In a potential divider, if R2 has a higher resistance than R1, what happens to the output voltage?

In a potential divider, the output voltage is determined by the ratio of the resistances in the circuit. When R2 has a higher resistance than R1, the division of voltage across the two resistors leads to a situation where a larger portion of the source voltage is dropped across R2.

The formula for the output voltage (Vout) in a potential divider is given by:

[ V_{out} = V_{in} \times \frac{R2}{R1 + R2} ]

where Vin is the input voltage applied across both R1 and R2.

If R2 has a higher resistance, the ratio (\frac{R2}{R1 + R2}) becomes larger. This means that more of the input voltage (Vin) is applied across R2, leading to an increase in the output voltage. Thus, with R2 being greater than R1, the output voltage indeed increases as a result of the higher resistance capturing more voltage. Therefore, understanding the relationship between resistance and voltage division is key to grasping how the potential divider operates in this scenario.