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PHYSICS
PROJECT



TO DETERMING THE
TIME CONSTANT (t
FOR AN RC
CIRCUIT
NIKHIL CHATURVEDI
12 - C
ST. COLUMBAS SCHOOL
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INDEX

1.Certification 3
2.Acknowledgements 4
3.General Introduction 5
4.Experiment 6
a) Aim 6
b) Materials Required 6
c) Theory 7
d) Formulae Used 10
e) Circuit Diagram 11
f) Procedure 12
g) Graph 14
h) Observations 14
i) Calculations 17
j) Result 18
k) Precautions 18
l) Problems Faced 19
5.Bibliography 20
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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Nikhil Chaturvedi of Cass
XII-C of the academic year 2011-2012 has
completed the project

TO DETERMING THE TIME CONSTANT
(t)
FOR AN RC CIRCUIT

under my guidance and supervision and to my
complete satisfaction.






_______________ _______________

Mrs. N. Chatterjee Mr. N. Prakash
( Physics Teacher ) ( Lab Assistant )

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


I would like to express my sincere
gratitude to my Physics Teacher,
Mrs. N. Chatterjee,
and to our Lab Assistant,
Mr. N. Prakash
without the guidance of whom the
completion of this project would not
have been possible.















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General Introduction To The Project

This project is based on the analysis of a simple RC circuit
and how the voltages across its components vary with time. A
resistorcapacitor circuit (RC circuit), or RC filter or RC
network, is an electric circuit composed of resistors and
capacitors driven by a voltage or current source. A first order
RC circuit is composed of one resistor and one capacitor and is
the simplest type of RC circuit.

In this project, the focus is on slow RC circuits, the ones in
which charging and discharging of the capacitor take place in a
notable amount of time. This makes it possible for the human
eye to observe the changes in the voltage and derive results from
the readings. The various technical terms and formulae have
been explained in detail in the projects theory.

The project aims to experimentally determine the time
constant of an RC circuit and verify the results with existing
formulae. Using the values obtained, the maximum charge on
the capacitor shall be determined and the capacitors charging
and discharging shall be represented graphically.






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EXPERIMENT

Aim
a) To experimentally determine the time constant (t) of a slow
RC circuit and verify the value using the actual formula.

b) To calculate the maximum charge attained by the capacitor,
i.e. the charge attained by it in steady state.

c) To graphically represent the charging and discharging of
the capacitor using the values obtained.


Materials Required
A Battery Eliminator of 10 V
An Electrolytic Capacitor of 100 F
A Carbon Resistor of 220 kO
A Voltmeter
A Two-Way Switch
Connecting Wires
Stopwatch


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Theory

I. Resistor :
A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component
that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element.

The current through a resistor is in direct proportion to the
voltage across the resistor's terminals.

Thus, the ratio of the voltage applied across a resistor's
terminals to the intensity of current through the circuit is
called resistance.

The SI unit of resistance is Ohm (O).

This relation is represented by Ohm's law:

Where,
R = Resistance
V = Voltage across R
I = Current through R
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II. Capacitor :
A capacitor (originally known as condenser) is a passive
two-terminal electrical component used to store energy in
an electric field.

The forms of practical capacitors vary widely, but all
contain at least two electrical conductors separated by a
dielectric (insulator).

One common construction consists of metal foils
separated by a thin layer of insulating film.

Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits in
many common electrical devices.

The SI unit of Capacitance is Farad (F).

Capacitors are mainly of two types: Electrolytic capacitors
and Non-Electrolytic capacitors.

The Capacitance of a capacitor is given by

Where,
C = Capacitance
Q = Charge contained in C
V = Voltage across C
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III. Types Of Capacitors :

Non - Electrolytic Capacitors:
Non-Electrolytic capacitors are non-polarized, i.e. they can
be connected either way in a circuit without having to
worry about + & -. The most common is the disc-type
capacitor that we normally use in electronics. The other
types are ceramic, mica etc. In almost all applications we
use the disc-type capacitor which is brown in color and has
the shape of a disc. Its value ranges between about a few pF
to as high as 1uF.


Electrolytic Capacitors:
Electrolytic capacitors are polarized and they are supposed
to be connected in a specific way in the circuit. Their + and
- terminals have to coincide with that specified in the
circuit. They are much bulkier than the non-electrolytic
type and hence have to be avoided when possible. They are
used only if very high capacitance values are needed. Also
the electrolytic capacitors are not very stable regarding
their value i.e. their values change slightly with the
temperature and other physical parameters. The non-
electrolytic capacitors are relatively more stable.
Electrolytic capacitors are available usually 1uF and
upwards up to about 4700uF. They are much costlier than
the non-electrolytic capacitors. Connecting an electrolytic
capacitor in the wrong polarity may lead to an explosion

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Formulae Used

Where,
t = Time Constant of the circuit
R = Resistance
C = Capacitance
During Discharging, where,
V(t) = Voltage at time t
E = Voltage Supplied
t = Time Constant
During Charging, where,
V(t) = Voltage at time t
E = Voltage Supplied
t = Time Constant
Where,
V = Voltage after one Time
Constant has passed during
Discharging. ( t = t )
Where,
V = Voltage after one Time
Constant has passed during
Charging. ( t = t )
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CIRCUIT DIAGRAM




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Procedure
i. Obtain the components required for the circuit.

ii. Clean the ends of the connecting wires with a sand paper.

iii. Connect the +ve terminal of the battery eliminator E to the
common end of two way switch S.

iv. Connect the -ve terminal of E to the shorter leg of the
electrolytic capacitor C.

v. Draw a wire from the one of the ends of S and join it to the
above wire to form a junction.

vi. Connect a wire from the capacitor side of this junction to
ground ( 0 Volts ).

vii. Connect a wire from the longer leg of the capacitor to the
resistor R.

viii. Connect the other end of R to the remaining end of S.

ix. Connect the Voltmeter, V, in parallel across C to complete
the circuit.

x. To start the experiment, turn S to the upper position and
switch on E. Wait till the voltmeter reaches a steady value.
Note that this value will be equal to 10V, the voltage
provided by E. When this happens, the capacitor is said to
be in steady state.

xi. Once the capacitor is fully charged, turn S to the lower
position and start the stopwatch.
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xii. As the capacitor discharges through ground, the reading in
V1 reduces gradually. As the reading in V reaches a value of
E (.368), stop the stopwatch and note its reading. This is the
value of one time constant.

xiii. Turn S to the upper position again and start the stopwatch.

xiv. Note the time when V displays a voltage of E (.632). This is
the value of one time constant taken while charging. Both
the observed values should be about the same.

xv. Repeat discharging and charging three more times to get a
total of 8 readings for the time constant. Note them in the
observations table, and find their average to compute t.

xvi. Calculate the theoretical value of t from RC and find the
percentage error in computing the experimental t.

xvii. To find the maximum value of charge stored in C, multiply
the voltage observed at steady state with the capacitance.

xviii. Find the percentage error again after calculating the actual
value from CE.

xix. Repeat the charging and discharging processes to obtain the
voltage values at 6 different time values for each.

xx. Plot these on graph paper.




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Graph
i. Take two graph sheets and mark voltage (in volts) along the
y-axis, and time (in seconds) along the x-axis.

ii. Plot the readings under charging in one and discharging on
the other.

iii. Join the plotted points with a smooth freehand curve.

iv. Both the graphs should be exponential in nature.



Observations
a) Instruments Used -
Voltage supplied = V (d.c)
Least Count of Voltmeter = . V
Least Count of Stopwatch = . s
Capacitance of Capacitor Used = . F
Resistance of Resistor Used = . kO
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b) Table For Time Constant (t) -

S. No.
While
Charging
( s )
While
Discharging
( s )
Mean Value Of t
( s )
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.


Average Value Of t = . s


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c) Table For Charging -

S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (s)
Voltage across
V (V)




d) Table For Discharging -

S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (s)
Voltage across
V (V)



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Calculations
a) Percentage Error in t -














b) Maximum Charge in C -







Experimental Value of t = t
1
=
Actual value of t = R*C = t
2
=
Difference in values = At =
=
Percentage Experimental Error =

=

. s
. s
| t
1
- t
2
|
. s

. %

Voltage across C in steady state = E =
Capacitance = C =

Maximum Charge Stored in C = C*E =
. V
. F

. C

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Result
1. Within Experimental Limits the Time Constant of the
given slow RC circuit has been determined as . s,
with a percentage experimental error of . .

2. The Maximum Charge on the Capacitor has been
determined as C.

3. The charging and discharging of the capacitor were
represented graphically and both the graphs turned out to
be exponential in nature.


Precautions
1. The insulation from the ends of the connecting wires must be
removed properly and the ends must be cleaned with
sandpaper.

2. All connections must be ensured to be tight.

3. Readings involving the use of a stopwatch must be taken
carefully and accurately.

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4. The polarities of all equipment used must be taken into
account while connecting the circuit.

5. The Voltmeter must be connected in parallel across the
Capacitor.

Problems Faced
1. In the first time, the capacitor was connected with reverse
polarity and it became unusable!

2. A lag in the turning of the switch and the stopwatch was
human and inevitable.

3. The exponential nature of charging and discharging made
taking initial readings difficult.






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Bibliography
www.physics.umt.edu
Google Images
Wikipedia
Yahoo Images
www.scienceexp.com








END


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