FIGnition FUZE Hardware Reference Manual page 78

Fig A8
ers. Let's look at a simple potential divider. At the moment of connection we have 5v at the
top of R1 and 0v at the bottom. Electrons would flow through that resistor at the rate: 5v /
100Ω = 50mA and lose all their energy in the process [Fig A8].
So initially the second resistor would see 0v at the top and bottom along with an accumula-
tion of electrons with no energy at the top. Since they have no energy (i.e. because there's
no voltage difference) electrons aren't pumped into the top and out of the bottom of R2.
Fig A9
the current going through R1 (because electrons repel each other), and this causes the
voltage to start to rise at the bottom of R1, because as the current flow becomes more lim-
ited, less energy is lost through R1 and therefore electrons with energy are pumped out of
the bottom of R1.
This is all we need to know to simulate and understand potential divid-
[Fig A9] The build-up of charge at the bottom of R1 then serves to limit