PHYS 222 Leader: Alek Jerauld

Worksheet 22 – RL and LC Circuits Course: PHYS 222

Supplemental Instruction Instructor: Dr. Paula Herrera-Siklódy
Iowa State University Date: 3/19/12

Useful Equations
L RL Circuits: time constant
R

i(t ) 
 1 et 
  Current in RL circuits (growth)
R 


t
i(t )  I0e  Current in RL Circuits (decay)

 1
LC LC Circuit Angular Frequency
1
U  LI 2
2 Energy stored in an inductor
Related Problems

1) A 15.0 ohm resistor and a coil are connected in series with a 6.30-V battery with
negligible internal resistance and a closed switch. (Book 30.20)
(a) At 2.00 ms after the switch is opened the current has decayed to 0.210 A. Calculate the
inductance of the coil.

I0   0.42 A
R
t
 tR
i(t )  I 0e L/ R
L  0.0433 H
 i 
ln  
 I0 
(b) Calculate the time constant of the circuit.
L
   2.89 ms
R

(c) How long after the switch is opened will the current reach 1.00% of its original value?
t
i(t )  I0e 

t
 0.01I 0  I0e   t   ln  0.01  13.3 ms

2) A 7.60-nF capacitor is charged up to 13.0 V, then disconnected from the power supply
and connected in series through a coil. The period of oscillation of the circuit is then
measured to be 8.60×10−5 s. (Book 30.29)
(a) Calculate the inductance of the coil.
 1

LC
2

T
2 1 T2
   L  2  0.0247 H
T LC 4 C

(b) Calculate the maximum charge on the capacitor.

Max charge occurs when voltage across capacitor is max, with means all the energy is
stored in the capacitor:
Q  CV  9.88(108 ) C

(c) Calculate the total energy of the circuit.

CV 2
U  6.42(107 ) J
2

(d) Calculate the maximum current in the circuit.

LI 2 max CV 2 CV 2
U max    I max   7.22(103 ) A
2 2 L

3) An LC circuit containing an 86.0-mH inductor and a 1.50-nF capacitor oscillates with a

maximum current of 0.760 A. (Book 30.33)
(a) Calculate the maximum charge on the capacitor.
LI 2 max Q 2
U max    Qmax  I max LC  8.63(106 ) C
2 2C

(b) Calculate the oscillation frequency of the circuit.

 1
f    1.4(104 ) Hz
2 2 LC

(c) Assuming the capacitor had its maximum charge at time t= 0, calculate the energy
stored in the inductor after 2.45 ms of oscillation.
LI 2
U max 
2
 t 
I  I max sin(t )  I max sin  
 LC 
2
LI 2  t 
 U max  max sin    0.0189 J
2  LC 