EXPERIMENT No.

02

ANALYSIS OF VOLTAGE DIVIDER AND CURRENT

DIVIDER THEOREMS IN SIMPLE RESISTIVE
NETWORK

PRE LAB TASK

Objectives
1. To evaluate the familiarization to the lab equipment.
2. To build circuit drawing capability over breadboard.
3. To get use-to to the careful handling and working of DMM.

Introduction
Theory

Any circuit that is built using Resistors only as basic building block, except for
connecting wires and power supply, is generally called Resistive Network.

Whenever a resistor is connected to battery, current starts flowing through it and

a voltage develops across that resistor, depending upon the resistance it is
offering. If we wish to calculate the current passing through and voltage across
each resistor in a circuit we use laws as:

1. Ohms law
2. Kirchhoff’s Voltage Rule
3. Kirchhoff’s Current Rule
4. Current Divider Rule
5. Voltage Divider Rule
6. Law of Equivalent Resistance

All of the above mentioned techniques are used for numerical evaluations of
circuit. For practical evaluation of any network/circuit, Digital Multimeter is the
best solution as well as option.

Circuit Diagram
 Fig.1. Circuit for resistive analysis.

Calculations
Using Equivalent/Total resistance calculation formula, we can write:

R2× R3
Req = (1)
R2 + R3

And

RT =Req + R 1 (2)

So we can write now, using Ohms Law:

V1
I 1= (3)
RT

This is the current passing through resistor R 1. Now I2 and I3 can be calculated by
using current division rule as:

I 2=
( R3
R2 + R3 )
× I 1 (4)

And

I 3=
( R2
R2 + R3
× I1
) (5)
Voltages across each resistor can be calculated using voltage division rule as:

VR=1 ( R1
)
R1 + R eq
×V 1, (6)

VR=2 ( Req
)
R 1+ R eq
×V 1 (7)

And

V R =V R
2 3
(8)

The above mentioned equation is true since resistors R2 and R3 are in parallel and
equal value of voltage appears across them regardless of their values.

LAB SESSION
Lab task
Lay the circuit given below on bread borad. Calculate as well as measure all the
values of voltages and currents.

Equipment and Materials

 Power supply
 Resistors
 Multi-meter

Experimental Procedure
1. Build the circuit as shown in the Fig.1.
2. Set the appropriate voltage by adjusting the Variable Power Supply (V s) to 5
Volts.
3. Use the Digital Multi-Meter (DMM) to accurately measure all the voltages
and currents in the circuit. Record the measurements in Table 1.
Hint: Use R1=56Ω, R2=390Ω and R3=100Ω.
Observations
 Table 1 Measurement of voltage and current

Voltage
Branch
across the Volts mA Resistor KΩ
Current
resistors

VR1 I1 R1

VR2 I2 R2

VR3 I3 R3

Questions
1. Write down the function and purpose of using a resistor in a circuit? Also,
draw an illustration of what a real resistor looks like.
2. Resistors are often represented by a symbol given below in electrical and
electronic schematic diagrams but there is another symbol used for resistor
representation.

Draw this other symbol ______________.

3. Associate each of value with its respective color as used by measuring
resistance through color codes.

0=
1=
2=
3=
4=
5=
6=
7=
 8=
9=

LAB REPORT
Discussion of Results

Q1: When electrical circuits conduct electric current, the temperature of the
resistor present in the circuit increases. Explain the significance of this
phenomenon to the application of resistors in electric circuits. In other words, why
would we care about increase in temperature of a resistor?

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Conclusion /Summary

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