Originally posted by red58:
an ammeter on the motor side of the switch will read lower than one on the battery side - and if you use a voltmeter to check from the output side of the switch to ground, you'll still see full voltage
I'm not sure I should stick my nose in here, but that is completely opposite of what really happens.
The current in any given circuit, with a given total resistance, is constant throughout the circuit (for resistances in series, not parallel). The electrons going in = the electrons going out. An ammeter placed anywhere in the circuit will read the same.
Olblue is right about the voltage drops across each resistance. The voltage after the resistance will be lower than the voltage before the resistance, by the amount of the drop across the resistance. The total drop in the circuit = battery voltage.
