Laboratory Activity No.

3
AC Circuits
Series RLC Circuit

Introduction

Resistance and impedance both represent opposition to the flow of the alternating current.
Both are measured in terms of the same unit, the ohm. To determine the magnitude of the total
impedance, get the sum of the impedance of each of the elements in series. As long as all the
necessary calculations are carried out by vector algebra, use the two relationships studied earlier
under DC circuits.
The total impedance may not always increase with the addition of another element in
series. Capacitive reactance could cancel out inductive reactance and vice versa. An extreme
case would have the capacitive reactance completely cancelling out the inductive reactance. This
results in resonance high voltages and current could result.
Objectives

1. Determine the resistance, inductance and capacitance by a voltage and current

measurements.
2. Compare measured and calculated voltages and current for a series RLC circuit.
3. Determine the impedance of a given circuit to compare the measure value to calculated
value of a given circuit.

Materials
Multisim
Circuit Diagrams

Figure 1

Procedure:
1. Build the circuit given in figure 1 on Multisim.

2. Measure the total current and the current across the lamp, across 2.5372 H inductor and across
the 5uF capacitor. To measure the total current, refer to figure 2a. Record the current reading at
table 1. Repeat the steps for the current lamp, 2.5372 H inductor and 5uF capacitor. Refer to
figure 2b, 2c and 2d.

Figure 2a. Total Current

 Figure 2b. Bulb Current

Figure 2c. Inductor Current

Figure 2d. Capacitor Current

4. Measure the voltage eT , eR , eL and eC. To measure the voltage eT refer to figure 3a. Record the
data at table 2. Repeat the step for the lamp, inductor and capacitor. Refer for the figure 3b, 3c
and 3d.
Figure 3a

Figure 3b

Figure 3c

Figure 3d
 5. Using Ohm’s Law, compute the voltage and current for each component. Record it at Table 1 and
2. Use the formula
eR eL ec
R= ; X L= ; X C=
iR iL ic

Vt
Z=
It
6. Compute the percent difference between the measure and the computed value of the
impedance.
Table 1: Simulation and Computation Result of Current for Figure 2 and 3
Voltage (V) R L C Total
Workbench
Computation
% Difference

Table 2: Simulation and Computation Result of Voltages for Figure 2 and 3

Current (A) R L C Total
Workbench
Computation
% Difference

Questions:
1. Do the workbench and computational values of voltages and currents agree?

2. Give possible reasons for any discrepancies.

Any other observations or comments