In Detail:<br>
The best way to get a better understanding is to have a look at the principle of voltage divider.<br>[[Datei:voltagedivider.jpg]]<br>In a voltage divider the current is always the same.<br>[[Datei:I_total.gif]]<br>
-> Means we can really use a second resistor to find out the current that is flowing through the load.
Every resistor has a voltage drop that has the ratio of the resistor to the total resistance.<br>[[Datei:r_total_shunt.gif]]<br>Or the voltage drops across the resistors must add up to the total voltage[[Datei:ratio_r_shunt.gif]]<br>[[Datei:v_drop_shunt.gif]]<br>
-> This tells us that we have to choose the resistor as small as possible so that we don’t drag to much voltage from the load.