California State University, Northridge

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Experiment 1
Voltage-Current Relations of Resistor, Capacitor and Inductor

ECE480L
Professor: Franco Mikhailidis

Author: Jae Choi

Arman Isayan

Ean Schroeder
Introduction:
The purpose of this experiment is to review the voltage-current relation for resistors, capacitors
and inductors. PSPICE was also used to verify the experimental and calculated results.

Equipment used:
 Oscilloscope
 Function Generator
 DMM

Software used:
 PSPICE

Parts:
 Capacitor: 100uF; Qty = 1
 Resistor: 100Ω, 5% Qty = 2
 Inductor: 10mH; Qty = 1

Theory:
The following equation is Ohm’s law to find the voltage across the resistor and the current
through the resistor are given by:

v(t) = R i(t)

i(t) = v(t) / R
The voltage across the inductor and the current through the inductor are given by:

v(t) = L di/dt

i(t) = (1/L) ∫ ( )

The voltage across the capacitor and the current through the capacitor are given by:

( )

( ) ( )∫ ( )
Procedures and Results:
Part 2

Figure 1.1 shows a RC circuit with function generator connected with triangular wave form of
4Vpp at 100Hz.

1) The voltage across the input and across the capacitor is shown in Figure 1.2.

R1

100

V1
VOFF = 0
VAMPL = 4V C1
FREQ = 100Hz 0.1u

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.2
 2) Figure 1.3 shows the voltage across the resistor after changing the position of the resistor
and capacitor.

Figure 1.3

3) Figure 1.4 shows the PSPICE simulations results of previous step 1 and 2

Figure 1.4

Results: Table 1 compares peak-to-peak voltages and time constant values based on calculation,
experiment, and PSPICE for Step 1

Table 1.
Calculation (RC) Experiment PSPICE % error
(65% point taken
for τ)
Vpp 4 3.98 4 0.5%
Time constant (τ) 10µ second 13.8µ second 11µ second 38%
Observation: Result of this procedure is the amplitude of the input is almost equal to the output
with the frequency equals to 100Hz. However, if increasing the frequency higher and higher, the
amplitude of the output will decrease and eventually it will reach 0 because it is a low pass filter,
it only allow low frequency to pass through it and block high frequency. Or another way to
explain it is that based on calculation, vc(t) = vin / (1+ j2πfRC). Thus, the higher the frequency,
the lower the voltage.

Part 3:

Figure 2.1 shows a RC circuit with function generator connected with rectangular wave form of
4Vpp at 100Hz.

1) Picture of oscilloscope measuring voltage across the input and across the capacitor is
shown in Figure 2.2.
R1

100

V1
VOFF = 0
VAMPL = 4V C1
FREQ = 100Hz 0.1u

Figure 2.1 0

Figure 2.2
 2) Figure 2.3 shows PSPICE simulation result from step 1

Figure 2.3

Results: Table 2 compares peak-to-peak voltages and time constant values based on calculation,
experiment, and PSPICE for Step 1

Table 2.
Calculation (RC) Experiment PSPICE % error
(65% point taken
for τ)
Vpp 4 4.187 4 4.67%
Time constant (τ) 10µ second 17.8µ second 11µ second 78%

Observation: The input square wave came out with many noise caused by capacitive probes,
wires, and other radio signal emitting equipment.

Part 4:

Figure 3.1 shows a RC circuit with function generator connected with rectangular wave form of
4Vpp at 100KHz.

1) Picture of oscilloscope measuring voltage across the input and across the inductor is
shown in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2
 2) Figure 3.3 shows PSPICE simulation result from step 1

Figure 3.3

Results: Table 3 compares peak-to-peak voltages and time constant values based on calculation,
experiment, and PSPICE for Step 1

Table 3.
Calculation Experiment PSPICE % error
(R/L) (65% point taken
for τ)
Vpp 4 4.187 4 4.67%
Time constant (τ) 1470 second 1874 second 1389 second 27.4%

Observation: The input square wave came out with many noise caused by capacitive probes,
wires, and other radio signal emitting equipment.

Conclusion:
In this experiment theoretical voltage-current relationship was reviewed via PSPICE simulations
and calculated time constant values, τ. It was also confirmed that capacitors are passive electric
components that cause current lags voltage, inductors cause current lead the voltage signal at a
phase angle of 90 degrees.