I.

RC Circuit Resistor and Capacitor in Series

In RC circuits, we are not interested in the final steady state voltage and
charge on the capacitor, but rather in how these variables change in time.
A. Charging a capacitor
Consider the circuit shown below. (Assume battery to have constant EMF,
zero internal resistance and neglect internal resistance of the battery.)

The charge approaches its final value asymptotically, and the current
approaches zero asymptotically.
The charge and current

When the capacitor is charged by a battery in series with a resistor, the

current and the capacitor charge is not constant
The instantaneous potential differences
and

Using Kirchhoffs loop rule:

At
, when the switch is first closed, the switch is first closed, the
capacitor is uncharged
. Therefore, the initial current is given by

The product RC is a measure of how quickly the capacitor charges.

is the time constant or the relaxation time for RC circuit.
o When is small, the capacitor charges quickly
o When it is larger, the charge takes more time
o If the resistance is small, it is easier for the current to flow, and the
capacitor charges more quickly.
o R is in ohms, C in farads, is in seconds.

B.

Discharging a capacitor

After the capacitor has acquired a charge , we remove the battery from
our RC circuit and connect points and into an open switch.
We close the switch, reset the stopwatch to
; at that time
the
capacitor then discharges through the resistor, and its charge eventually
decreases to zero.

As the charge q increases, the term

becomes larger and the
capacitor charge approaches its final value, . Current decreases and
becomes zero. When

Example 1: Charging a capacitor

A resistor with resistance
is connected in series with a capacitor with
capacitance
and a battery with emf
. Before the switch is closed at
time
, the capacitor is uncharged. a) What is the time constant? b) What
fraction of the final charge is on the plates at time
c) what fraction of the
initial current remains at
?

Kirchhoffs loop rule:

Discharging a capacitor

Example 2: Discharging a capacitor.

C. Energy considerations
While the capacitor is charging the instantaneous rate
At which the battery delivers energy to the circuit is
.
At which the electrical energy is dissipated in the resistor is
At which energy stored in capacitor is

The power supplied by the battery, part

is dissipated in resistor and
part
is stored in the capacitor
Total energy supplied by the battery during charging the capacitor is

Total energy stored in the capacitor:

Of the energy supplied by the battery, exactly half is stored in the capacitor,
and the other half is dissipated in the resistor.

The resistor and capacitor described in example 1 are reconnected as shown in the
figure below. The capacitor is originally given a charge of
, then discharged
by closing the switch at t=0. A) at what time will the charge be equal to
? B)
What is the current at this time?

II.

RL Circuit Resistor and Inductor in Series

An inductor makes it difficult for rapid changes in current to occur. The greater
the rate of change of current
, the greater the self-induced emf, and the
greater the potential difference between the inductor terminals

The figure shows that the instantaneous current first rises rapidly, the n
increases more slowly and approaches its final value
asymptotically.
At a time equal to
the current has risen to
or
of its final
value. The quantity
is a measure of how quickly the urrent builds
towards its final value; this is called the time constant for RL circuit.

A. Current Growth in an RL Circuit

The inductor helps to prevent rapid changes in current, which can be useful
if a steady current is required but the external source has a fluctuating emf.
The potential difference across the resistor is

The potential across the inductor is

Kirchhoffs loop rule

Solving for

At the instant that

resistor is zero.

, the rate of increase of current is

B.

Energy considerations
The instantaneous rate
At which the source delivers energy to the circuit is
At which the energy is dissipated in the resistor is
At which energy stored in the inductor is

The power supplied by the battery, part

is dissipated in
resistor and part
is stored in the inductor

C. Current Decay in an RL Circuit

is closed,

and the potential drop across the

The greater the inductance, the more slowly the current increases.

As the current increases the term

also increases and the rate of increase

of current becomes smaller. This current is approaching a final, steady state

value . When the current reaches the value, the rate of increase is zero.

Note: the final current does not depend

on the inductance.

Suppose that is closed for a while and the current has reached
the value We reset the stopwatch and close the switch at
, bypassing the battery. ( is opened.)
The current through R and L does not instantaneously go to zero but
decays smoothly.

D. Energy considerations

In this case,
is negative; it shows that the energy stored in the
inductor decreases at a rate equal to the rate of dissipation of energy
the resistor.

in

Example 3: Analyzing an RL circuit

A sensitive electronic device of resistance
is to be connected to a source of
emf by a switch. The device is designed to operate with a current
, but to
avoid damage to the device, the current can rise to no more than
in the first
after the switch is closed. To protect the device, it is connected in series with
an inductor a) what emf must the source have? Assume negligible internal
resistance b) what inductance is required? C) What is the time constant?

Example 5: Solenoid time constant.

A solenoid has an inductance
and a resistance of
. Find a) the time
constant for this circuit, and b) how long it would take for the current to go from
zero to
of its final (maximum) value when connected to a battery of voltage .

Example 4: Energy in an RL circuit

When the current in an RL circuit is decaying, what fraction of the original energy
stored in the inductor has been dissipated after
time constants?

III.

LC Circuit

A circuit containing an inductor and capacitor characterized by

oscillating current and charge.

If there are no energy losses, the charges on the capacitor continue to

oscillate back and forth indefinitely. This process is called electrical
oscillation.
The oscillations of an electrical circuit transform energy from the capacitors
electric field to the inductors magnetic field and back.
o The total energy associated with the circuit is constant
Kirchhoffs loop rule: Clockwise

Let

be the maximum capacitor charge, the charge

is

Angular frequency

of oscillation in an LC circuit is given by:

Thus the charge and current in an LC circuit oscillate sinusoidally with time,
with an angular velocity determined by the values of L and C.

Energy considerations

Example 7: Energy in an oscillating circuit.

LC is a conservative system. The magnetic field energy

and the electric field energy
equals the total energy

in the inductor

in the capacitor. The sum of the energies

Consider again the LC circuit of example 6. a) Find the magnetic energy and
electric energy at
. B) Find the magnetic energy at

of the system.

The total energy is constant; it oscillates between the magnetic and the
electric forms.

Example 6: An oscillating circuit

A 300 V-dc power supply is used to charge a
capacitor. After he capacitor is
fully charged, it is disconnected from the power supply and connected across a
inductor. The resistance in the circuit is negligible. A) Find the frequency and
period of oscillation of the circuit. B) Find the capacitor charge and the circuit
current
after the inductor and capacitor are connected.

ggcalis 9/23/14