SFE 1023 ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM LABORATOR

Capacitor – Time Constant of RC Circuit

Thinagariy d/o Pearanpan,Nanthini d/o Mathu,Navinaswary d/o
Balakrishnan
Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong Malim, Malaysia

Abstract: This article gives you an eloberation of the experiment to determine the time constant and the
capacitance of the capacitor using an RC circuit. Basic information that related to the experiment, and the
theory of this experiment are described in this Template.

Keyword: Theory of time constant of a capacitance, RC circuit, discharging process.

I. INTRODUCTION

Capacitors are circuit elements that store electric charge Q, and hence energy, according to the expression Q
= C V, (7.1) where V is the voltage across the capacitor and C is the constant of proportionality called the
capacitance. The unit of capacitance is the farad, [F] = [C]/[V];1 farad = (1 coulomb)/(1 volt). Capacitors come
in many shapes and sizes, but the basic idea is that a capacitor consists of two conductors separated by a spacing,
which may be filled with an insulating material (dielectric). One conductor has charge +Q and the other
conductor has charge −Q. The conductor with positive charge is at a higher voltage then the conductor with
negative charge. Most capacitors have capacitances in the range between picofarads (1pF =10−12F) and
millifarads (1mF =10−3 F =1000 μ F) . Note that we’ve also used the notation for a microfarad, 1μF=10-6 F
=10-3 Mf.

Charging a Capacitor

Consider the circuit shown in Figure 7.1. The capacitor is connected to a DC voltage source of emf E . At t = 0,
the switch S is closed. The capacitor initially is uncharged with q (t = 0) = 0 . (In the following discussion, we’ll
use the convention that represents a time-varying charge as “q” instead of “Q”.)

The expressions for the charge on, and hence voltage across a charging capacitor, and the current through the
resistor. These instructions will use the notation τ = RC for the time constant of either a charging or discharging
RC circuit.
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Figure : Voltage across capacitor as a function of time

The current that flows in the circuit is equal to the derivative with respect to time of the charge, where 0 I is the
initial current that flows in the circuit when the switch was closed at t = 0

After one time constant τ has elapsed, the voltage has increased by a factor (1− e−1) = 0.632 ; and the current
has increased by a factor of e−1 = 0.368 I τ = 0.362 I .

Discharging a Capacitor

Suppose we initially charge a capacitor to a charge 0 Q through some charging circuit.Suppose at time t = 0 the
switch is closed . The capacitor will begin to discharge .The expressions for the charge on, and hence voltage
across a discharging capacitor, and the current through the resistor.

Figure : A graph of voltage across the capacitor vs. time for the discharging capacitor
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The current also exponentially decays in the circuit as can be seen by differentiating the charge on the capacitor.

Figure : A graph of the current flowing in the circuit as a function of time also has the same form as the voltage
graph.

The main objectives of this lab was to determine the time constant and the capacitances of a capacitor using an
RC circuit. In this experiment we were used 6V battery, switch & breadboard, stopwatch, 100k ohm resistor , 2
capacitor labeled C1 and C2, wire jumpers and connectors and DC microammeter as apparatus. As a first step
the circuit was set up with switch S opened. The microammeter was red for Io with switch. Then the switch S
was opened and the capacitor was short circuit using a connecting wire so that the capacitor is fully discharged.
The switch S was close again to charge the capacitor so that the microammeter reading is back to Io. Then the
switch S was open simultaneously with stopwatch start. The reading of microammeter was observed. The
stopwatch was stop when the current reach certain value. Other than that thereading of the current ,I and the time
was recorde respectively. Step 4 and 5 was repeated for other values of I and t . The reading was recorded and
tabulate the value for I and t. After all this steps the capacitor C2 was add to the circuit. The steps 3 to 6 was
repeat to obtain the readings of the microammeter and stopwatch, I’ and t’. Finaly the graph of I against t and I’
against t’ was plotted using the same axes.

II. BASIC INFORMATION AND THEORY

A. What is the capacitor?

Capacitor is the passive component. Capasitor stores energy in a form of electric field. When capasitor are
connect to a battery, the electromagnetic energy will be stored in the form of an electric field so that the power
supply will be mantain if the device is unplugged for a short time [1]. Capacitor is a device used to store an
electric charge Q, consisting of one or more pairs of conductors separated by an insulator. According the
expression Q = CV where’s V is the voltage, and C is the capacitance. The unit of the capacitor is Farad.
Capacitors come in many shapes and sizes, but the basic idea is that a capacitor consists of two conductors
separated by a spacing, which may be filled with an insulating material (dielectric). One conductor has charge
+Q and the other conductor has charge −Q. The conductor with positive charge is at a higher voltage then the
conductor with negative charge. Most capacitors have capacitances in the range between picofarads ( 1Pf =
1×10-12) and millifarads ( 1mF = 1×10-3).

B. Theory

The theoretical tell us that the total charge Q, on each plate of a capacitor during the discharging
processes versus with time , t is shown in Figure 1.
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Fig. 1 charge Q versus time graph (Physics A-Level)

During the charging process:

Q  Qo (1  e  t / RC )

During discharging, the magnitude of the current, I varies with time as shown in Figure 2.

Fig. 2 Current, I versus time (SchoolPhysics)

During the discharging process:

Q  Qo e  t / RC

where Qo = the initial amount of charge stored in the capacitor

Q = the amount of charge at time, t
RC = time constant, τ

The magnitude of the discharge current is:

I  I o e  t /

Evidently at time. t = τ, the magnitude of the discharge current is 0.37 of its initial or maximum value, 0.37Io.
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Fig. 3 Charge Qo versus time graph (Physics A-Level)

Q falls to 1/e of its initial value (i.e. 0.37Q0) in a time equal to the time constant, RC.

When the initial charge is Q0,

•After RC seconds = 0.37 x Q0
•After 2RC seconds = 0.37^2 x Q0
•After nRC seconds = 0.37^n x Q0.

The time taken to halve, T½, is always the same:

T1/2 = 0.69 RC

III. EXPERIMENT
A. The measure of Cuurent is change to the value of Volatge

Refer to laboratory manual, actually we need to measure the I o , since the our microammeter is broken
and can’t shows the reading of Io. We decide to measure the voltage because from the equation of

Q = VC,

We know that voltage, V is directly proportional to current, Q. It means, when the current, Q is
increase, the volatge, V also increase. Plot a graph of capacitance against voltage and since:

Q = VC,

The charge, C versus voltage, V graph is shown in Figure 4.

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Fig. 4 Charge C versus voltage, V graph (Physics A-Level)

The graph of the graph will equal the capacitance of that capacitor.

B. Analysis

In this experiment, you are asked to measure the time constants for the three RC circuits described above in
EXPERIMENT OVERVIEW. In setting up the apparatus, you first should record data for a single 100-Ω
resistor in series with the 330-µF capacitor. Answer the questions for this data, and then repeat the
measurement of the time constant for the other two circuits.The first time you measure the time-constant, we
want you to use both methods of determining the time constant described below. For the next two circuits,
you can use the method you like best, but state on your tear-sheet which method you use.

There are numerous natural processes in which the rate of change of a quantity is proportional to that
quantity. An example from biology is population growth of a species that is proportional to the number
present. In a radioactive sample the decrease of the number of nuclei is proportional to the number of nuclei
present, resulting in a decrease in the number of atom. Another example that is relevant to the present
experiment is the charging and discharging of a capacitor through a resistor. This experiment deals with this
phenomenon and involves careful data processing to obtain quantitative information about an exponential
processs
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C. Result

C1
Voltage (V) Time (s)
5.55 0
5.50 1
5.23 8
5.00 10
4.71 16
4.24 27
4.05 28
3.72 39
3.49 45
3.23 53
3.00 63
2.75 73
2.48 80
2.22 91
2.00 106
1.72 118
1.50 134
1.21 152
1.00 180
0.90 184
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C2
Voltage,V (V) Time (s)
5.81 0
2.82 1
2.65 3
2.49 5
2.35 8
2.22 12
2.10 14
1.99 17
1.88 20
1.79 23
1.70 26
1.61 29
1.53 32
1.46 35
1.39 40
1.32 43
1.15 51
1.10 55
1.00 65
0.84 69
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C1 + C2
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Voltage,V (V) Time (s)

5.57 0
5.50 2
5.31 7
5.00 16
4.75 24
4.50 33
4.00 50
3.75 60
3.50 70
3.25 85
3.00 90
2.73 109
2.50 122
2.25 138
2.00 157
1.70 176
1.50 200
1.27 225
1.00 300
0.90 310

D. Conclusion

An RC circuit can be used in any number of electronic circuits as a time base for many applications.
The time base is repeatable to a virtually infinite number of times, yielding the same results every time. Usually
accompanying an RC circuit is another circuit that automatically charges and or discharges the RC-circuit.
Depending on the function of the circuit, it may be set up to trigger a discharge cycle once the capacitor is fully
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charged and or vice versa. Another part of the circuit may be set up so that after a number of charge and
discharge cycles, it would trigger some other function in the circuit. Since resistance essentially slows the
current, the greater the resistor value, the longer it took the current to flow to the capacitor. The smaller the
current flowing to the capacitor, the longer it takes the capacitor to charge because there are less electrons
flowing to the capacitor each second. Thus, this resulted in a greater time constant because it took longer for the
capacitor to charge up and eliminate the current in the circuit.

In series, the time constant increased as more capacitors were added because the current can flow
through each one, and the capacitors do not have to be completely filled (they only have to add to the supply
voltage). However, when more capacitors were added in parallel, the time constant increased because each
electron can only flow to one capacitor at a time, and each capacitor in parallel has to be completely filled. Thus,
the more capacitors that need to be charged, the longer it takes to fill each one. This would suggest that adding
resistors in series increases the effective capacitance of the RC circuit while adding capacitors in parallel
decreases the effective capacitance. This is a useful piece of information to have if we are trying to design an RC
circuit with a specific time constant.Although the time constants obtained were not exactly as expected, this
experiment shows that the time constant is proportional to resistance.This explains why discharging is slower
then charging the capacitor.
REFERENCES

[1]. Marshall Brain & Charles W. Bryant. (n.d). How Capacitors Work. Retrieved from
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/capacitor.htm

Figure List

Figure 1. Physics A-Level. (n.d). Capacitance. Retrieved from

http://www.physbot.co.uk/capacitance.html

Figure 2. SchoolPhysics. (n.d). Mathematical treatment of charging and discharging a capacitor. Retrieved from
http://www.schoolphysics.co.uk/age16-19/Electricity%20and
%20magnetism/Electrostatics/text/Capacitor_charge_and_discharge_mathematics/index.html

Figure 3. Physics A-Level. (n.d). Capacitance. Retrieved from

http://www.physbot.co.uk/capacitance.html