Lab 7: Capacitors and Inductors

Lab Report
Name: Caleb Swisher Date: 10/14/23

Part 1: Charging and Discharging of a Capacitor

Part 1a: In this part of the experiment, you will investigate how different capacitors
charge and discharge. Plot the following three graphs in MS Excel and paste them in the
space below:
⦁ Charging of all the four capacitors in one graph. Time in the x-axis and voltage in the
y-axis.

⦁ Discharging of all the four capacitors in one graph, the second graph.

⦁ Charging and discharging of just one 100 F capacitor in the third graph.

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Part 1b: In this part of the experiment, you will investigate how different resistors affect
the charging and discharging process of a capacitor. Plot the following two graphs in MS
Excel and paste them in the space below:
⦁ Charging of the capacitor for different resistors in one graph. Time in the x-axis and
voltage in the y-axis.

⦁ Discharging of all the capacitor for different resistors in one graph.

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Question: (Ignoring the steady-state value of the graph before you switch the power
supply off.) What effect does the value of the resistor have on the charging and
discharging of the capacitor? Why does this happen? Briefly describe below.

Charging and discharging both take longer the higher the resistivity of the resistor. This is due
to the current being restricted more and more as the resistivity of the resistor increases,
resulting in a slower current. V=IR, so the greater the value of R, the lower the value of I since
the maximum voltage is the same.

Question: The Scopy probes have an internal resistance of 1 MΩ, which affects the
steady-state voltage value of your capacitor. Explain why your circuit’s steady-state value
is not what you expect without this consideration.

Since the difference in our resistor values and the scopy probe's resistance values is so drastic,
with the scopy probe being much higher, the current is almost entirely going through our
resistor and charging the capacitor much faster than anticipated at lower resistivities

Question: Based on your answer to the previous question, why do you think you would
want to design oscilloscope probes with a high internal resistance?

To avoid unintended loading of the circuit that would alter the measurements taken

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Part 1c: In this part of the experiment, you will connect two 100 F capacitors in series
and repeat the experiment as above, only once for the 120 K resistor. You will acquire
data using ADALM 2000 and graph the charge and discharge of this capacitor using MS
Excel. Paste the graph below.

Part 1d: In this part of the experiment, you will connect two 100 F capacitors in parallel
and repeat the experiment as above, only once for the 120 K resistor.. You will graph
the charge and discharge of this capacitor using MS Excel, paste the graph and answer the
question below.

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Question: Compare the graphs from Part 1c and Part 1d with the 100 F Charge and
Discharge graph from Part 1a (the third graph in Part 1a). Briefly describe what you
observe.

Compared to our graph in 1c, the 100 F charged and discharged slightly slower, but compared
to our graph in 1d, the 100 F charged and discharged at nearly the same pace.

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Part 2: Capacitors and AC voltages

Get a screenshot of the following and paste them in the space below (you may have to
adjust the oscilloscope y-axis scale to observe the signal from the capacitor):

⦁ Sine wave input of 250 Hz with the output from the capacitor

⦁ Sine wave input of 1024 Hz with the output from the capacitor

⦁ Square wave input of 250 Hz with the output from the capacitor

⦁ Square wave input of 1024 Hz with the output from the capacitor.

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Part 3: Inductors and AC voltages

Get a screenshot of the following and paste them in the space below (you may have to
adjust the oscilloscope y-axis scale to observe the signal from the capacitor):

⦁ Sine wave input of 250 Hz with the output from the inductor

⦁ Sine wave input of 1024 Hz with the output from the inductor

⦁ Square wave input of 250 Hz with the output from the inductor

⦁ Square wave input of 1024 Hz with the output from the inductor.

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