Sensor sensitivity describes what?

• A. The maximum voltage range.
• B. The amount of change in the electrical signal for a given change in the physical quantity; affects precision and scaling.
• C. The physical size of the sensor.
• D. The power consumption.

Answer: (B)

Sensitivity describes how responsive a sensor is to changes in what it’s measuring. It’s defined as the amount the electrical output changes for a given change in the physical quantity. This matters because it determines how easily small changes can be detected (affecting resolution) and how the signal should be scaled to fit an ADC or PLC input. In PLC applications, a sensor with higher sensitivity produces a larger output per unit of input, which can improve detectability, but you must ensure the output range matches the system’s dynamic range to avoid saturation. The other options don’t capture this idea: maximum voltage range is about the total span of output, not how much the output responds per unit of input; physical size and power consumption relate to other sensor characteristics and not to sensitivity itself.