said by Jack_in_VA:said by Msradell:Jack, I've always respected and agreed with your opinions on here until this case. Infinite ohms corresponds to an extremely high level, 0 ohms mean there aren't any, 2 very different points on the scale!! If you touch your probe to 2 ends of a wire you will read 0 ohms, if you hold the 2 probes in the air you will get infinite number of ohms which is what you should have if you major between the elements of a water heater and ground.
You are right because that is the conventional way to describe it. I'm just saying that an infinite number is the same as no or zero ohms.
It's conventional terminology that has been around forever and was very necessary when analog ohmmeters needed by be "zeroed" by touching the probes together and turning the pot to make the meter needle match the zero mark on the scale. That "zero" operation is necessary with an analog ohmmeter for measurement accuracy.
Jack, you are TOTALLY and COMPLETELY wrong on this one. When you "zero" a meter, you are adjusting it to read a DEAD SHORT
as a DEAD SHORT (because a reading of, say 20 Ohms could lead you down the wrong path if you're checking for shorts in a motor winding). How do you do the zero process? By SHORTING the leads together, thereby creating a ZERO OHMS condition.
I know you think that if you yell at other people enough that it will prove you are right, but this time your are most certainly wrong. Period.
Get out your meter and measure the resistance of a short piece of wire.
