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Current divider

DC circuits · Beginner · about 10 minutes · part of Zen’s Electronics Design Mastery

Current entering two parallel branches splits in inverse proportion to their resistance: the smaller resistor takes the larger share.

Current divider: the circuit on the simulator's bench

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How it works

Itotal = Vs / (Rs + R1 ∥ R2) = 7.111 mA

I1 = Itotal · R2 / (R1 + R2) = 4.889 mA

I2 = Itotal · R1 / (R1 + R2) = 2.222 mA

Try it on the bench

  1. Make R1 and R2 equal. The current splits exactly in half.
  2. Set R2 to 10 × R1 and check that I1 is ten times I2.

Parts on the bench

In the course

Zen’s Electronics Design Mastery, module “DC Fundamentals”.

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