PHY2004W

Experimental Physics Report

Capacitors
19 March 2018

Professor Shabangu
(SHBPRO003)
Partner: Mkuseli Sompeta
Contents
List of Figures1
1 Introduction and Theory 2
1.1 Aim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Data 3

3 Graphs and ”Best fit” line 4

4 Calculation and Uncertainty analysis 9

5 Interpretation, discussion and Conclusion 9

List of Figures
1 RC circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 RC circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3 current on 15K Ohms resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4 5.6K Ohms Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5 5.6K Ohms Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6 8.2K Ohms Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7 8.2K Ohms Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8 10K Ohms Resistor at 100Hz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
9 10K Ohms Resistor at 200 Hz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
10 15K Ohms Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
11 15K Ohms Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
12 time constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
13 How Capacitor charges and discharges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1
1 Introduction and Theory
Capacitor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that stores potential energy in an electric field.The
effect of a capacitor is known as capacitance.Capacitors are basically two parrallel plates at a certain distance
with a dielectric in between.

1.1 Aim
Aim of the experiment is to study how capacitors charges and discharge when we apply AC voltage signal, and
the determine time constant, with different resistors.

1.2 Apparatus
We use Function Generator for an applied AC voltage signal, Breadboard to connect our capacitor and resistors,
Osilliscope to regulate and verify our voltage signal, National Instruments myDAQ a tools for AC signal
generation and measurements and of course a known capacitance.

Figure 1: RC circuit

1.3 Method
We build an RC circuit on the breadboard. We connect the a resistor, then connect the NI myDAQ like in
Figure 1. NI myDAQ is uniquely suited for this measurement because the negative analog input (AI#−)
perform differential measurements, meaning they are not directly tied to ground (AGND). Connect Function
generator and Oscilloscope as in Figure 2.

Figure 2: RC circuit

2
2 Data
Values of RC with varying resistors
Resistor (KΩ) time (s) frequency (Hz) VC (V) V (V) C (nF) RC (s)
5.6 0.0000769 100 -4 -4 100 0.00056
5.6 0.0000769 333 1.3 4 100 0.00056
8.2 0.0000769 344 -1.4 4 100 0.00082
8.2 0.0000769 632 -1.6 4 100 0.00082
10 0.0000769 100 3.1 -4 100 0.001
10 0.0000769 200 -2.7 -4 100 0.001
15 0.0000769 100 3.7 4 100 0.0015
15 0.0000769 300 -1.3 -4 100 0.0015

We also looked at the current passing through 15K Ohms resistor:

Figure 3: current on 15K Ohms resistor

3
3 Graphs and ”Best fit” line

Figure 4: 5.6K Ohms Resistor

In Figure 3 we observed that the capacitor charging quicker, this implies that lower frequency and small resistor
is good for charging up a capacitor in a shorter time.

Figure 5: 5.6K Ohms Resistor

Figure 4 Here we saw increasing the frequency shortens the capacitor’s voltage peak compare to the low
frequency.This means slow charging.

4
 Figure 6: 8.2K Ohms Resistor

Figure 7: 8.2K Ohms Resistor

On Figure 5 and Figure 6 we observed that increasing the frequency and resistance, increases the charging
time, so the capacitor do not charge fully as the AC voltage is applied.

5
 Figure 8: 10K Ohms Resistor at 100Hz

Figure 9: 10K Ohms Resistor at 200 Hz

On Figure 7 and Figure 8 we observed that increase of resistance has small effect compare to increase in
frequency on charging time.

6
 Figure 10: 15K Ohms Resistor

Figure 11: 15K Ohms Resistor

On Figure 9 and Figure 10 we observed that increase of resistance has small effect compare to increase in
frequency on charging time.

7
 Figure 12: time constant
t
On Figure 12 the equation of a charging capacitor VC (t) = V (1 − e− RC ) and the discharge equation
t
VC (t) = V e− RC then linearised it for find RC through out the simulation time. I appears to be constant and
fluctuate at some i defined points of VVC . our best approximate is τ = RC = 0.00312s. Where R = 15000Ω

Figure 13: How Capacitor charges and discharges

From this graph it clear that theorically the capacitor voltage will never equal the source voltage but i does
get very close and in a relative short time, (0.005 s)

8
4 Calculation and Uncertainty analysis
from simulation let’s take: VC1 = 3.1V and VC2 = −3.1
t1 = 0.000846 and t2 = 0.002385
V1 = 4 and V2 = −4
R = 5600Ω
we look at charging:
t
VC (t) = V (1 − e− RC ) (1)
t
then we get that τ = RC = − V = 0.001071s
ln(1− VC )


we get C = 191 ± 47nF

Then look at discharging:

t
VC (t) = V (e− RC ) (2)
t
we get τ = RC = − VC = 0.005786s
ln( V
)

5 Interpretation, discussion and Conclusion

We obeserve that the time constant increase with increase in resistor, it would also increase with increase
capacitance but we kept ours fixed.One thing that was particularly interesting is that the time constant do
not affect the voltage peak as frequency does. Increase in frequency shortens the charged voltage peak. As we
degrease the frequency and resistor we observed that the curve approaches the source voltage (square curve).