GROUP MEMBERS: Khoa Le Tinh Nguyen Tung Phan Paula Perez
ABSTRACT: In this experiment, the RC circuit, the basis for most electronic timing circuits, was examined by using an oscilloscope. Moreover, the behavior of the capacitor responded to the RC circuit was investigated. The capacitor was charged and discharged through a programmable power supply. The graph of voltage of the capacitor was displayed. It followed the exponential function with the time constant RC. Moreover, the average time constant RC was plotted against the resistance of different resistors. The graph is a straight line with the slope C. The result from the graph is nearly equal to the theoretical value of C. The lab was successful with small error.
INTRODUCTION: The RC circuit is a simply circuit, containing both capacitor and resistor. This combination is certainly useful in studying electric circuit. The time required for charging a capacitor to 63% of full charge or for discharging a capacitor to 37% is called time constant RC. The RC circuit is often used in electronic timing circuit. Moreover, it plays an important role in everyday equipment, such as traffic light, pacemaker, and audio equipment.
The slope calculated (m=R/RC=C) is 91.483 compared to the theoretical value of
C, which is 100. The percentage of error is 8.5 %. This is an acceptable error (<10%). CONCLUSION: The lab was successfully finished. The charge and discharge of a combination of RC was measured. The graph of the voltage of the charged and discharged capacitor is a exponential function as expected. Experimenters also presented the graph of time constant RC vs. resistance R. Through the graph, the capacitance C was calculated and was compared to the actual values of C. The error is less than 10%, i.e. it is acceptable. Through this experiment, experimenters have a chance to investigate the RC circuit, one of the most important electronic circuits.
