RC CIRCUIT

Activity 10

55054 BASIC ELECTRICAL ENGG LAB 0700 – 1000 SAT

May 8, 2021
BASIC CONCEPTS
The combination of a pure resistance R in ohms and pure capacitance C in Farads is
called RC circuit. The capacitor stores energy and the resistor connected in series with the
capacitor controls the charging and discharging of the capacitor. The RC circuit is used in
camera flashes, pacemaker, timing circuit. It also contains resistance and capacitance.

As presented in Capacitance, the capacitor is an electrical component that stores electric

charge, storing energy in an electric field. It is contain resistors and capacitors. Immediately
after a switch is closed, completing the circuit, the capacitors behave like wires because they
have a potential difference of zero. After the current has been flowing for a long time the
capacitors fill and the circuit reaches steady state. In steady state, the resistors in series with
the capacitors behave like wires.

The RC signal filters the signals by blocking some frequencies and allowing others to
pass through it. It is also called first-order RC circuit and is used to filter the signals bypassing
some frequencies and blocking others. The RC filters are mostly used for selecting signals and
for rejecting noise.

The high-pass filter and the low-pass filter are the most common type of RC filters. The
high pass filter passes the frequency greater than the fixed cut-off frequency and blocks the
frequency lower than the fixed cut-off frequency. Similarly, the low-pass filter allows the
frequency lower than the fixed cut-off frequency and attenuates the frequency higher than the
fixed cut-off frequency.

OBJECTIVES
 Understand RC Circuits.
 Read and record charging and discharging process of the capacitor.
 Read and record the voltage across the capacitor at each time interval given in table.
 Sketch the graph of voltage and time for both charging and discharging process of the
capacitor.
PROCEDURES AND SET-UP
Charging Process of the capacitor with C = 47 µF

Discharging Process of the capacitor with C = 47 µF

 0
Charging Process of the capacitor with C = 100 µF
Discharging Process of the capacitor with C = 100 µF
DATA AND RESULTS
 Table 1: Charging and Discharging of Capacitor.
C = 47 µF C = 100 µF
Time Voltage Voltage Voltage Voltage
(charging (discharging (charging (discharging
process) process) process) process)
0.5 s 2.4997V 2.4997V 2.4997V 2.4997V
1.0 s 2.7308V 2.2521V 2.6166V 2.3840V
1.5 s 2.9549V 2.0288V 2.7326V 2.2693V
2.0 s 3.1644V 1.8206V 2.8433V 2.1588V
2.5 s 3.3430V 1.6390V 2.9510V 2.0521V
3.0 s 3.5145V 1.4734V 3.0505V 1.9537V
4.0 s 3.7968V 1.1946V 3.2362V 1.7679V
5.0 s 4.0256V 996.27V 3.4019V 1.5993V
6.0 s 4.2143V 782.21V 3.5545V 1.4468V
7.0 s 4.3632V 631.10mV 3.6917V 1.3109V

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

 An RC circuit is defined as an electrical circuit composed of the passive circuit
components of a resistor (R) and capacitor (C), driven by a voltage source or current source.
RC circuits are freqent element in electronic devices. It is also combination of a pure resistance
R in ohms and pure capacitance C in Farads. They also play an important role in the
transmission of electrical signals in nerve cells.

The data gathered is in our table. Using the 47 capacitors and the time given in Voltage
(charging process): The shorter the time the lower Voltage (charging process), the longer period
of time given the Voltage (charging process) increase. Using the 47 capacitors and the time
given in Voltage (discharging process): In 0.5s, 1.0s, 1.5s, 2.0s, 2.5s, 3.0s, 4.0s the shorter the
time the Voltage (discharging process) increase but in getting 5.0s, 6.0s and 7.0s we got a
higher value 5.0s = 996.27V, 6.0s = 782.21, 7.0s = 631.10mV. Using the 100 capacitors and the
time given in Voltage (charging process): The longer the period of time the Voltage (charging
process) increase. Using the 100 capacitors and the time given in Voltage (discharging
process): The shorter the period of time the Voltage (discharging process) increase while the
longer the period of time the Voltage (discharging process) decrease.

In the graph of 47 capacitors Voltage (charging process) it shows that if the time
increases, the voltage will also increase while in the graph of 47 capacitors Voltage (discharging
process) it shows that if the time increases the voltage decreases. In the graph of 100
capacitors Voltage (charging process) it shows that if the time increases the voltage will also
increase while in the graph of 100 capacitors Voltage (discharging process) it shows that if the
time increases, the voltage decreases.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

 In this experiment, charging and discharging of the capacitor with different capacitor C =
47 µF & C = 100 µF were observed. The main goal was to charge up the capacitor. For this, the
circuit that we used included the resistor and the capacitor with the power supply. To extend the
charging process, the resistors were used. In result, we saw that as capacitor was being
charged we saw an increase in the voltage, the curve increasing in the graphs above represents
that. Thus, the increasing phase represents charging of the capacitor and decay represents the
discharging. The purpose of this experiment was achieved because the charging and
discharging was observed with the expected results. The charging showed the exponential
increase and the discharging showed the decay.

REFERENCES
 https://openpress.usask.ca/physics155/chapter/6-5-rc-circuits/
 https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/University_Physics/Book
%3A_University_Physics_(OpenStax)/Book%3A_University_Physics_II_-
_Thermodynamics_Electricity_and_Magnetism_(OpenStax)/10%3A_Direct-
Current_Circuits/10.06%3A_RC_Circuits
 https://www.coursehero.com/file/p43bme4/Conclusion-In-this-experiment-charging-and-
discharging-of-the-capacitor-with/