PHYSICS

PROJECT

TO DETERMING THE
TIME CONSTANT (
FOR AN ‘RC’
CIRCUIT
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Submitted to :
Submitted by :
Mr Tanpreet Singh Harshit
Pandey
Dept. Of physics. Class- 12th

INDEX
1.Certification 3
2.Acknowledgements 4
3.General Introduction 5
4.Experiment 6 a) Aim 6
b) Materials Required 6
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 c) Theory 7
d) Formulae Used 10
e) Circuit Diagram 11
f) Procedure 12
g) Graph 14
h) Observations 14
i) Calculations 17
j) Result 18
k) Precautions 18
l) Problems Faced 19
5.Bibliography 20

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 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Harshit Pandey of Cass
XII of the academic year 2019-2020has completed
the project

“TO DETERMING THE TIME CONSTANT

FOR AN RC CIRCUIT” as prescribed by

undersigned. During the academic year 2019-2020 as
per the guidelines issued by central board of
secondary education - CBSE

_______________
_______________

Mr Tanpreet Singh Mr. R.S Rawat

( Dept. Of physics) (Principal )

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher (Mr Tanpreet Singh) as
well as our principal(Mr R.S Rawat)who gave me the golden opportunity to do this
wonderful project on the topic ( To Determine the time constant for RC circuit), which also
helped me in doing a lot of Research and i came to know about so many new things I am
really thankful to them.

Secondly i would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing
this project within the limited time frame.

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 General Introduction To The Project
This project is based on the analysis of a simple RC circuit
and how the voltages across its components vary with time. A
resistor–capacitor circuit (RC circuit), or RC filter or RC
network, is an electric circuit composed of resistors and
capacitors driven by a voltage or current source. A first order
RC circuit is composed of one resistor and one capacitor and is
the simplest type of RC circuit.

In this project, the focus is on slow RC circuits, the ones in

which charging and discharging of the capacitor take place in a
notable amount of time. This makes it possible for the human
eye to observe the changes in the voltage and derive results from
the readings. The various technical terms and formulae have
been explained in detail in the project’s theory.

The project aims to experimentally determine the time

constant of an RC circuit and verify the results with existing
formulae. Using the values obtained, the maximum charge on
the capacitor shall be determined and the capacitor’s charging
and discharging shall be represented graphically.

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 EXPERIMENT
Aim
a) To experimentally determine the time constant of a
slow RC circuit and verify the value using the actual
formula.

b) To calculate the maximum charge attained by the capacitor,

i.e. the charge attained by it in steady state.

c) To graphically represent the charging and discharging of

the capacitor using the values obtained.

Materials Required
 A Battery Eliminator of 10 V
 An Electrolytic Capacitor of 100 F
 A Carbon Resistor of 220 k
 A Voltmeter
 A Two-Way Switch
 Connecting Wires
 Stopwatch

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Theory

I. Resistor :
 A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component
that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element.

 The current through a resistor is in direct proportion to the

voltage across the resistor's terminals.

 Thus, the ratio of the voltage applied across a resistor's

terminals to the intensity of current through the circuit is
called resistance.

 The SI unit of resistance is Ohm (


 This relation is represented by Ohm's law:

Where,
R = Resistance
V = Voltage across R
I = Current through R

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II. Capacitor :
 A capacitor (originally known as condenser) is a passive
two-terminal electrical component used to store energy in
an electric field.

 The forms of practical capacitors vary widely, but all

contain at least two electrical conductors separated by a
dielectric (insulator).

 One common construction consists of metal foils separated

by a thin layer of insulating film.

 Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits in

many common electrical devices.

 The SI unit of Capacitance is Farad (F).

 Capacitors are mainly of two types: Electrolytic capacitors

and Non-Electrolytic capacitors.

 The Capacitance of a capacitor is given by

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 Where,
C = Capacitance
Q = Charge contained in C
V = Voltage across C

III. Types Of Capacitors :

Non - Electrolytic Capacitors:

Non-Electrolytic capacitors are non-polarized, i.e. they can
be connected either way in a circuit without having to
worry about + & -. The most common is the disc-type
capacitor that we normally use in electronics. The other
types are ceramic, mica etc. In almost all applications we
use the disc-type capacitor which is brown in color and has
the shape of a disc. Its value ranges between about a few pF
to as high as 1uF.

Electrolytic Capacitors:
Electrolytic capacitors are polarized and they are supposed
to be connected in a specific way in the circuit. Their + and
- terminals have to coincide with that specified in the
circuit. They are much bulkier than the non-electrolytic
type and hence have to be avoided when possible. They are
used only if very high capacitance values are needed. Also
the electrolytic capacitors are not very stable regarding
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 their value i.e. their values change slightly with the
temperature and other physical parameters. The
nonelectrolytic capacitors are relatively more stable.
Electrolytic capacitors are available usually 1uF and
upwards up to about 4700uF. They are much costlier than
the non-electrolytic capacitors. Connecting an electrolytic
capacitor in the wrong polarity may lead to an explosion

Formulae Used
Where,

 = Time Constant of the circuit

R = Resistance C = Capacitance

During Discharging, where,

⁄ V(t) = Voltage at time

t
 = Voltage Supplied
 = Time Constant

During Charging, where,

⁄ V(t) = Voltage at time t

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  = Voltage Supplied
 = Time Constant

Where,
V = Voltage after one Time
Constant has passed during
Discharging. ( t= )

Where,
V = Voltage after one Time
Constant has passed during
Charging. ( t= )

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

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Procedure
i. Obtain the components required for the circuit.
ii. Clean the ends of the connecting wires with a sand
paper.

iii. Connect the +ve terminal of the battery eliminator E to the

common end of two way switch S.

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 iv. Connect the -ve terminal of E to the shorter leg of the
electrolytic capacitor C.

v. Draw a wire from the one of the ends of S and join it to the
above wire to form a junction.

vi. Connect a wire from the capacitor side of this junction to

ground ( 0 Volts ).

vii. Connect a wire from the longer leg of the capacitor to the
resistor R.
viii. Connect the other end of R to the remaining
end of S.

ix. Connect the Voltmeter, V, in parallel across C to complete

the circuit.

x. To start the experiment, turn S to the upper position and

switch on E. Wait till the voltmeter reaches a steady value.
Note that this value will be equal to 10V, the voltage
provided by E. When this happens, the capacitor is said to
be in steady state.

xi. Once the capacitor is fully charged, turn S to the lower

position and start the stopwatch.
xii. As the capacitor discharges through ground, the reading in
V1 reduces gradually. As the reading in V reaches a value

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 of E (.368), stop the stopwatch and note its reading. This is
the value of one time constant.
xiii. Turn S to the upper position again and start the
stopwatch.

xiv. Note the time when V displays a voltage of E (.632). This

is the value of one time constant taken while charging.
Both the observed values should be about the same.

xv. Repeat discharging and charging three more times to get a

total of 8 readings for the time constant. Note them in the
observations table, and find their average to compute 

xvi. Calculate the theoretical value of from RC and find the

percentage error in computing the experimental 

xvii. To find the maximum value of charge stored in C, multiply

the voltage observed at steady state with the capacitance.

xviii. Find the percentage error again after calculating the actual
value from CE.

xix. Repeat the charging and discharging processes to obtain

the voltage values at 6 different time values for each.

xx. Plot these on graph paper.

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Graph
i. Take two graph sheets and mark voltage (in volts) along the
y-axis, and time (in seconds) along the x-axis.

ii. Plot the readings under charging in one and discharging on

the other.
iii. Join the plotted points with a smooth freehand
curve.
iv. Both the graphs should be exponential in
nature.

Observations
a) Instruments Used -
Voltage supplied = …………… V (d.c)

Least Count of Voltmeter = ……………. V

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 Least Count of Stopwatch = ……………. s

Capacitance of Capacitor Used = ……………. F

Resistance of Resistor Used = ……………. k

b) Table For Time Constant () -

S. No. While While Mean Value Of

Charging Discharging 
(s) (s) (s)
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

……………. s
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Average Value Of  =

c) Table For Charging -

S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Time (s)

Voltage across
V (V)

d) Table For Discharging -

S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Time (s)

Voltage across
V (V)

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Calculations

a) Percentage Error in  -

Experimental Value of t1 = ……………. s

Actual value of R*C = t2 = ……………. s

Difference in values = t = | t 1 - t2 |

= ……………. s

Percentage Experimental Error

=

……………. %
=

b) Maximum Charge in C -

Voltage across C in steady state = E = ……………. V

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 Capacitance = C = ……………. F

Maximum Charge Stored in C = C*E = …………….

C
Result
1. Within Experimental Limits the Time Constant of the
given slow RC circuit has been determined as …………. s,
with a percentage experimental error of ……………. .

2. The Maximum Charge on the Capacitor has been

determined as …………… C.

3. The charging and discharging of the capacitor were

represented graphically and both the graphs turned out to
be exponential in nature.

Precautions
1. The insulation from the ends of the connecting wires must
be removed properly and the ends must be cleaned with
sandpaper.

2. All connections must be ensured to be tight.

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3. Readings involving the use of a stopwatch must be taken
carefully and accurately.

4. The polarities of all equipment used must be taken into

account while connecting the circuit.

5. The Voltmeter must be connected in parallel across the

Capacitor.

Bibliography
 www.physics.umt.edu
 Google Images
 Wikipedia
 Yahoo Images

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 www.scienceexp.com

END

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