Mobile Studio (MS) Lab8

RC Circuits and Time Constant

Student name:
10/08/2017
Introduction:
RC circuit is first order linear circuit that responds to alternating current signals. The
response to different frequencies depends on the capacitance and resistance used in the
circuit.
Our objective in this lab is to stud charging and discharging of capacitors and the growth
and the decay of currents in the RC circuits.

Theory:
The time constant of a circuit is defined as: the time required for the response to decay
by a factor of 1/e (1/e= 0.3678) of its initial value. This implies that the time constant is
the time required for the response to decay to 37% of the initial value. We can make the
assumption that after 5 time constants (e-5= 0.00674) the stored voltage in the capacitor
is fully discharged because its final value is less than 1% of this initial value and the circuit
reaches its final (or steady) state. This is known as the 5 tau rule.

Figure 1: Simple RC Circuit

Equipment:
1- Variable resistor (10Kohm Potentiometer).
2- Capacitor (C = 1 uF).
3- A square wave source with a peak voltage of Vpp = 1.5 Vpp and a frequency = 250 Hz.
4- Digital Multi-Meter (DMM).
Procedures:
1- Build the RC circuit, with the resistor R replaced by a variable resistor (10Kohm
Potentiometer) and C = 1 uF. Assume the source is a square wave with a peak
voltage of Vpp = 1.5 Vpp and a frequency = 250 Hz. Connect your input AWG1 to
Node A and measure the output A2SE by connecting it to Node B.
2- Start varying the value of R using the potentiometer. Next, capture and save the
output observed at node B, with channel#1 showing Vin (square wave) and
channel#2 showing Vout (across the capacitor). Make sure you select the AWG1
input for channel 1 and the A2SE input for channel 2.

Analysis of Results: To predict the value of R

3- Look at the screen capture for the capacitor voltage Vout and determine how long it
takes for the capacitor to fully discharge by measuring the time on the X-axis.
4- Compute the time constant of your circuit using the 5 tau rule.
5- Predict the value of the variable resistor R Using the calculated valunie of the time
constant.
6- Carefully remove the variable resistor from the circuit (without touching the wiper
handle) and measure the actual value of the resistor using a DMM.
7- Compare the predicted value and the measured value of R and calculate error
percentage.

8- Replace the C = 1 uF capacitor by a new C = 0.47 uF capacitor and repeat all the
steps (3-7).
9- Step#9: Replace the C = 1 uF capacitor by a new C = 2.2 uF capacitor and repeat all
the steps (3-7).
Results:

Figure 2: Wave Form

1- For c= 1 uF:
- From the screen, it took the capacitor 2 ms to fully discharge.
- Using 5 tau rule: assume the time constant is .

= time of to time of


2= time of to time of
2

Also, 5= time of to time of
5
So, 2 ms is 5 time constants.
2
5=2 then = = .
5
 - As: =
We can predict the value of R:
0.4103
= = =
1106
- The measured value of R:
415400
- % error = | | 100% = . %
415

This error is due to some measurements error, such as discharging time or the DDM
reading but this error is in the acceptable range.

2- For c= 0.47 uF:

- From the screen, it took the capacitor 0.9 ms to fully discharge.
- Using 5 tau rule: assume the time constant is .

= time of to time of


2= time of to time of
2

Also, 5= time of to time of
5
So, 0.8 ms is 5 time constants.
0.9
5=2 then = = .
5
- As: =
We can predict the value of R:
0.18103
= = =
0.47106
- The measured value of R:
415383
- % error = | | 100% = . %
415

The time constant is lower than the case where c= 1uF, as the time constant is directly
proportional to the capacitance, so it decreased as the capacitance decreased.

3- For c= 2.2 uF:

- From the screen, it took the capacitor 4.5 ms to fully discharge.
- Using 5 tau rule: assume the time constant is .

= time of to time of


2= time of to time of
2

Also, 5= time of to time of
5
So, 4.5 ms is 5 time constants.
4.5
5=2 then = = .
5
- As: =
We can predict the value of R:
0.9103
= = =
2.2106
- The measured value of R:
415409
- % error = | | 100% = . %
415

The time constant is higher than the case where c= 1uF, as the time constant is directly
proportional to the capacitance, so it increased as the capacitance increased.

Figure 3: Response of RC Circuit to a square wave

Discussion:
Theoretically, in all cases we should obtain same value of resistor (R) since R is not
changed in the experiment. But due to measurement errors we have different R values in
the 3 cases. Since fully discharge time was determined just by looking at the wave form
on the screen, that measurement is not 100% correct. Therefore, results deviate from
the correct value.
From comparing the 3 cases and their results, it is observed that time constant increased
as the capacitance value increased. That is normal since time constant is directly
proportional to the capacitance = .
When comparing the error of the 3 cases, error is small when the capacitance is high
because time constant and fully discharge time increases with the capacitance. When we
measure large values and small values from the same scale, the associated percentage
error decreases with large measurement as the error magnitude is the same but the
measured values differs so the percentage of the magnitude of the error and the
measured values differs and is inversely proportional to the measured value. It is
observed in the above results that calculated R is very close to the measured R when we
use larger capacitance values.

Extra-credit:
Keep the circuit in Figure #1 and replace the frequency of the source from 250Hz to 500
Hz. What do you expect the output voltage Vout to look like for C=1uF, C=0.47uF, and
C=2.2uF? How does it affect the RC time constant of the circuit for C=1uF, C=0.47uF, and
C=2.2uF? Explain and justify your answer theoretically and by including screen captures
of your MS software.

- The effect on the output voltage Vout:

For the RC circuit, we have:
1
= =
+
1+

1
But =
2
 1
Then: =
1+2

The frequency appeared in the denominator, so, the output voltage is small when the
frequency is high.
Also, the capacitance appeared in the denominator, so, the output voltage is small when
the capacitance is high.
So as changing the frequency from 250Hz to 500. The output voltage decreases for each
capacitance value.

- The effect on the time constant ():

As: =
R and C values dont change with frequency. So, the time constant of the system remains
the same for the two frequencies 250Hz and 50Hz for each capacitance value.