Tennessee State University

College of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering ENGR 2001- CIRCUITS I LAB

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT 2
EXPERIMENT TWO
VOLTAGE AND CURRENT DIVISION

Reference: Alexander, Charles K. and Matthew Sadiku, Fundamentals of Electric Circuits,

6th Edition, McGraw Hill, 2017.
Objective:
The purpose of this experiment is to verify voltage division using a series resistor circuit and to
verify current division by using a parallel resistor circuit. Students will gain further experience
connecting the DMM to a circuit in order to measure currents and voltages.

Equipment:
o LTSpice
o Analog Discovery
o Breadboard
o Resistors: R1 = 1 k (Brown-Black-Red), R2 = 10 k 9Brown-Black-Orange], and
R3 = 20 k (Red-Black-Orange)

THEORY:
Voltage Divider Rule:- In a series circuit, the voltage across the resistive elements will divide in
direct proportion to the magnitude of the resistance values. The sum of the voltage drops across
the series resistors will equal the applied voltage.
V1 R1
V1  V
R1  R 2
R1 R2
+
R2 V2 V2  V
V R1  R 2
-
Current Divider Rule:- For two parallel resistors of equal value, the current will divide equally.
For parallel resistors with different values, the smaller resistor will have a greater current. The
sum of the currents through both resistors will be equal to the applied current.

R2
i1  i
i R1 R2 R1  R 2
i1 i2 R1
i i2  i
R1  R 2
i  i1  i2

Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL):- KVL states that the algebraic sum of the potential rises and
drops around a closed loop (or path) is zero.

Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL):- KCL states that the algebraic sum of the current entering and
leaving a node is zero. Hence,

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Tennessee State University
College of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering ENGR 2001- CIRCUITS I LAB

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT 2
I Entering  I Leaving

PART 1: PRE-LAB CALCULATIONS:

1. Read the sections about voltage and current division from your textbook.
For the circuit in Figure 1, use voltage division to determine the voltage across each
resistor and enter the results in Table 1

Figure 1: Voltage Division

2. For the circuit in Figure 2, use current division to determine the current through each
resistor and enter the results in Table 2

Figure 2: Current Division

3. For the circuit in Figure 3, use voltage and current division to determine the voltage
across each resistor and the current through each resistor and enter the results in Table 3

Figure 3: Voltage and Current Division

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Tennessee State University
College of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering ENGR 2001- CIRCUITS I LAB

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT 2

PART 2: LTSpice SIMULATION:

1. Build the circuits in Figures 1, 2, and 3 in LTSpice and perform “Analysis-Simulate” to

find the voltages and currents. Measure the voltages across the resistors and current
through the resistors based on the Circuits given in Figures 1, 2 & 3 and enter the values
in Tables 1, 2 & 3 respectively.

PART 3: MEASUREMENTS USING ANALOG DISCOVERY:

Part I:
1. Build the series circuit shown in Figure 1 on your breadboard.
2. Use the “wavegen” from the analog discovery to apply a 5V DC, measure the
voltage across each resistor using Oscilloscope from the Analog Discovery and
enter the measured values in Table 1.

Part II: You can not measure the currents using analog discovery, so skip this part.

Part III:
1. Build the series-parallel circuit shown in Figure 3.
2. Use the “wavegen” from the analog discovery to apply a 5V DC, measure the
voltage across the resistors and enter the voltage measured data in Table 3 as
measured data.

Table 1
Voltage Division

Calculated Simulated Measured % Error

in V in V in V (Meas vs. Calc)
VR1

VR2

VR3

VR1+VR2+VR3
Is it equal to
supply voltage?

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Tennessee State University
College of Engineering
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering ENGR 2001- CIRCUITS I LAB

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT 2

Table 2
Current Division

Calculated Simulated Measured % Error

in mA in mA in mA (Sim vs. Calc)
I1 N/A

I2 N/A

I1+I2 N/A

Table 3
Voltage and Current Division

Calculated Simulated Measured % Error

in V in V in V (Meas vs. Calc)
VR1

VR2

VR3

I1 N/A N/A

I2 N/A N/A

I3 N/A N/A

Post-Lab Report: Must follow the guideline and the sample lab report
1) Create a table in Excel of the calculated, the LTSpice and the measured values. Perform
an error analysis between all calculated and measured in your laboratory report
2) For each circuit, calculate the power dissipated in each resistor and confirm that the
circuit obeys the law of conservation of energy.

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