ECS Lab 3 Report: Capacitive and Inductive Reactance

Georgia Murphy 19105686

Introduction
A resistor presents resistance to the passage of electrical current, this resistance, a
fundamental property of resistors, remains constant regardless of whether the circuit operates
on alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC).
In a DC circuit, the behaviour of other components such as capacitors and inductors differ
markedly. An inductor in a DC circuit poses minimal impedance to current flow, behaving
like a short circuit.
The reason for these behaviours is due to the physical construction of each component.

This experiment examines how both inductors and capacitors offer an opposition to AC
current flow. This opposition can be conceptualised as a resistance-like quality specific to AC
conditions, known as reactance. Reactance is denoted by the symbols 𝑿𝑪 for a capacitor and
𝑿𝑳 . The magnitude of reactance offered by each component is determined primarily by the
components value, which is dependent on the physical make-up of the component eg. Area of
plates or number of turns etc. and depends on the frequency of the applied voltage. The
formula for the reactance of each component where 𝛚 = 𝝅𝒇

𝟏
𝑿𝒄 = 𝑿𝑳 = 𝒋𝛚𝐋
𝒋𝛚𝐂

𝑽𝑳 = 𝑰|𝑿𝑳 | 𝑽𝑪 = 𝑰|𝑿𝑪 |
PART A
Procedure:
• For the theoretical calculation complete table 1 using peak to peak values, determine
the phase angle between the supply voltage and the voltage across the 220nF
capacitor.
• To carry out the experiment first build the circuit shown below in figure 1 and set the
function generator to supply a 10Vp-p (5 Volt peak) sinusoid of frequency 1000Hz.
• Observe and plot the input and the voltage across the capacitor on the oscilloscope, a
photo of which can be seen below, and complete
table 2

Photo of Figure 1 Circuit

Table 1. Calculated Values
Rs(Ω) |Xc | |Z| |I| |VR | |VC | Phase Angle between
Vin and Vout
10000Ω 723.43Ω 10026.13Ω 0.499mA 4.987V 0.36V -4.137˚

Hand-written calculations:

Table 2. Measured Values

|V𝑖𝑛 | |VR | |VC | Phase Angle between Vin and Vout
10𝑉𝑃𝑃 3.49V 364.55mV 28˚
PART B
Procedure
• For the theoretical calculation complete table 1 using peak to peak voltage values and
determine the phase angle between the supply voltage and the voltage across the
capacitor.
• To carry out the experiment build the circuit shown in figure 2 below (photo of circuit
seen below also). Set the function generator to supply a 10Vp-p (5V peak) sinusoid of
frequency 89kHz.
• Observe the input voltage and the voltage across the inductor on the oscilloscope, as
seen in photo below, and hence complete table 4.

Photo of Figure 2 Circuit

Table 3. Calculated Values

|𝑋𝐿 | |𝑍| |𝐼| |𝑉𝑅 | |𝑉𝐿 | Phase angle between 𝑉𝐿 and 𝑉𝑖𝑛
559.2Ω 10015.62Ω 0.49922mA 4.9922V 0.2792V 3.2˚
 Hand-written calculations:

Table 4. Measured Values

|𝑉𝑖𝑛 | |𝑉𝑅 | |𝑉𝐿 | Phase angle between 𝑉𝐿 and 𝑉𝑖𝑛

10𝑉𝑃𝑃 3.54V 294.06mV 6.65˚