For those who don't have access to see it I can describe it sorta :)
There's a 1m ohm pot. There is a 10k resistor attached to +12v on one side of the pot, and a 10k resistor attached to - on the other side. The middle terminal is connected to the base of an NPN transistor.
There's more to the circuit but my issue pertains to this part.
Why would the pot have both positive AND negative connected to it and why doesn't that cause a short?
What is coming out of the center terminal if both positive and negative are being fed into the pot?
I don't understand what's going on here. I sorta understand that as long as the base is "more positive" than the emitter, we are in good shape but I have no idea what is going on with the pot being connected to both positive and negative with the center terminal going to the NPN.
Basically, the potentiometer's "output" varies from (almost) zero volts to (almost) 12 Volts as you turn it.
So the base of the transistor sees a varying voltage (and current) as you turn the potentiometer.
It doesn't short for the same reason plugging in a lightbulb doesn't short out your house. The potentiometer (and lightbulb) have resistance that keeps from being a short circuit.
The left and right pins are either side of an arc of resistive material; the center is the moving armature touching that arc. The material between the left pin and the center form one resistor, the material between the center and the right pin form the other.