From the course: Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits

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Voltage dividers

Voltage dividers

From the course: Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits

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Voltage dividers

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- [Instructor] A voltage divider is a simple circuit that consists of two resistors in series. The voltage divider takes some input voltage, referred to as V in, and outputs a specific fraction of that voltage based on the ratio between the two resistors. To understand how a voltage divider works, I like to think of the electrical current passing through a wire like cars traveling down a road. In this scenario, we can think of the individual resistors as rough patches in the road, then make it difficult for the cars to pass through. A resistor with a small resistance might be like some gravel or a slick spot on the road. It's just a minor inconvenience for that traffic. But a resistor with a large resistance will be more like a pothole or some large debris in the road. It causes a lot more trouble for the cars going through. Now consider these two resistors connected to a three volt source as the input voltage. Both of…

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