What is current divider
A current divider is defined as a linear circuit that produces an output current that is a fraction of its input current. This is achieved through the connection of two or more circuit elements connected in parallel, the current in each branch will always divide in such a way that the total energy expended in a circuit is minimum.
In other words, in a parallel circuit, the supply current splits into a number of parallel paths. It is also known as the “current divider rule” or “current divider law”.
A parallel circuit is often called current divider in which terminals of all the components are connected in such a way that they share the same two end nodes. These result in different parallel paths and branches for the current to flow through it.
Hence current in all the branches of the parallel circuit is different but voltage is the same across all the connected paths. i.e. VR1 = VR2 = VR3…. etc.
Therefore, there is no need to find the individual voltage across each resistor which allows the branch currents to be easily found by KCL (Kirchhoff’s Current Law) and ohm’s law.
Also, in the parallel circuit, the equivalent resistance is always less than any of the individual resistances.
Read article – Units of Resistivity
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