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What is potentiometers How a Potentiometer Works?


Potentiometers
A potentiometer is simply a variable resistor that can be controlled by the user. Potentiometers accomplish this by having three terminal resistors forming and a load that connect the potentiometer and the voltage source in one loop and the potentiometer and the load in another. Potentiometers have a wide range of uses, ranging from CD players to Servo mechanisms.

How Does a Potentiometer Work?
A potentiometer has 3 pins. Two terminals (the blue and green) are connected to a resistive element and the third terminal (the black one) is connected to an adjustable wiper. The potentiometer will work as a rheostat (variable resistor) or as a voltage divider.

Rheostat
To use the potentiometer as a rheostat, only two pins are used: one outside pin and the center pin. The position of the wiper determines what quantity resistance the potentiometer is imposing to the circuit, as the figure demonstrates:
If we have a 10kΩ potentiometer, it means that the maximum resistance of the variable resistor is 10kΩ and the minimum is 0Ω. This means that by changing the wiper position, you get a value between 0Ω and 10kΩ.

Voltage Divider
Potentiometers can be used as voltage dividers. To use the potentiometer as a voltage divider, all the 3 pins ar connected. One of the outer pins is connected to the GND, the other to Vcc and the middle pin is the voltage output.
When the potentiometer is employed as a voltage divider, the wiper position determines the output voltage. When you have the potentiometer connected this way, you have the following circuit:
Basically, the voltage divider is employed to show an oversized voltage into a smaller one.
                                        
Potentiometer Taper
One main thought related to potentiometers is that the taper. The taper is the relationship between the position and the resistance of the potentiometer. The most common types are linear and logarithmic tapers.
Linear potentiometers
The most common form is the simple linear taper. In a linear taper, the relationship between the resistance and the potentiometer position is linear. This means that if the knob of the potentiometer is at the medium position, the output voltage is half of the voltage through the potentiometer.
Logarithmic potentiometers
Non-linear tapers are specially used in audio control applications, namely logarithmic tapers (there are also inverse-logarithmic tapers).

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