Switch
Switch Media
Electrical switches. Top, left to right: circuit breaker, mercury switch, wafer switch, DIP switch, surface mount switch, reed switch. Bottom, left to right: wall switch (U.S. style), miniature toggle switch, in‑line switch, push-button switch, rocker switch, microswitch.
Three push button switches (Tactile Switches). Major scale is inches.
A toggle switch in the "on" position
Triple-pole single-throw (TPST or 3PST) knife switch used to short the windings of a three‑phase wind turbine for braking purposes. Here the switch is shown in the open position.
Diagram of a SPST switch
Symbol circuit breaker (one-pole)
Diagram of a SPST-NC switch
Diagram of a SPDT switch
- Symbolchangeoverswitch
- SymbolSeriesswitch
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A switch is something that changes the flow of an electrical circuit. The most common kind of switch is something (for example a railroad switch) which can be taken off of one course and put onto another. The term "switch" usually means electrical power. In applications where more than one switch is needed, (i.e. a telephone service) mechanical switches have been replaced by electronic switches which can be controlled automatically.
The switch is called a "gate" when used in a mathematical form. In logic, arguments are represented as logic gates. The use of electronic gates to work as a system of logical gates is the basic idea behind the computer —i.e. a computer is a lot of electronic switches that work as logic gates.
Types of switch
There are many types of switches. Some of these are:
- DIP switch
- Reed switch
- Rocker switch
- Micro switch
- Relay switch
- Rotary switch
- Surface mount switch
- Toggle switch
- Tilt switch
- Time switch
Other meanings
The word 'switch' can also mean to change between two things. For example, on a railway line, sometimes the track can split into two different tracks. If the train is travelling on one line and changes over to the other, it has just done a switch.