Zeroth Experiment

Swara Mishra

1 Aim
To study the Potential Divider circuit

2 Apparatus
A cell, two Resistance boxes, a multimeter.

3 Circuit Diagram

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4 Theory
The potential divider circuit is used to provide a specific voltage that is less than what
an available DC source may be able to give. The circuit divides the source voltage over
2(or more) resistors who’s value is determined in accordance to the required voltage.

Consider the above circuit, it has a DC source of EMF ϵ, and internal resistance say
r Ω. Additionally we have 2 resistors R1 and R2, the source voltage can be divided over
these 2 resistors(and a certain drop due to r).
But there is a problem here: most often we are unaware of the internal resistance of our
source which creates a small problem in our measurement. A way to get around this is
take the sum R1 + R2 ¿¿ r. In that case we can neglect r

Now using Kirchoff’s Law:-

Vtotal = 0

V - IR1 - IR2 =0

V
I= R1 +R2

V R1
VR1 = IR1 ⇒ R1 +R2

V R2
VR2 = IR2 ⇒ R1 +R2

Clearly:-
V R1 R1
V R2 = R2

Now if we were to connect a load across the terminals of R2 (or R1 ) as shown in the
circuit diagram, the load would treat R1 as a voltage source potential V2 (or V1 if R1
is taken). This source would also have its own in a sense ’internal resistance’ of R2 (or R1 )’

Another advantage of using a potential divider circuit is it can be used to create a

variable voltage source from a fixed source, i.e. we can use a rheostat which can provide
a variable resistance hence changing the voltage drop across its terminals. However here
we have to keep in mind that if we want this source to vary linearly with R2 (or R1 ), we
will need to keep the second factor of 1.0(or 2.0) constant, i.e.

R1 + R2 = Constant

Now lets take into consideration the Load resistance itself that will be connected
across the resistor in the potential divider circuit. To this load resistance the circuit

2
would be of the form:

Now RL will essentially be some form of an appliance with a certain maximum cur-
rent rating so this puts a limit on the sum R1 + R2 and additionally implies R1 ¡¡ RL
so we can ignore the internal resistance in the above circuit. So,

r << R1 + R2 < RL

3
5 Precautions
1. Clean all contacts thoroughly including the battery terminals and the teeth of
crocodile clips with sand paper.
2. Make sure that enough wire is exposed while making connections, so that plastic does
not come in between.
3.Check each contact by tugging on the wire and ensuring that it does not come out.
4. Arrange the elements of the circuit, so that it resembles your circuit diagram.
5. Make the circuit loop by loop.
6. There should always be a finite resistance in the circuit, before the key is closed.

6 Procedure
1. Make the connections as shown in the circuit diagram and connect the DC battery .
2. Choose various combinations of the resistances to study the characteristics of the
circuit.
3. Before starting observations, test and debug your circuit. Some common methods
of debugging include checking the battery potential, checking continuity of your circuit
using a multimeter. If there is no potential drop across a passive element, then check
for continuity.

4
7 Observations
(i) R1 = 10Ω and variable R2
Source Voltage(as measured by multimeter) = 1.874V

S.No. R1 R2 V R1 V R2 VR1 + VR2

1 10 1 1.744 0.109 1.853
2 10 2 1.662 0.193 1.875
3 10 3 1.591 0.263 1.854
4 10 4 1.512 0.325 1.837
5 10 5 1.475 0.375 1.85
6 10 6 1.414 0.453 1.867
7 10 7 1.360 0.497 1.857
8 10 8 1.330 0.524 1.854
9 10 9 1.270 0.614 1.884
10 10 10 0.998 0.831 1.819
11 10 20 0.691 1.142 1.833
12 10 50 0.361 1.491 1.852
13 10 100 0.200 1.658 1.858
14 10 200 0.125 1.738 1.863
15 10 500 0.052 1.819 1.871
16 10 1000 0.018 1.854 1.872
17 10 5000 0.002 1.870 1.872
18 10 10000 0 1.872 1.872

(ii) R2 = 100Ω and variable R2

Source Voltage(as measured by multimeter) = 1.874V

S.No. R1 R2 V R1 V R2 VR1 + VR2

1 100 10 1.698 0.154 1.852
2 100 20 1.565 0.306 1.871
3 100 50 1.254 0.615 1.869
4 100 100 0.923 0.938 1.861
5 100 200 0.618 1.246 1.864
6 100 300 0.465 1.401 1.866
7 100 400 0.372 1.495 1.867
8 100 500 0.310 1.558 1.868
9 100 1000 0.169 1.700 1.869
10 100 2000 0.088 1.781 1.870
11 100 5000 0.034 1.836 1.870
12 100 10000 0.017 1.853 1.870

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 (iii) R1 = 1000Ω
Source Voltage(as measured by multimeter) = 1.874V

S.No. R1 R2 VR1 V R2 V R1 + V R2
1 1000 10 1.854 0.017 1.871
2 1000 20 1.836 0.036 1.872
3 1000 50 1.783 0.088 1.871
4 1000 100 1.701 0.170 1.871
5 1000 200 1.558 0.312 1.870
6 1000 500 1.247 0.625 1.872
7 1000 1000 0.927 0.945 1.872
8 1000 2000 0.624 1.247 1.871
9 1000 3000 0.468 1.404 1.872
10 1000 5000 0.303 1.568 1.871
11 1000 10000 0.169 1.702 1.871

iv) R1 = 5Ω
Source Voltage(as measured by multimeter) = 1.874V

S.No. R1 R2 VR1 V R2 V R1 + V R2
1 5 1 1.406 0.340 1.746
2 5 2 1.236 0.524 1.760
3 5 3 1.098 0.675 1.773
4 5 4 0.985 0.798 1.783
5 5 5 0.895 0.895 1.790
6 5 6 0.807 0.992 1.799
7 5 7 0.740 1.063 1.803
8 5 8 0.690 1.120 1.810
9 5 9 0.636 1.178 1.814
10 5 10 0.597 1.220 1.817

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 v) R1 + R2 = 1000Ω (constant)
Source Voltage(as measured by multimeter) = 1.874V

S.No. R1 R2 VR1 VR2 V R1 + V R2

1 500 500 0.935 0.936 1.871
2 600 400 1.121 0.751 1.872
3 700 300 1.304 0.566 1.870
4 800 200 1.497 0.375 1.872
5 900 100 1.680 0.191 1.871

8 Calculations
From the graph,

y1 −y2
Slope = x1 −x2

1.81−1.75
= 0.14−0.30 = −0.375

We know, slope = -r (internal resistance),

r=0.375

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9 Sources of Error
1) The voltmeter that is used to measure potential drop may not be ideal, i.e. it will
have some finite value of resistance.

2) If the circuit is switched on for a long amount of time there is a certain variation
of the resistances in the circuit.

3) The connections of the wires may not be well established which could lead to
incorrect readings.

10 Viva
Answer the following questions.

1. Do the values of Vbattery and sum of V1 and V2 agree always?

If no under what circumstances and why?

The values of Vbattery and V1 + V2 will not agree always, in fact V1 + V2 ¡ Vbattery al-
ways. This is because for any practical voltage source there is a certain value of internal
resistance which causes a certain drop of voltage as current passes through the circuit
and battery. So taking it into account we can write current from Ohm’s Law as:
Vbattery
I= R1 +R2 +r

Hence,
Vbattery
V1 = R1 × R1 +R2 +r

Vbattery
V2 = R2 × R1 +R2 +r

By making R1 + R2 ≫ r :
Vbattery
V1 ≈ R1 × R1 +R2

Vbattery
V2 ≈ R2 × R1 +R2

And hence,

V1 + V2 Vb attery(R
R1 +R2
1 +R2
= Vbattery

So, V1 + V2 ≈ Vbattery when R1 + R2 ≫ r

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 2. If we make one of the two resistances very small, discuss the behaviour of the circuit?

If say we make R1 ≫R2 , in that case the voltage drop over the smaller resistance V2 will
be essentially negligible since from the theory:

R1 V1
R2 = V2

In this case V1 ≈ϵ

So the circuit will not behave as a potential divider in the first place which is what
it was designed to do.

3. What are the lower and upper limits on values of R’s? Justify your answer.

We already have a lower limit to the value of R1 + R2 ≫ r from Question 1. Now

lets take into consideration the Load resistance itself that will be connected across the
resistor in the potential divider circuit. To this load resistance the circuit would be of
the form:

Now RL will essentially be some form of an appliance with a certain maximum cur-
rent rating so this puts a limit on the sum R1 + R2 and additionally implies R1 ≪ RL
so we can ignore the internal resistance in the above circuit. So r ≪ R1 + R2 lRL

4.Can you suggest some experiment to determine the internal resistance of the cell?

Consider a circuit which has two resistances R1 and R2 connected in series with a
DC source having an emf of E V and an internal resistance of r . Since we know an equal
amount of current flows in the circuit, thus, using Kirchhoff’s Laws on the loop we get,

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 E - IR1 - IR2 - Ir = 0

E - Ir = I(IR1 +IR2 )

E - Ir = V

Where V=I(IR1 +IR2 ).

Comparing the above equation to that of a straight line graph y = mx + c, we know
that on plotting a graph of I vs V, we will get the slope of the graph as r, that is the
internal resistance of the source.

11 Discussion
In this experiment, we investigated the operation of a potential divider circuit, which
is quite helpful because it allows us to obtain an exact required voltage when another
source is unavailable. It can also be used to make a variable voltage source and as a
setup for measuring internal resistance, as shown above. Overall, it’s a significant base
circuit that’s been utilised to power a variety of experiments.

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