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Circuitos RC: IR V C Q V
Circuitos RC: IR V C Q V
VR IR
VC Q / C
dQ
dt
From Kirchhoffs Loop Rule (just energy conservation) the sum of the voltages
around a closed circuit must equal zero (some voltages will be positive and others
negative). For just a resistor and a capacitor connected in series as we have when the
switch is open, this becomes a differential equation given by
0 VR VC R dQ Q
dt C
V
Different situations (called initial conditions) lead to different solutions for the
above equation. In our case we start with an initial charge Q0 on the capacitor. The
resulting solution for the charge as a function of time is
Q(t) = Q0 e-t/RC
The voltage across the capacitor is directly proportional to the charge stored on it
at any instant of time. Thus the voltage can be written similarly as
VC(t) = V0 e-t/RC
The voltmeter measures the voltage across the capacitor directly. When t/RC
equals one, the voltage has decayed to 1/e of its original value. At this point the time
must equal RC so that the ratio is unity. Thus the quantity RC (amazingly it has the units
of seconds in SI units) is defined as the time constant of the decay process.
Also, we can obtain the value of the time constant from the graph for a charging
capacitor. The function that describe the charging capacitor graph can be write
VC(t) = V0 (1-e-t/RC)
When t/RC equals one, the voltage has rise to (1-e-1) of its original value. At this
point the time must equal RC so that the ratio is unity.
Materiales:
Batera o power supply de 4.0 V
2 Capacitares de 330 F
1 resistor de (2000 -2500)
Objetivos:
1. Analizar como varia el voltaje a travs del capacitor cuando se esta cargando o
descargando.
2. Explicar la constante de tiempo = RC y el significado de este valor en trminos
de las caractersticas del circuito.
Vmax
3
calculado
% Diferencia
C1
C2
CE (serie)
CE (paralelo)
Preguntas:
1. Muestre que la magnitud de la carga en el capacitor cuando se esta cargando y
t /
y
descargando esta dada por las siguientes ecuaciones Q Q0 1 e
Q Q0 e t / , respectivamente.
Referencias:
Physics Labs with computers, Vol. 2, The RC Circuit, Experiment P43
Physics Laboratory Experiments, The RC time constant, p.405-409, Jerry D. Wilson