Experiment No.

3
Capacitance and Capacitive Reactance

I. Introduction

A capacitor is formed whenever an insulating material separates two conductors.

Consider the simple example of two parallel conducting plates separated by a small gap
filled with an insulating material (vacuum, air, glass, or another dielectric).

II. Wiring Circuit WIRING DIAGRAM FOR TRIAL 1 AND 2

III. Data and Computation
IV. Answer to Question and Solution to Problems

Exercise 1: From the results of Run 1 in Table 3.1, calculate for each trial the reactance
, XC , using the relation Z = V/I = XC . From this computed value of XC , compute for the
capacitance of the capacitor and enter them in the table.

Exercise 2: Plot the graph between capacitive reactance and frequency with the
frequency as abscissa as suggested in Figure 3.10.
Exercise 3: From the results of Run 2 in Table 3.2, calculate for each trial the capacitive
reactance, XC using the same relation as in Exercise 1. Also compute for capacitance C
and enter all the information in the table.

Questions and Problems

1. What relation can be drawn from the results of Run 1 in Table 3.1 regarding reactance
XC and capacitance C ?
-I observed that they are inversely proportional to each other.
2. What generalization can be drawn from the plot of capacitive reactance and
frequency?
-When the frequency is increasing, the capacitive reactance is decreasing
3. From the results of Run 2 in Table 3.2, how does the capacitance of the circuit
affected by the connection of more capacitors in the circuit?
-The total value of the capacitance increases whenever we add capacitors in parallel.
4. In Run 2, how does the value of capacitance affect the value of capacitive reactance?
-As the capacitance increases the value of capacitive reactance decreases

5. Three capacitors having a capacitance of 88.42 μF are available. When one of these
capacitors capacitor is connected in parallel with the first one compute again for the
current in the circuit. (c) If the third capacitor is connected in parallel with the first two,
again compute for the current in the circuit. (d) Draw conclusions from the result of
your computations.
a.)
 1 240
C= 30=
2𝜋f𝑋𝑐 𝐼
1 I= 8A
88.42=
2𝜋(60)𝑋𝑐
Xc= 30
b.)
1 240
176.84= 15=
2𝜋(60)𝑋𝑐 𝐼
Xc= 15 I= 16
c.)

1 240
265.26= 10=
2𝜋(60)𝑋𝑐 𝐼
Xc= 10 I= 24
d.)

V. Data analysis and Interpretation

In this experiment, we are asked run the effect of frequency on Capacitive
Reactance and the effect of changes in Capacitance to Capacitive Reactance. We
conducted the experiment by opening the software multisim which we used fo this
experiment. After that, we followed the given circuit diagram and constructed it in the
multisim to start the experiment. The first run is all about the effect of frequency on
Capacitive reactance and we are asked to do 8 trials. Each trial we increased the
frequency to see the effect to the capacitive reactance. After the 8 trials, we saw that as
the frequency is increasing the Capacitive reactance is decreasing. Next run is all about
the effect of changes in Capacitance to Capacitive Reactance, this trial will have a 3 run
and has a fixed frequency and a 3 parallel capacitor which also have a switch for each
trial. Each run we saw the effect of changes in the capacitance when the switch is open.
After the trial we saw that the capacitance increases when it is parallel to a capacitance.

VI. Findings and Conclusion

After experimenting the capacitance and capacitive reactance, I observed that the
relationship of the frequency and the capacitive reactance is inversely proportional to
each other because I observed that when the frequency is increased, the capacitive
reactance will decrease. I also observed that when we parallel a two or more capacitor
 together, the capacitance will add up. Also, in this experiment we learned to calculate
the needed datas and understood the theory behind it.

VII. Reference

• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/physics/chapter/19-5-capacitors-and-
dielectrics/
• https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/accircuits/ac-capacitance.html

Submitted by: Ronnie N. Brioso

Subject and Section: NEE2202-1ECE