170527-0940 EDT
rdaddona30:
Consider an ideal battery (voltage source). For any load resistance the battery terminal voltage will remain constant, and therefore so will the voltage across the load resistance. This kind of source does not exist in the real world, but some electronic regulated power supplies can approach a constant voltage over some limited range.
In the real world a battery has an internal resistance. Assume this resistance is a constant. Now vary the load resistance and what happens to the battery terminal voltage, and thus load voltage. At what load resistance in relation to the battery internal resistance is maximum power transferred to the load?
Study these questions using 1 V for the ideal battery voltage, and a battery internal resistance of 1 ohm for the real world battery. Without a knowledge of calculus just use trial and error to find the maximum. Try increments of 0.5 ohms to start for the load resistance, that is 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 .
The general equations are i = v/r, p = i * v . For a fixed resistance i = v/R .
Note: power in the load is pload = vload * iload, and vload = Vbat - iload * Rinternal.
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