
    explaining how to calculate the resistance using the colours painted
    on the resistor and what each line represent. It is quite interesting.

    Now I understand why multi meters is called Multi Meters!
    They have multi functionalities

    Reply
  55. Jaxon

    How many mouses did Steve job create until he made the perfect one?

    Reply
  56. Noah

    My favorite part was when Mr. Billings showed how a resister worked.

    Reply
  57. Logan

    I did some electrical work with resistors, but I have learned the most from this video

    Reply
  58. Nathan

    Love these videos they’re so fun!

    Reply
  59. Vivienne

    i LOVE how these videos are formatted to be entertaining yet informative at the same time. learning about electricity is so cool!!

    Reply
  60. Simone

    That so cool!

    Reply
  61. Caleb

    Thank you for explanation about Voltage

    Reply
  62. Quintero

    I did not now that scientists have new discovery that there are four tiny planets circling the Bin Heart star.
    Also, I love how Acellus Academy caters to various learners where students can work at their own paste.

    Reply
  63. Mason

    I love watching these videos.

    Reply
  64. Miecqe

    I love watching science live! Always very interesting

    Reply
  65. Ambellina

    It was interesting to learn about the creation of the mouse and its uses. Thank you for another great science live!

    Reply
  66. Abigail

    Daylight savings is cool but weird

    Reply
  67. Edan

    My daddy is an electrician and he has a lot of electric guys that work with him.

    Reply
  68. Yaretzi

    I love science

    Reply
  69. The

    we love the lives

    Reply
  70. Sean

    Thank you for making science live!

    Reply
  71. Mckenna

    Day light savings has been such a fun topic to learn about! Really enjoyed this video

    Reply
  72. Makayla

    These are so cool to watch

    Reply
  73. Yanella

    Daylight savings…I don’t like it when we lose one hour

    Reply
  74. Trevor

    its amazing how electricity works

    Reply
  75. Benson

    I LOVE THIS AND MYSELF AND DAD ARE GOING TO DO SOME SCIENCE IN THE GARAGE.

    Reply
  76. Abigail

    R51 is so funny!

    Reply
  77. Corwyn

    Rly fun to watch

    Reply
  78. Braylon

    I love Acellus!

    Reply
  79. Suraiea

    awesome lesson! <3

    Reply
  80. Kendallyn

    Knowing Ohm’s Law while watching this science live really helps.

    Reply
  81. Caiden

    love this so cool

    Reply
  82. Skyler

    What is the highest voltage for a home appliance?

    Reply
  83. Michael

    I found it interesting about the measurement volts of electricity or resistance in the video.

    Reply
  84. Cody

    This was great.

    Reply
  85. Bailey

    Love watching these!

    Reply
  86. Spencer

    I loved this, science live is my favorite.

    Reply
  87. Chase

    How long did it take to make acellus?

    Reply
  88. Ryanna

    daylight savings time is so cool but weird

    Reply
  89. Grace

    My favorite teacher is Mark Rogers! He helped me so much in math with fractions!

    Reply
  90. Bayleigh

    This episode provided a clear and insightful explanation of how multimeters function and their crucial role in electrical measurements. The practical demonstrations made complex concepts accessible.

    Reply
  91. Elias

    Muscle wire is so cool! I would love to become a scientist or engineer and create something innovative.

    Reply
  92. Dpreston

    We are so excited for Charlie! What an achievement!

    Is the accuator expensive? Will everyone use the muscle wire now?
    .
    Dr. Tobias is so funny! It’s cool to see how far we’ve come with every phase of the computer- the story of the mouse is wild. Just how they demonstrated it for the engineers was ahead of it’s time really.

    The multimeter cables is a little like jumping a car. I’d like to have a blue or green multimeter. That would be cool!

    Reply
  93. Tobias

    cool

    Reply
  94. Leilah

    Congratulations Charlie!

    Reply
  95. Jeremiah

    It was so awesome to learn how the mouse was invented and reinvented!

    Reply
  96. Prince

    Always assume the power is on guys 🙂

    Reply
  97. Kylieeeeeeee

    I lovvvveeee Science Live, I watch it in the car!

    Reply
  98. Leeland

    this is so cool the way eletricity works

    Reply
  99. River

    really enjoyed this

    Reply
  100. Isabella

    we don’t have daylight saving in hawaii

    Reply
  101. Tristan

    Happy to be on Science Live!

    Reply
  102. Deanna

    The story at the end was so sweet! This was so interesting though!

    Reply
  103. Aaron

    We just used a multimeter last week to fix our refridgerator!

    Reply
  104. Gavin

    Daylight savings messes me up

    Reply
  105. Varvara

    I enjoyed it, thank YOU so much!

    Reply
  106. Damien

    I love robots too!

    Reply
  107. Jakiha

    Happy to be on Science Live!

    Reply
  108. Zander

    Daylight Savings Time messes me up.

    Reply
  109. Shane

    I enjoy these videos. They get me excited about science.

    Reply
  110. Katya

    This was a fun watch! The Christopher story was as sweet as chocolate.

    Reply
  111. Violet

    Its so great hearing about the evolution of technology.
    and its kind of crazy to think that computers took up whole rooms at one point.. And now how small they’ve become.

    Reply
  112. Kaitlyn

    i loved this episode! Learning the way the mouse is made was incredibly interesting.

    Reply
  113. Tate

    Hooray for Charlie!

    If you send a million volts through a smaller resister, why doesn’t it blow out the resister?

    Reply
  114. Andrea

    This was so fun to watch and learn!

    Reply
  115. Max

    How hot does the wire have to be for it to stop reforming

    Reply
  116. Jahmir

    Great video Dr.john gave a great presentation on explaining how the robotic arm works

    Reply
  117. Logan

    Its always interesting how resistance works

    Reply
  118. Arianna

    so happy in in this program!

    Reply
  119. Croix

    I loved how dr. John explained how the extremely high tech robot arm worked.

    Reply
  120. Sophia

    Wow! Muscle Wire is awesome!🤩

    Reply
  121. Gage

    Please hurry on the filming course I want to do it before I am done with school

    Reply
  122. Aidan

    I never thought about how complex just a mouse is.

    Reply
  123. Gracelyn

    wow never knew resistance could be so cool

    Reply
  124. Aaisha

    I love your videos DR.Roger Billings

    Reply
  125. Bryce

    These videos are so encouraging.

    Reply
  126. 𝑚𝑎𝑦𝑧𝑖

    electricity is so cool!! ❤︎︎

    Reply
  127. Blythe

    So, you said it can take on jobs people don’t enjoy or can’t do…. What about dirty jobs?

    Reply
  128. Teagan

    I love that this teaches me about the tools that measure electricity.

    Reply
  129. Audrina

    so many things go into having electricity, it’s so fun to learn about it!

    Reply
  130. Libby

    Haha R-51 is so funny!

    Reply
  131. Bre'shaun

    Fascinating information about the mouse! Thanks Acellus!

    Reply
  132. Tommie

    I had no idea that NASA was involved in the development of the mouse.

    Reply
  133. Asher

    Hello Dr. Billings! I wanted to say that I believe your program, Acellus, is the best school program I have attended! I would also like to say that, and I’m sure everyone in these comment sections can agree, we all love you Science LIVE Videos. Your videos always are interesting, fun, and always entertaining!
    I also wanted to congratulate Charlie, he seems to be working hard, and his work has paid off!
    I also want to thank my AMAZING classmates for helping push me to do well and me to push them. I can’t name them all, but I can thank a few of them here.
    Thank you
    Nakova C.
    Luis Daneil P.
    Raya H. (Who always wins the weekly leaderboard, great job)
    and the other classmates I didn’t name but thank y’all. When you said to send feedback about ways to improve Acellus, I started to think. Of course I couldn’t say anything about the school work(which is amazing btw) but maybe about our profiles! I was thinking that maybe y’all could add background music. Which would be pretty cool. Or maybe class groups, that are monitored by Acellus Staff.
    Other than that, I am very much enjoying math at the moment with Dr. Aaron Brown my favorite teacher of whom I would like to meet one day.
    Thank you all for your dedication to Acellus and us, the students.
    Thank you Dr. Rodger Billings!!

    Reply
  134. Brayden

    I love learning about electricity it has always been so Interesting to me

    Reply
  135. Joey

    Learning about the meter was interesting because you use that at home for things. It was especially interesting about keeping a hand behind your back to prevent electricity going through your heart.

    Reply
  136. Pacin

    I agree that using mouse helps the interaction to computer is easier, cannot imagine how people in older times work with computer.

    Reply
  137. Jahan

    My dad showed me the multimeter. It is very cool.

    Reply
  138. Ambroise

    It’s very interesting because we use electricity in everything today: our computer, our phone, our TV, everything we have in the house.

    Reply
  139. Trystin

    I love learning about electricity and how it all works

    Reply
  140. Coralynn

    I belive Nasa has been around for about maybe 64- 65 years. Also I don’t think R 51 needs a resistor for Pajet Monet!

    Reply
  141. Abigail

    I have always wondered what those transformer boxes were, theres a few randomly around the neighborhood.

    Reply
  142. Alexa

    Yes, I would love to be able to purchase a meter on the Gold Store. I really enjoyed watching all the things you could do with it and find out. I am excited to explore and find out about volts and current in batteries and light bulbs and many different items. Thank you!

    Reply
  143. Jocelyn

    I enjoyed this video about resistance and multimeters!

    Reply
  144. Ava

    So many things play into resistance and how it works.

    Reply
  145. Dean

    This was a super interesting episode cause I love electricity, Thankyou DR,B

    Reply
  146. Minerva

    I love learning about electricity!

    Reply
  147. Thailand

    Dr. Billings explained how resistance controls the flow of electricity in a circuit. It is measured in ohms (Ω) using a multimeter, a handy tool that checks voltage, current, and resistance in electrical circuits. He demonstrated how to use a multimeter to measure volts and test different components like resistors, which help regulate electrical flow.

    He also talked about Nikola Tesla, the pioneer of alternating current (AC), which powers our homes and cities today. Unlike direct current (DC), AC allows electricity to travel long distances efficiently. Understanding these concepts helps us appreciate how electricity powers our world.

    Reply
  148. Athena

    What is the memory wire made of?

    Reply
  149. Abigail

    Acellus makes learning fun and interesting

    Reply
  150. Maya

    How long has NASA been around?

    Reply
  151. Jessica

    I have used Multimeters with my dad a few times. Now I know exactly what it is and all the settings. I also found the history of the mouse quite interesting. Thank you

    Reply
  152. Brielle

    I had no idea the mouse was made that way, cool!

    Reply
  153. Carlee

    Electricity is my favorite science study!

    Reply
  154. Melody

    PINK!!!!!!!

    Reply
  155. Ambellina

    The memory wire that Dr.John was talking about was so cool. This science live has made me more interested in computer science. I’m excited to check it out.

    Reply
  156. Emillia

    We are watching together with my grandmother.

    Reply
  157. Zoey

    I never realized you can measure electricity.

    Reply
  158. Lillian

    Thank you for teaching me all of the science that you know to make me smarter.

    Reply
  159. Joshua

    I’d like green multi meters!
    It’s amazing how the# of wires wrapping around can change how much energy goes through.

    Reply
  160. Tristan

    Wow interesting that’s how electricity it measured!

    Reply
  161. Karlee

    My grandfather was an electrician his whole life. I really liked this video and if you can get the multimeter in would like to get one. Parents said would get. Pink or blue would be my favorite color choices! My great grandfather worked for the city and worked on electrician lines, he had got electricuted real bad many years ago when working on a power line, my mom and grandma told me and luckily lived but was burned severely. Thank you for the great topic!

    Reply
  162. Savannah

    I love the comparison between muscle wire and a plant growing! I also love the different phases of it, but it does sounds like you have to be aware of the right amount of heat to use in order to get the contract action. Thanks for this week’s live!

    Reply
  163. Carson

    My great grandfather has a star named after him

    Reply
  164. Adalyn

    I loved learning about the multimeters and memory wire. Is there some where I can get memory wire to experiment with?

    Reply
  165. Rayana

    Is there a limit to how many times you can form and reform muscle wire before it breaks or stops reforming to it’s original position?

    Reply
  166. Declan

    I loved hearing the history of the mouse.

    Reply
  167. Eldrin

    Why did the mouse had 3 buttons?

    Reply
  168. Nei

    Why is day light savings a thing?

    Reply
  169. Asher

    Great video on multimeters!

    Reply
  170. Eva

    I didn’t know that multimeters had many different functions!

    Reply
  171. Maddie

    Wow that’s pretty cool I didn’t know there was a way to “measure” electricity

    Reply
  172. Jackson

    It is awesome how useful multimeters are in finding problems in circuits.

    Reply
  173. Ellie

    Great job Charlie!

    Reply
  174. Genevieve

    I loved this! Thanks so much!

    Reply
  175. Lucy

    They do not do daylight savings where i live in Puerto Rico!

    Reply

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