Voltage Divider

The two resistor voltage divider is used often to supply a voltage different from that of an available battery or power supply. In application the output voltage depends upon the resistance of the load it drives.

For

=

,

=

,and

=

V,

the open circuit output voltage would be

= V

If the voltage divider is suppying a load

=

,

then the output circuit voltage is

V

Note: To avoid dealing with so many short circuits, divider resistors with value zero will default to 1 when the voltage is changed and the load will default to 1000. They can be changed back to a zero value if you wish to explore the effects of short circuits. Ohms are indicated as the resistance unit, but kilohms are more common and of course the calculation is the same.