A 24 V DC power supply is connected to a series resistor of 500 and a load resistor of 300 . A Zener diode with a breakdown voltage of 12 V is connected in parallel with the load resistor. The current supplied by the 24 V battery is:

Step-by-step solution

First, we check if the Zener diode is in the breakdown region by calculating the voltage across the load resistor in the absence of the Zener diode. V_ unregulated = R_L R_S + R_L V_ in V_ unregulated = 300 500 + 300 24 = 3 8 24 = 9 V Since the unregulated voltage ( 9 V ) is less than the Zener breakdown voltage ( 12 V ), the Zener diode does not enter breakdown and behaves as an open circuit. The current supplied by the battery is simply the current through the series combination of R_S and R_L : I = V_ in R_S + R