AC through resistor and capacitor

Let a pure resistor and a pure capacitor be connected in series to an alternating emf. Let E be the rms value of
applied emf and I be the rms value of the current flowing in the circuit. Let VR and VC be the potential drop
across R and C respectively.

The potential drop across capacitor is

The potential drop across resistance is

From the fig the resultant OH is given by

This is the effective opposition offered by RC circuit for the flow of current.

Also

This shows that the potential lags the current by π/2 in RC circuit.