Final answer:
An open stabilizing resistor may lead to excessive heating of the VR points, as it causes uncontrolled current flow that can overheat components and potentially lead to failure, affecting operation as predicted by Ohm's law.
Step-by-step explanation:
An open stabilizing resistor can cause excessive heating of the VR points. The absence of the resistor in the circuit can lead to uncontrolled current flow, which, in turn, causes the components connected to those points to overheat. When excessive amounts of current flow through a resistor, that resistor will heat up, potentially to a point where it can change state or even fail, contrary to the consistent behavior predicted by Ohm's law. The voltage that should be divided across the components represented by resistors R₂ and R₃ can be misallocated, as wire resistance influences the distribution when it is higher than expected, which can significantly affect the operation of these devices.