THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA

COLLEGE OF NATURAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES
COURSE NAME: PHYSICS PRACTICALS 2
COURSE CODE: PH126
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: MR KIMARIO
EXPERIMENTAL DATE: 02, MAY 2019
YEAR OF STUDY: (2018/2019)
EXPERIMENT NAME: BASIC RL AND RC DC CIRCUITS
EXPERIMENT NUMBER: 03
STUDENTS’ PARTICULARS
S/ NAME REGISTR NUMBER PROGRAM SIGNATURE
N
01 ZEBANGA ARISEN F, T/UDOM/2017/15902 BSC EDUCATION

I
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….2
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………3
EXPERIMENTAL PART………………………………………………..9
DATA COLLECTED…………………………………………………….11
DATA ANALYSIS………………………………………………………..12
DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………14
CONCLUSSION…………………………………………………………..17
PROBLEM SOLVING……………………………………………………18
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………. 19

II

1
ABSTRACT
The experiment to investigate DC steady state response on simple RL and RC circuit was done
in which the experiment properties for RC circuits was observed in such a way that capacitor
seen to as an open circuit while inductor seemed to act as short circuit experimentally that the
steady state reached after five times time constant which depended inductance and resistance
for the case of inductor and Ʈ=RC for the capacitor and results for the time constant obtained
was 0.000000213 for inductor and 0.00825sec for capacitor also after capacitor being fully

L
charged it was discharged after 10sec where experiment showed that Ʈ= during charging of
R
capacitor voltage across capacitor tend to increases as time increases such that voltage became
equal to voltage of the source 10v while during discharging voltage across decrease as time
increases such that voltage became 9.23v. this signify that when charging the capacitor voltage
increases with time while during discharging voltage decreases with time

2
INTRODUCTION
An RC circuit is an electrical circuit in which a resistance and capacitance are connected either
series or parallel to the source supply power. While RL circuit is an electrical circuit where
inductance and resistance are connected either parallel ore series to power supply (Halliday
(2009).basically steady state of RL and RC circuits all means that the circuit has been active or running
for the long time. For long dissipating elements like resistors this does not mean much, but for energy
storing elements such as inductors and capacitors it changes how behave where capacitors become
open circuits which means thaat there is a break in the circuit in DC steady state while inductors become
short circuits which means they become a wire in DC steady state. The good way to remember this is to
understand that capacitors store charge in an electrostatic field in which charge will continue to build
up on the plates until the voltage gets to maximum (usually equaling the voltage of the source) and no

dv
longer increase or change given that the current through a capacitor is I = C now it becomes that if
dt

dv
voltage is maximum =0 since voltage is muximum no longer changing so i=0and it can open
dt
circuit.for inductors they store energy in a magnetic field which is induced as current runs through their
loops (an inductor in its most basic form is just a looped wire). Its voltage is depedence on a changing

di di
current V=L where L is inductance and is derivative of the current no longer changes ( it reaches a
dt dt

di
maximum through an inductor). So =0 so the voltage is 0 and to solve DC steady state problems all
dt
we have to do is to change the capacitors into open circuit and the inductor into wires .
(https//penjiapp.com): In practicality, steady state is reached after five time constants. The time
constant for an RC circuit is simply the effective capacitance times the effective resistance, τ = RC . In the
inductive case, the time constant is the effective inductance divided by the effective resistance, τ = L/R .
(https://en .m.wikibooks.org>wiki) . in this part experiment was done where behavior of an RC
and RL circuits were observed with voltage across the capacitor plates was changing with time
when the capacitor is being charged and when the capacitor was being discharged ..

3
THEORY
Since DC steady state response of RL and RC circuits behaves differently in opposite of each
other some discussion can be shown in terms of charging and discharging behaviors. Because at
steady state capacitors become open circuit while inductors become as short or as wire circuits.
This means that circuit has no current flowing through it while in short circuit closed circuit
fcurrent flows through the circuit. All of this reaches when five values of time constant is
obtained.

Where time constant for capacitor (τ) =resistance x capacitance

(τ) =

While for that of inductor τ (time constant) = inductance over resistance

τ= L/R

Circuit which show RL circuit where in inductor voltage leads current at 90degree
inductors while in case of capacitor the the voltage always lags behind the the current by 90
degree.

4
CHARGING OF CAPACITOR:

Consider above diagrams

From kirchioffs law

E-IR-V=0……………………………………………i

dq
Where I= …………………………………………..ii
dt

Q
, V= ………………………………………………...iii
C

Take ii and iii into i

dq Q
E- R - =0……………………………………………..iv
dt C

dq 1
= ¿)
dt R

dq dt
=
(q−CE) RC

q t
dq dt
∫ q−cE =−∫
RC
0 0

q−CE t
ln ( ¿= -- ………………………………………….v
−CE RC

where CE=maximum charge q o

−t
q =q o(1-e RC …………………………………………….vi

5
 −t
or v = v o(1-e RC …………………………………………….vii

charging formular for capacitor

After a time t = RC (one time constant) as shown in equation (1) above, the voltage across the
capacitor has increased to 63% its maximum value (V = 0.63 V0 at t=RC).

And its diagram behavior in graph of voltage against time is as follows

Also the current flowing through the capacitor can be calculated by using the equation bellow:

IC = VO/Re-t/RC) …………………………………………………………viii

CHARCHING FOR INDUCTOR

It consist of resistance R, Inductor L and source of power E

6
The graph for charging and discharging of inductor

Formular for inductor charnging

−t
(
I= E 1−e Ʈ while
R
)
While discharging

E t
I= Ʈ
R e−¿ ¿

DISCHARGING OF CAPACITOR

Consider below diagram

From kirchoffs

V C +V R=0

7
q
−IR=0
C

dq
Where I= -
dt

q dq
— R=0
c dt

−dt dq
=
RC q

t q
dt dq
∫ RC =∫
0 q q0

−t
=ln ⁡¿
RC

t
q =q e−¿ RC ¿
0

Discharging formula for capactor

This is the graph for discharging of capacitor

8
From discharging graph above of the capacitor means that the current flowing through the circuit
is negative because it flows in opposite direction. Therefore during discharging of capacitor
voltage decreases as time increases where voltage decreases for thirty seven percent (37%) of the
original charge. Also when a capacitor is discharged through a resistor. ( https://www.electronic-
tutorials.ws/filter/filter .com)

EXPERIMENTAL PART

EQUIPMENT USED

Digital millimeter (DMM) It was used to measure voltage

DC power supply with 10v it was supplying voltage as circuit

COMPONENTS:

Capacitor of 10µf

Capacitor of 470µf

Inductor of 10Mh

Resistor of 10kΩ

Resistor of 47kΩ

SET UP APPARATUS

R1

10kohm

V1 R2 XMM1
10V C1
47kohm
1uF

FOR RC

9
PROCEDURES

For RL circuit

Time constant for resistance and inductor was done theoretically and theoretical Steady state
inductor voltage was calculated from the values of resistor, inductor and voltage of the given
power supply. When 10v power supply was supplied to resistor and inductor connected to the
circuit where digital multimiter was connected across inductor and set to read DC voltage until
when the circuit reached steady state.

Experimental inductor from

there voltage as well as percentage were recorded and filled into table 1.2.

FOR RC CIRCUIT

Consider the circuit diagram bellow

R1

10kohm

V1 R2 XMM1
10V C1
47kohm
1uF

From the above diagram power supply, resistance R and capacitor C were connected in series
with the multimeter across capacitor

From there time constant was calculated when inductor was replaced by capacitor, followed by
calculating steady state voltage across the capacitor when 10V was set to the power source where

10
resistors and capacitor were connected to the circuit and let digital multimeter to record voltage
across the capacitor. Then after the values obtained were recorded in table 1.3

Also in RC the capacitor 1µf was replaced by 470µf frome where time constant was calculated
and theoretical capacitor voltage was calculated. The power supply was stopped for the time and
after few seconds passed capacitor was discharged and DMM was connected across the capacitor
while reading DC voltage of about 20v. Finally the power supply was disconnected from circuit
and after being charged and the capacitor voltage was recorded charged after every ten seconds
(charging) and recorded in table number 1.7

DATA COLLECTED

Table 1:

Time constant for RL circuit 2.13X10−7 seconds

Table 2.

VL Theory (v) VL Experimental (v) Deviation

0.0 O 0.0%

Table 3.

Time constant for RC circuit 8.25X10−3 sec

Table 4.

VC Theory (v) VC Experimental (v) Deviation

9.93 10 0.70%

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 Time constant 3.87sec
VC Theory 9.93V

Table 6. Data for charging of capacitor when 470µf used

Time (seconds) Voltage ( v)

0 550.02
10 551.00
20 562.71
30 571.8
40 572.75
50 575.43
60 579.59
70 581.23
80 584.36
90 586.09
100 587.62
110 589.08
120 592.00

Table 7. Data for discharging of the capacitor when 470µf

Time (seconds) Voltage (v)

0 280.328
10 280.582
20 283.419
30 284.607
40 284.720
50 287.531
60 288.457
70 289.601
80 289.590
90 287.409
100 287.111
110 283.590
120 282.800

12
DATA ANALYSIS
From the data collected above some of them were collected by using different formula where
time constant calculated for capacitors and inductors were as follows
Time constant for capacitor (Ʈ) = resistance x capacitance
Ʈ = RC
ƮαC
It shows that time constant is proportional to capacitance of capacitor
Also time constant for RL circuit was calculated as
Time constant (t) = inductance / resistance
Ʈ = L/R
It follows that during charging the capacitor voltage was proportional to the time of charging as
it shows the increase of voltage as time proceed as supported in theory
The same apply when it was discharging it shows decrease in voltage as exponentially to
negative power ration of time to time constant Ʈ
−t
v = v o(1-e RC

All of this were observed in capacitors and inductors as supported by graphs bellow

13
 VOLTAGE (V) Thegraph of voltage v against time t

TIME (SECOND)

Graph for charging of the capacitor:

While that of discharging the capacitor it showed the decrease in voltage as time goes on in
exponential form
t
q =q e−¿ RC ¿
0

The graphof voltage against time

10.2
10
9.8
AVOLTAGE (V)

9.6
9.4
9.2
9
8.8
8.6
8.4
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
TIME (SECOND)

14
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS:
From different results obtained in this experiment by using theoretical calculation and
experiment means data such as time constant for RL and RC circuits were calculated in which
results showed that time constant for capacitor of 1µf used was 0.000000213seconds while that
for RL circuit was 0.0082456seconds .Again experimental data were collected when inductor
circuit was at steady state at quickly time where theoretically voltage to be equal to 0 the same as
experimental value was 0 with deviation of 0% for RL this might be due self induction offered
by inductor which produces induced voltage which tend to oppose original one and read total
voltage resultant of zero this is verified by Lenz’s law of magnetic induction (www.electronics-
tutorials-com) which can lead to zero voltage. Also in RC circuit at steady state it was observed
that voltage theoretically was 9.93V while experimentally voltage was 10V with the deviation of
about 0.7% this must be due to factor that at steady state the capacitor is fully now if it is fully
this is why its value approaches to that of original charging source as the result there is small
deviation of theatrical value to experimental value. Due to this data obtained these deviations
were little deviated due to wrong readings and some human weakness when setting of apparatus
during operation of experiment

Next experiment was for looking the variation of voltage at time interval during charging and
discharging of the capacitor. During capacitor charging voltage was increasing until when it
attained the voltage of the source the condition known as steady state. That is when time
increased from 0s to 120s also voltage changed in the same manner from 0v to 10v at maximux
value. Also during discharging of the capacitor voltage decreases as time goes on this is to mean
that during discharging charge is removing from capacitor to the extent of that capacitor remain
empty at a certain time because voltage across capacitor depends on charge being stored or
discharged.

15
 CONCLUSSION

Generally charging and discharging of capacitor and inductor depends on the exponential properties of
their time constant again in which they depend on inductance for inductor and capacitance of the
capacitor so in order to improve charging and discharging property of the inductor and capacitor one
should improve inductance and capacitance of inductor and capacitor respectively which can be used in
many appliances’ such as radios, stop watch and phones

Due the experimental data obtained which were not at hundred percent the experiment can be
improved by taking care during experiment when connecting apparatus and one should be competent
with theory so as to collect some errors which needs understanding that accurate answer can be
obtained unless otherwise accurate results will not be expressed

16
 PROBLEM SOLVING
1: What is a reasonable approximation for an inductor at DC steady state?
 Inductor at steady state is approximately to a short circuit to direct current because once
the storage phase has finished the current that flows through is stable and no self
induction

2: What is a reasonable approximation for the capacitor at DC steady state?

 The capacitor behaves as open circuit means no current will flow through it.

3: How can a reasonable approximation for time to steady state of an RC circuit be computed?
 The time can be computed when the capacitor is fully charged where time is equal to
5times time constant

4: In general, what sorts of shapes do the charge and discharge voltages of DC RC circuits
follow?

17
  Generally during charging voltage across the capacitor increase as time increase, but it
reaches at steady state when a capacitor attained the potential of the source and the graph
become constant at this point WHILE during discharging, when voltage drawn against
time the graph is exponential to mean that as time increase the voltage decrease.consider
V v

T T
For charging illustration this is for discharging of the capacitor

REFERENCES

. https://en .m.wikibooks.org>wiki

. www.electronics-tutorials-com

.Halliday.R.9 (2009).fundamentals of physics. Newyork. john wiley&sons.inc

Serway j.j.j (2013). Physics for scientists and engineers 9 edition Newyork .brooks cole.

18
19
20
21
22
23
CONLCUSION
The experiment done was successively. This is due to the fact that data collected during the
experiment justified results that resemble to the theoretical explanation, for capacitor charging
data when voltage against time the graph with the same nature as the theoretical graph as well as
for discharging capacitor the theoretical oneIt can concluded as for charging of a capacitor it was
clear that voltage increases with timeconctact an exponential graph for which a certain time it
reaches a maximum point where it become saturated or no change,in this was to show the steady
current and the accurance also for charging of a capacitor it was observed that voltage decreases
with increase of time, therefore the graph is a curve which decay.

24
REFERENCES
Halliday, R. (2009). Fundamentals of Physics. Newyork: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

(SamuelJ.Ling.etall Serway J, J. J. (2013). Physics for scientists and engineers (9 ed.). Newyork:
Brooks Cole.

Samuel J.Ling.etall.(2016).university physics (volume 2).Rice university:Taxas

Aspen, C. i. (2018, April 22). Capacitive reactance. Retrieved from Electronic tutorials:
https://www.electronic-tutorials.ws/filter/filter_1.html

L-10(GDT)physics.bk.psu.edu/teaching/.(2017,june,

25
 SNIPPING OF THE EXPERIMENT

Figure 01

figure 02

figure03

26
figure 04

Figure 05

27