TITLE Response of Sinusoidal input to RC circuits

LAB NUMBER : 10

INSTRUCTOR : Sir. Mir Hamza

: Malik Haider Ali Reg No: 210501043

SUBMITTED BY

: Salman Reg No: 210501064

: Idrees Saqib Reg No: 210501012

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Objectives:
The purpose of this experiment is to use a capacitor and a resistor to build and study the properties of a low-
pass filter which blocks high frequencies.

Theory Overview
For a resistor with resistance R in an electrical circuit, the relationship between the applied voltage (V) and the
current (I) passing through the resistor is given by Ohm’s Law: V=IR. Similarly for a capacitor with
capacitance C the relationship is V=IXc. Here XC is called the capacitive reactance and whose magnitude is
defined by XC=1/ωC. ω is the angular frequency (2πf) of the applied voltage. This is the analog of Ohm’s
Law for capacitors, and the capacitive reactance is analogous to resistance. So we can use Ohm’s law in AC
circuits involving capacitors. We notice that for a DC voltage (ω=0) the capacitive reactance is infinite, so no
current passes through the capacitor. At low frequencies the reactance is high and at high frequencies the
reactance is low. So we can think of a capacitor as a resistor with a resistance that depends upon the frequency
of the applied voltage.

Low pass filter:

At low frequencies the capacitor acts like a high resistance, so most of the input voltage will be dropped across
it, so Vout will be almost equal to Vin. At high frequencies the capacitor acts like a small resistance so most of
the input voltage will appear across the resistor and Vout will be much smaller than Vin. This circuit is called
a low pass filter. It passes low frequency input signals but blocks high frequencies.

RC Low Pass Filter Circuit 1

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Cut off frequency
The cutoff frequency or corner frequency in electronics is the frequency either above or below which the
power output of a circuit, such as a line, amplifier, or electronic filter (e.g. a high pass filter) has fallen to a
given proportion of the power in the passband.
Most frequently this proportion is one half the passband power, also referred to as the 3 dB point since a fall of
3 dB corresponds approximately to half power. As a voltage ratio, this is a fall to approximately 0.707. The
formula for cutoff frequency (corner frequency) is

where R and C are the values of Resistance and Capacitance.

Task:
1. Design both high pass filter and low pass filters at a cut off frequency of 10kHz.
a. Capacitor = 4.7 uF
b. Input Voltage = 2.5 V

2. Change the values of frequency to 5 points with a difference of 5k above the cut off frequency and
below the cut off frequency.
3. Measure using the oscilloscope the output voltage at every frequency
4. Using your values, plot a graph between gain and frequency.
5. Prove that the gain at cut off frequency is -3dB

Gain= 20 log10 (Vout / Vin)

Theoretical Calculations:

C = 4.7Uf
R = 12 Ω

fC = 0.5(3.14)(12)(4.7*10-6)

fC = 2.8 kHz

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Procedure:
1. Use the given values and respective components to make a RC circuit on a breadboard
2. Connect the circuit with an AC source using signal generator.
3. Use an oscilloscope to get sinusoidal response graphs of the RC circuit.
4. Find the values of voltage for different frequencies.
5. Then, use the recorded values of voltage to calculate gain of the RC circuit.

Low Pass Filter

S. No. Vin (Volts) Frequency Vout (Volts) Gain (dB)

1. 2.5 1 kHz 2.4 -0.35

2. 2.5 1.5 kHz 1.6 -3.87

3. 2.5 2 kHz 1.22 -6.23

4. 2.5 2.5 kHz 1.15 -6.67

5. 2.5 fc = 2.8 kHz 1.04 -7.53

6. 2.5 3 kHz 0.96 -8.31

7. 2.5 3.5 kHz 0.88 -8.97

8. 2.5 4 kHz 0.79 -10.11

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Conclusion:
In this experiment, we learnt about RC circuits which uses a resistor and capacitor to make a low pass filter. This
low pass filter blocks high frequencies and acts as a high frequency filter and allows low frequencies to pass
through the circuit. We have used a signal generator and oscilloscope to test an RC circuit and verified the
properties of a low pass filter circuit with a cut off frequency of 2.8 kHz and have used our observation and
results to calculate gain of the circuit.

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