Resistor-Capacitor Circuits

Marc Castro1, Kenneth Domingo2, and Edrien Dominick Ofina3

1
National Institute of Physics, Universiy of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
2
National Institute of Physics, Universiy of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
3
National Institute of Physics, Universiy of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Marc Castro : marc82598@gmail.com

Abstract

Resistor-Capacitor circuit experiments observe the effect of a resistor on the

Amount of time for a capacitor to discharge. The experiment set-up includes
a resistor-capacitor circuit in parallel, with the ends of the capacitor attached
to a voltmeter. Results show that the voltage discharges at rate which is
dependent on the initial charge as well as the effective resistance of the setup.
Keywords: Resistor-Capacitor Circuit, voltmeter.

1. Introduction

Capacitance is is the maximum amount of charge which can be stored by a capacitor in a circuit with the unit
of Farads and its equation is given by:
C = Q/V

(1)

Where Q is the charge and V is the voltage reading of the circuit. Capacitors act like voltage sources once it is
charged using a power supply, the stored charge will be immediately discharged once the connection between the
capacitor and the power supply and it will result to a voltage decrease across the capacitor. The equation for the
discharging process can be decribed using Kirchoffs rule and is given by:
q/C RI = 0

(2)

On the discharging process, the charge on the positive plate of the capacitor is decreasing since the positive
charges are constantly leaving the plate whereas the current also flows on the same direction which tells that the
current is proportional to the charge on the plates of the capacitor. This gives a differential equation of the previous
equation:
q/C + R(dq/dt) = 0

(3)

The RC product of a circuit tells how fast a capacitor charges and it is also time constant represented by
. = RC

(4)

The size of tau () has a directly proportional relationship with the charging time of the capacitor, when
the tau is small the capacitor will charge quickly and when the tau is large the capacitor will have more time in
charging. Tau is recorded in seconds since its a time constant.

2. Methodology
Using a capacitor (12.063 F) and two resistors (Brown-Red-Yellow-Gold; Brown-Red-Yellow-Gold),
With an effective resistance of 240k, in parallel, decreasing voltage was measured using a voltmeter. The
Capacitor was charged using a power supply with voltage set to 9 V and attached to the voltmeter probes. A
Video was recorded of the experiment to increase accuracy of values to be later on plotted in a voltage vs time
graph. The time constant of the capacitor-resistor setup was calculated and compared with the theoretical value.
Percent error was accounted for.

Figure 1. Set-up for RC Circuit Experiment

3. Results and Discussion

Voltage vs Time

Voltage (v)

10
8
6
4
2

y=
6.8941e0.147x

0
0
50

10

20

R = 0.9896
30

40

Time
(s)
Figure 2. Voltage vs. Time Graph plotted from experimental results.

The voltage vs. time graph shows a logarithmic relation between time and the voltage of a capacitor as it
discharges while paired with resistors and is asymptotic to the x-axis. This means that the voltage never fully
discharges and is unable to reach a total voltage of zero volts. The rate of discharge decreases logarithmically
with respect to time.
To predict the behavior of the RC circuit, we can calculate for the time constant, .

=Reff C=( 240 k )( 12.063 F )=2.895 seconds

This suggests that after one elapses, only e-1 remains of the initial charge remains. Given 0.14C as the
initial voltage, after 2.895 seconds, the voltage that remains on the capacitor should be 5.14 V.
Based on experimental results, the voltage that has not been discharged is 5.34V. The experimentally
derived results deviate from the theoretical results by 3.89%.

4. References
1. H. Young, R. Freedman, and F. Sears Weston. Sears and Zemansky's University Physics: With
Modern Physics. 13th ed. San Francisco: Pearson Addison-Wesley, 2008. Print.

APPENDIX
Voltage(V)
8.14
7.54
7.03
6.56
6.12
5.71
5.34
4.99
4.66
4.36
4.08
3.81
3.57
3.34
3.12
2.92
2.74
2.57
2.4
2.25
2.11
1.97
1.85
1.74
1.53
1.43
1.34
1.26
1.18
1.11
0.98
0.81
0.76

Time(s)
0
0.95
1.11
1.85
1.98
2.11
2.9
3.05
3.85
3.96
4.09
4.94
5
5.88
5.95
6.05
6.86
6.97
7.08
7.92
8.06
8.9
9.02
9.08
9.89
10.86
10.97
11.04
11.91
12.05
12.92
13.97
14.82

Voltage(V)
0.72
0.67
0.6
0.53
0.5
0.47
0.44
0.41
0.39
0.37
0.35
0.31
0.29
0.26
0.25
0.23
0.22
0.21
0.2
0.19
0.17
0.15
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01

Time(s)
14.9
15
15.96
16.87
17
17.82
17.98
18.03
18.82
19.02
19.07
20.05
20.84
21.09
21.93
21.98
22.08
22.9
23.06
23.92
24.11
24.99
25.93
26.88
27.98
29.04
29.85
31.02
31.95
34.07
35.99
38.93
43.1
49.97