NUST

National University of
Sciences and Technology

AP Lab Report # 6
Kirchhoff’s Laws
Capacitor
Lab Instructors:
 Miss. Shamaila Fatima
 Miss. Marwah
School: SMME Date: 20/11/2022
Semester: 1 Section: ME-14-B
Group: 4

Sr.no CMS ID Name

1 415991 Ali Mardan
2 428087 Mashood Ahmed
3 417648 Abdul Rafeh
4 417475 Muhammad Ghufran Aamir
5 408640 Hassaan Khakwani
6 428302 Malik Haseeb Ullah

Abstract:
 o Kirchhoff’s Law:
The purpose of this lab will be to experimentally demonstrate Kirchhoff’s Rules for electrical
circuits. There are two laws:

1. Kirchhoff Voltage Law (KVL).

2. Kirchhoff Current Law (KCL).
o Capacitor
The objective of this experiment is the study of charging and discharging of a capacitor by
measuring the potential difference (voltage) across the capacitor as a function of time. From
this measurement the student will use the Logger Pro software to calculate the charge and
the current as functions of time. The student will also measure the experimental time
constant and use it to determine the experimental value of the capacitance of the capacitor.

Apparatus:
 AC/DC Electronics Lab Board
 Resistors
 Wire Leads
 D-cell Batteries
 Digital Multi meter (DMM)
 Capacitors
 Stopwatch or timer with 0.1 sec resolution.

Theory:
o Kirchhoff’s Law:
Kirchhoff ’s laws relate to the conservation of energy, which states that energy cannot be
created or destroyed, only changed into different forms. This can be expanded to laws of
conservation of voltage and current. In any circuit, the voltage across each series
component (carrying the same current) can be added to find the total voltage. Similarly, the
total current entering a junction in a circuit must equal the sum of current leaving the
junction.

Kirchhoff’s Current Law :

"KCL" Kirchhoff’s ‘‘current law’’ is based upon the fact that at any connecting point in a
network the sum of the currents flowing toward the point is equal to the sum of the
currents flowing away from the point. The law is illustrated in the examples in Fig.(1),
where the arrows show the directions in which it is given that the currents are flowing.
(The number alongside each arrow is the amount of current associated with that arrow.)
However, by Kirchhoff’s current law, I3 = I1 + I2, and thus, as shown in Fig. (1), we need
to use only two current designations. In other words, if we know any two of the three
currents, we can then find the third current. In the same way, if there are, say, four
branch currents entering and leaving a node point, and if we know any three of the
currents, we can then find the fourth current, and so on. The Kirchhoff’s current law can
be state in the form:

I1+I2=I3+I4

Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law "KVL":

It states as follows: The algebraic sum of the products of currents and resistance in
each of the conductors in any closed path (or mesh) in a network plus the algebraic
sum of the e.m.fs. in that path is zero. In other words, ∑ IR + ∑ e.m.f . = 0 round a
mesh Let us now write the equation for Fig. (2) in accordance with Kirchhoff’s
voltage law. To do this, we start at any point, such as A, and move completely
around the circuit (we will assume in the CW sense here), listing the ‘‘voltage drops’’
and the ‘‘voltage rises’’ as we go. (In doing this, remember that we have defined that
going from ‘‘minus to plus’’ constitutes a RISE in voltage and going from ‘‘plus to
minus’’ constitutes a DROP in voltage.) Thus, if we agree to list all ‘‘voltage drops’’ on
the left-hand sides of our equations and all the ‘‘voltage rises’’ on the right-hand
sides, the Kirchhoff voltage equation for Fig. (2) is:
R1 I + V2 + R2 I = V1
Note that V2 appears as a voltage drop, because we go through that battery from plus to
minus ( + to -). Alternatively, putting all the battery voltages on the righthand side, the
above equation becomes

Capacitor
A capacitor consists of two conducting objects (plates) separated by a non-conducting
medium (dielectric). The capacitance of a capacitor is defined as the ratio of the charge on
the one of the conductors to the potential difference between them,

C = Q/V

When a capacitor is connected to a power supply (battery), it begins to charge up. During
this process, both the charge Q and the potential difference, V, are increasing while the
electric current is decreasing. This will continue until both Q and V reach their maximum
values and the electric current goes to zero indicating that the charging process has
stopped. The characteristic time that indicates how fast or slow a capacitor charges or
discharges is called the time constant. It is the time it takes the potential difference (or the
charge) to To Differential Voltage Sensor RED BLACK 05 - Cap Charge-Discharge increase
from zero to 0.632 (or 63.2%) of its maximum value. The time constant “TC” depends on the
values of the capacitance and the resistance in the circuit and is given by the equation

TC = RC

A capacitor needs a time period equal to 5 time constants to charge up to 0.993 (or 99.3%)
of maximum value. When this happens, we can assume for practical purposes that the
capacitor is fully charged. Further analysis shows (see your favorite physics textbook) that
the potential difference increases with time according to

VC(t) = E (1 - exp(-t/RC))

where E is the battery Emf. The charge increases similarly since Q(t) = CVC(t). During the
discharging process, both the charge and the potential difference decrease with time until
they reach zero.

Procedure:
o

Kirchhoff’s Law:
 Using the DC circuit trainer, Connect the circuit shown:

 . Measure the values of voltage and current of each resistor in circuit and record it in
the table below.
 Disconnect the DC power supply, and then measured the equivalent resistance by
using the AVO meter only
 o Capacitor:
 Record the nominal value of the capacitance, written on the capacitor, in your data
table.
 Choose a value for R to give a time constant value of RC = 2 sec. This is the nominal
value
 of the time constant, T. Dial in the value of R on the decade resistance box and use
the
 ohmmeter to measure it. Record this experimental resistance value in your data
table.
 Wire the circuit as shown in the figure above.
o Make sure the capacitor is completely discharged.
o Clip the Differential Voltage Probe to the capacitor observing the correct
polarity (RED
 lead to positive, BLACK lead to negative).
o Plug the other end of the cable into Analog Channel 1 in the LabPro interface.
o Next, follow the procedure described below on how to use Logger Pro to
collect data
 for the capacitor charging and discharging. The only data collected are the capacitor
 potential difference, VC and the battery Emf, E. We will use Logger Pro to calculate
the
 charge, the electric current and the time constant using this potential difference
data.
 The computer and the LabPro should be on. If they are not, turn them on.
 To Differential
 Voltage Sensor
 RED
 BLACK
 Double click on the Logger Pro icon
o The application should automatically display 2 data columns for “Time” and
 “Potential” and a graph of Potential vs Time.
o A box in the lower left hand corner should display the current value of the
voltage
 being measured by the Differential Voltage Sensor. This should be just about zero
 because the capacitor has been discharged at this point.
 Measure the battery Emf
o Open the circuit prior to measuring the battery Emf. The circuit should not be
 connected to either point “a” or point “b.”
o Observing the correct polarity, use the Differential Voltage sensor to measure
the
  battery Emf, E. Record the value in your data table.
o By using the Differential Voltage Sensor to measure the capacitor voltage
difference,
 VC and the battery Emf, E we can avoid the calibration issue in the voltage
 measurements. The reason for this is that only the ratio of VC/E will be used to
 determine the experimental value of the time constant and hence the value of C.

Data Analysis
o Kirchhoff’s Law:
Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law "KVL":
LOOP 1 LOOP 2
V1=1.438 V V2=0.003V
V5=0.005V V3=0.008V
V4=1.433V V5=0.005V
V1=V5+V4 V3=V5+V2
1.438=0.005+1.433 0.008=0.003+0.005
1.438 V=1.438 V 0.008 V=0.008 V
Kirchhoff’s Current Law :
LOOP 1 LOOP 2
Iin=0.05mA I 2=0.03mA
I1=0.03mA I3=0.02mA
I5=0.00mA I5=0.00mA
I4=0.02mA Iout=0.05mA
Iin=I1+I5+I4 Iout=I5+I2+I3
0.05=0.03+0.00+0.02 0.05=0.03+0.00+0.02
0.05mA=0.05mA 0.05mA=0.05mA

o Capacitor
Capacitance=470 μF
Charge Time: 1:36

Discharge Time: 1:32

Capacitance=330 μF
Charge Time: 1:05

Discharge Time: 1:00

Results/Conclusion
o Kirchhoff’s Law:
 Our data proves the Kirchhoff’s voltage law as we can see that if we add the voltages
considering the signs them the overall voltage will be zero which proves the
Kirchhoff’s voltage law across a close loop.
 Secondly our data also proves Kirchhoff’s 2nd law of current by showing us the input
voltage equal to the output voltage.
o Capacitor
Our data proves that it takes almost same time to charge and discharge a capacitor of
specific capacitance. For Example a capacitor of capacitance of 470 μF takes 1 min and 36
secs to charge and 1 min and 32 secs to discharge.

Discussion
o Capacitor
1. What is the effect on charging and discharging times if the
capacitance is increased?
If a larger value of capacitance were used with the same value of resistance in the
circuit it would be able to store more charge. As a result, it would take longer to
charge up to the supply voltage during charging and longer to lose all its charge
when discharging.
 2. What is the effect on charging and discharging times if the
resistance of the circuit is increased?
If a larger value of resistance were used with the same value of capacitance in the
circuit, then a smaller current would flow, therefore it would take longer for the
capacitor to charge up and longer for it to discharge. Total resistance increases so
total current will decrease. If it is a dc circuit, the RC time constant will also increase
and so will take longer to charge and discharge the capacitor.

3. What is the effect on the total capacitance if capacitors are

combined in series? What if they are combined in parallel?

If N identical capacitors of capacitance C are connected in series, then effective

capacitance = C/N. If N identical capacitors of capacitance C are connected in
parallel, then effective capacitance = CN. Capacitances diminish in series. And t
Capacitances add in parallel.

o Kirchhoff’s Law:
Use Experimental data to analyze the circuit you build in terms of
Kirchhoff’s Rules.
The circuit we built falls completely on the both of Kirchhoff’s Law since:

 Kirchhoff’s Current Law:

Since the current going into the circuit is equal to the current coming out from the circuit
that is Iin=Iout ---> 0.05mA=0.05mA

 Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law:

It holds true in both of the loops since the rise and fall of voltage in both loop are equal that
is:

LOOP 1 LOOP 2
V1=1.438 V V2=0.003V
V5=0.005V V3=0.008V
V4=1.433V V5=0.005V
V1=V5+V4 V3=V5+V2
1.438=0.005+1.433 0.008=0.003+0.005
1.438 V=1.438 V 0.008 V=0.008 V
THE END