Thevenin Equivalent

Statement of Purpose

To represent a circuit network by a resistor and a voltage source in series.

Procedure

Using mesh currents we find that the current through resistor RL1 (680 Ohms) is 12.71mA which means the Thevenin voltage is 8.64V. 

We also solve for resistance by turning off all independent source voltages which reduces the circuit to a simple parallel and series resistance network. We find the Thevenin resistance to be 65.95 Ohms.

Data

We adjust values for our variable resistor and measure voltages across that resistor for values.

We then compare those voltage values to the values obtained by measuring the Thevenin voltage in the original circuit.

Conclusion
The values obtained from both circuits are reasonably close, any difference may be caused by the tolerance of the resistors.