Voltage Divider - General Case

General Case

A voltage divider referenced to ground is created by connecting two electrical impedances in series, as shown in Figure 1. The input voltage is applied across the series impedances Z1 and Z2 and the output is the voltage across Z2. Z1 and Z2 may be composed of any combination of elements such as resistors, inductors and capacitors.

Applying Ohm's Law, the relationship between the input voltage, Vin, and the output voltage, Vout, can be found:

V_\mathrm{out} = \frac{Z_2}{Z_1+Z_2} \cdot V_\mathrm{in}

Proof:

The transfer function (also known as the divider's voltage ratio) of this circuit is simply:

H = \frac {V_{out}}{V_{in}} = \frac{Z_2}{Z_1+Z_2}

In general this transfer function is a complex, rational function of frequency.


Read more about this topic:  Voltage Divider

Famous quotes containing the words general and/or case:

    “In former times and in less complex societies, children could find their way into the adult world by watching workers and perhaps giving them a hand; by lingering at the general store long enough to chat with, and overhear conversations of, adults...; by sharing and participating in the tasks of family and community that were necessary to survival. They were in, and of, the adult world while yet sensing themselves apart as children.”
    —Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)

    “If a playwright tried to see eye to eye with everybody, he would get the worst case of strabismus since Hannibal lost an eye trying to count his nineteen elephants during a snowstorm while crossing the Alps.”
    —James Thurber (1894–1961)