CH-02

ELECTROSTATIC POTENTIAL &

CAPACITANCE
Lect-24

06-08-2020 Physicswallah Lakshya Batch 2020-21

 Today’s Goal
CHARGING & DISCHARGING OF
A CAPACITOR

GROWTH & DECAY OF

CHARGE IN CAPACITOR

06-08-2020 Physicswallah Lakshya Batch 2020-21

CHARGING
Consider an uncharged capacitor ‘C’
connected to a resistance R , through a
battery of EMF ‘V’
After a long time (t → ∞) , capacitor is fully charged
Let at any time t (0 < t < ∞) , charge on capacitor q and
current in the circuit be i
Time Constant or Capacitance time constant ( 𝝉)
Graph for Growth of Charge
Now, lets find how current changes with time
during charging of Capacitor
Graph for Current during Charging of Capacitor
CHARGING : Summary
1. 𝒒=𝒒𝒐 (𝟏−𝒆−𝒕/𝝉)

2. i=i𝒐 𝒆−𝒕/𝝉
Q 1) A resistor with resistance 10 MΩ is connected in series with a capacitor of
capacitance 1.0 μF and a battery with emf 12.0 V. Before the switch is closed at
time t=0, the capacitor is uncharged.
(a) What is the time constant?
(b) What fraction of the final charge is on the plates at time t=20 s?
(c) What fraction of the initial current remains at t=20 s?
Q 2) An uncharged capacitor is connected to a 15 V battery through a resistance
of 10 Ω. It is found that in a time of 2 μs, potential difference across the capacitor
becomes 5 V. Find the capacitance of the capacitor. Take ln(1.5)=0.4.
Q 3) A 4μF capacitor and a resistance of 2.5 MΩ are in series with 12 V battery. Find
the time after which the potential difference across the capacitor is 3 times the
potential difference across the resistor. [Given, ln(2)=0.693]
[IIT 2005]

a) 13.86 s
b) 6.93 s
c) 7 s
d) 14 s
DISCHARGING
Consider a Charged Capacitor C
connected to a Resistance R
After a long time (t → ∞) , capacitor is fully discharged
Let at any time t (0 < t < ∞) , charge on capacitor
be ‘q’ and current in the circuit be ‘i'
Graph for Decay of Charge
Now, lets find how current changes with time
during discharging of Capacitor
Graph for Current during discharging of
Capacitor
DISCHARGING : Summary
1. 𝒒=𝒒𝒐 𝒆−𝒕/𝝉

2. i=i𝒐 𝒆−𝒕/𝝉
Q 4) A capacitor charged to 50 V is discharged by connecting the two plates. The
connections are made at t=0. At t=10 ms, the potential difference across the
plates is found to be 1.0 V. Find the potential difference at t=20 ms.
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