Pushbuttons: Normally Open and Normally Closed

Compare a normally-open and a normally-closed momentary pushbutton driving two 1 kΩ loads from a shared 5 V supply.

Try it

Press and hold SW1 to close the normally-open button; release to reopen it. Press and hold SW2 to open the normally-closed button; release to close it. Releasing outside the symbol also returns the button. The component’s Operating mode and Resting position properties choose its action; the Pushbutton symbol is a variant of the same SPST component.

Expected behavior

VNO starts near 0 V and rises to 5 V while SW1 is held. VNC starts near 5 V and falls near 0 V while SW2 is held. Each closed load draws approximately 5 V / 1 kΩ = 5 mA.

How it works

The voltage probes measure the outputs relative to the common supply return. Probe colors match the chart traces. These idealized contacts change without bounce or transfer delay. Closed contacts use a small finite resistance; open contacts use a large finite resistance to keep the live simulation stable.