zacmackra:
So if i set my potentiometer to 0 ohms theoretically i will be shorting 5v of my arduino with arduino ground. infinite current will flow. Will that damage my chip? i have arduino uno.
If you connect a potentiometer across a voltage source, that voltage is "distributed" across the entire potentiometer. Rotating the shaft moves the internal wiper to various places in the potentiometer and "picks off" whatever voltage is at that point.
If you have a linear potentiometer, the voltage is "distributed" evenly across the resistance element. So, for example, 1/2 way along (50 percent) the resistance element, 1/2 of the applied voltage exists (i.e. 2.5 volts). All the way towards the ground end, the voltage is 0% or 0v. At the other end the voltage is 100% or 5v.
That voltage, however, is "going into" a very high impedance point (the Arduino analog input pin) so very little current flows.
At no point is anything "shorted out".
Make sense?
(edit to add): Assuming you have the potentiometer setup like this:
5 volts ----////---- ground
^
|-------- arduino input