RC Circuit Lab

By: Peter Zhang

Period: H
4-22-14















Objective: The objective of this lab is to verify the charge/discharge characteristics of an RC
circuit.
Theory:

()

Procedure:
1. Set a Pasco Voltage Sensor at 1000 Hz.
2. Measure the charge/discharge potential of the capacitor.
3. Plot the charging potential vs. time and verify that T is at 63% of the final value.
4. Plot ln(Vc) vs. time and verify the equation y=mx+b is ln(Vc) = -(1/RC)t + ln(Vbattery)
Graphs:

0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
V
b
a
t
t
e
r
y

Time (s)
Charge

T = 0.039s
Results:
Experimental time constant Actual Time Constant Percent Error
0.039s 0.033s 18.18%

Conclusion:
The objective of this lab is to verify the charge/discharge characteristics of an RC circuit.
The resulting time constant of 0.039 is 18.18% different from the expected, 0.033 seconds. The
main source of error is the capacitor value with a tolerance of 20%.






y = -25.495x + 2.4371
-6
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
l
n
(
V
0
)

Time (s)
Discharge