Voltage divider questions

[rife168]

Can someone please explain to me why a voltage divider circuit is used instead of having a variable resistor in series with a load? If you add a resistor in series, does that not mean that the voltage drop over the load will be less than the V_in voltage?

In a simple voltage divider circuit, such as the following, does connecting a load over the divided voltage affect the amount of divided voltage? Intuitively I would've thought that having some resistance in parallel to R₂ would affect the voltage drop across the resistors...



Sorry if those questions sound a little ambiguous, but my understanding is a bit cloudy at the moment..

[yawho]

Can someone please explain to me why a voltage divider circuit is used instead of having a variable resistor in series with a load? If you add a resistor in series, does that not mean that the voltage drop over the load will be less than the V_in voltage?

In a simple voltage divider circuit, such as the following, does connecting a load over the divided voltage affect the amount of divided voltage? Intuitively I would've thought that having some resistance in parallel to R₂ would affect the voltage drop across the resistors...

(Image removed from quote.)

Sorry if those questions sound a little ambiguous, but my understanding is a bit cloudy at the moment..

A variable resistor in series with a load will provide the load with the voltage it requires if the resistance of the load is comparable with the variable resistor.

A voltage divider (as shown in the diagram) will provide the load with the correct voltage if the load has a very much higher resistance than R2. The voltage will be altered significantly if the load resistance is low (comparable/lower than that of R2).