Benghazi University

Faculty of Engineering
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department

Basic Electric Circuit Laboratory I

EE281

Guide Lines for the Experiments and Report Preparation

 Benghazi University
Faculty of Engineering
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department

Basic Electric Circuit Laboratory I

EE281
Experiment Number ( 5 )

First Order RC-circuit

Students Name: Ahmed Mohammed Alfakhry

Students Number:- 28887

Group Number: 2 Day: Thursday .

Date: 21/3/2022 Time: 9pm

Instructors:- ‫أنس بعيو‬.‫أ‬ ‫زينب مؤنس‬.‫د‬

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 EE281: Basic Electric
Circuit Laboratory I
Experiment 5 First
Order RC-circuit
Introduction:
Charge and discharge characteristics of a capacitor:
A capacitor may be charged or discharged to a certain voltage when connected in series with a
resistor R a cross a dc- voltage source as shown in fig.1

t=0 R
i
+
vs C V
_

Figure 1

The capacitor is charged with a voltage Vo at t=0, for t>0:

Vc (t) = (Vo - Vs) + Vs

Where τ = RC is called time constant.

If Vo < Vs, then Vc (t) is called “charge characteristic” and if Vo > Vs, then Vc(t) is called
” discharge characteristic” as shown in Fig.2

Vc(t) Vc(t)

Vs V0

V0
Vs

τ t τ t

Charge charecterstic (Vo < Vs) discharge charecterstic (Vo > Vs)
Figure 2
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Objective:
• To show that a capacitor is capable of storing energy.
• To obtain the charge and discharge characteristics of a capacitor.
Equipments:-

1) Carbon resistors.
2) Capacitor.
3) A Switch.
4) Dc power source.
5) Multimeter.
6) Breadboard.

Work prelab:
1) For circuit shown in Fig.3 find and sketch Vc(t) and i(t), For t >= 0 (Switch move from
left to right) and the energy stored in the capacitor at t=10 sec.

2) For the circuit shown in fig.4, find and sketch Vc(t) and i(t) for t >=0 (Switch move from
left to right) and energy stored in the capacitor at t=5sec.

Experimental work:

THE CAPACITOR AS ENERGY STORAGE

100 Ω

1K Ω
15V +
220 µF +V
c

Figure 3

1) Set up the circuit as shown in Fig.3 with switch set to the right position” Discharge”.

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 2) Set up the switch to the left position “charge” and observe the voltage across the
capacitor.
3) Set the switch back to the position “Discharge” and observe again Vc.
4) Replace the 1KΩ resistor by a lamp and repeat step 1 and 2.

Results:-

VOLTAGE V
Discharge value 0.1m
charge value 15

COMMEN:- When the lamp was connected to the capacitor, it lit up a fraction of a second,
and this indicates that the capacitor was charged with energy, and also that the resistance of the
lamp was very small, which led to the short period of time. .
CHARGE CHARACTERISTIC
100 K Ω

15V +
220 µF Vc
-

Figure 4

1) Set up the circuit shown in Fig.4 with switch on the right.

2) Move the switch to the right, after 10 seconds record the voltage Vc across the capacitor.
3) Repeat the steps 2 and 3 for the following times:

t/sec 10 20 30 40 50 60
Vc / volt 5.8 9.39 11.36 12.64 13.37 13.88

4) From the above measurements plot Vc as a function of time t, and estimate the
value of the time constant τ.

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14.82
14.8 14.88
14.85 14.92
14.91
14.89 14.95
14.94
14.93 14.97
14.965
14.96 14.983
14.98
14.977 14.989
14.985 14.991
14.99 14.996
14.99414.998
14.999
15
14.75
14.69
14.63
14.53
14.39
14 14.18
13.88
13.37
12.64
12
11.36

10
9.39
v

6 5.8

0 0
0 20 40 70 90 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37
t(s)

COMMENT: From the curve, the value of the time constant is obtained, which is 25
seconds. In comparison with the value obtained on the theoretical side, which was 22 seconds,
we note the slight difference, which is caused by the factors affecting the practical side, the
most important of which is that when determining the values every ten seconds, the matter
was not accurate due to the difficulty of the matter.

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DISCHARGE CHARACTERISTIC
100 Ω

100 K Ω
15V +
220 µF.
Vc
3
-

Figure 5

1) Set up the circuit of Fig.5 with the switch set left.

2) Set the switch to the right position for 10 seconds and record Vc.

3) Repeat procedure 1 and 2 for the following times:

t/sec 10 20 30 40 50 60
Vc / volt 10.21 6.15 4 2.36 1.726 1.16

4) From the above measurements plot Vc as a function of time t and estimate the
value of the time constant τ with the switch in time the “Discharge” position. .

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15

14

12

10 10.21

8
v

6 6.15

4 4

2.63
2
1.726
1.16
0.801
0.595
0.444
0.362
0.296
0.214
0.2109
0.1791
0.157
0.138
0.122
0.1097
0.0994
0.0897
0.0819
0.0752
0.0698
0.0641
0.06
0.0559
0.0527
0.0499
0.0472
0.0449
0

t(s)

COMMENT: From the curve, the value of the time constant is obtained, which is 26.93
seconds.

Simulation Work using Multisim:

Verify your result using a simulation in Multisim.

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 Charging part:- “each picture indicat the voltage after 10s “

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13
14
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 Discharging part:- “each picture indicat the voltage after 10s “

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 Conclusion: Through this experiment, we have demonstrated and seen how to fill the
capacitor with energy and how to empty it, as the two processes occur as an exponential
function with time and they depend on the value of the resistance connected with the
capacitor “a direct relationship between the resistance and the time constant τ ” and the
capacitance of the capacitor.

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