Expt.

No: - 2

AIM- To study charging and Discharging of Capacitor and to find out Time constant

Apparatus: - IIT Virtual Lab, Bread Board, Resistor, Capacitor, Voltmeter, Power Supply, Etc

THEORY:

Consider a series RC circuit shown in Fig. (1). Capacitor (C) is uncharged initially and at t= 0, it
starts getting charged through resistor (R) when switch (K) is thrown on position 'a'.
Let us analyze the charging of capacitor using node analysis method-

At node 1 assuming instantaneous voltage across capacitor to be 'Vc' volts.-

This is of the form-

Where P = and Q =
Solution of which is

K is constant of integration

At t=0, Vc(t) =0 (Since capacitor is uncharged initially) \ K= -

Hence

At t=RC (when the power of exponent becomes unity)

Vc(t) = (1-0.368)

SND CoE&RC,Yeola D:HKB/BEE/Lab Manual

 = 0.632
At t= RC capacitor gets charged to 63.2%of final voltage. Therefore RC is called time constant
and nominated by Г. It is defined as time at which response reaches 63.2% of its final value. The
graphical representation of charging of capacitor with time is shown in Fig. (2) at steady state
charging current for capacitor through resistance reaches zero and capacitor gets charged fully at
supply voltage volts.

Now switch is thrown on side 'b'. Capacitor starts discharging resistor (R).Node equation for
node 1 can be written as-

Solution of which is,

To find integration constant k, we can use the initial condition.

At t=0, Vc(t) =

Since capacitor is in fully charged condition i.e. at t = 0 (-)

\ The constant K =
The voltage for which capacitor will get charged, can now be expressed as a functionof time as -

If time t =RC=Г it is discharge time constant with no change in resistance. It may appear to be
same as charging constant. However if resistance is varied for discharging path the time constant
of discharging path is decided by resistance value in discharging path along with value of
capacitor (C).
At t= Г, Vc(t) = 0.368

SND CoE&RC,Yeola D:HKB/BEE/Lab Manual

\For discharging of capacitor time constant of the system is defined as the time at which the
capacitor voltage is 36.8% of its initial value.The graphical representation of discharging of
capacitor is shown in fig (3).

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:

Observation Table

Sr.No. Input Voltage Value of Value of Observed Theoretical

Vi Resistance in Capacitor in Time Time
Ohm Farad constant on Constant
Graph

Conclusion:-

SND CoE&RC,Yeola D:HKB/BEE/Lab Manual