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School: Ng Wah Catholic Secondary school Class: F.6B

Name: Tang Pak Lap ( 19 ) Subject: AL Physics

Date: 7th May 2007 Mark:

Topic
C8 Charging a capacitor at a constant rate (TAS)

Objective

To investigate the relationship between the charge on a capacitor and the p.d. across the
capacitor by charging at a constant rate.

Apparatus

 Capacitor, 500 µF

 Microammter, 100 µΑ

 Potentiometer100 kΩ

 Clip component holder

 Hand-held stop watch

 CRO

 Connecting leads

Procedure
1. Connect the following circuit. Set the CRO to d.c. and the sensitivity to 1 Vcm- 1
2. Set the time base of the CRO to a high sweep rate so that a steady horizontal trace is
displayed. Shift the trace to the bottom of the screen.

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3. Short out the capacitor by connecting a connecting wire across it (XY). Adjust the 100
kΩ potentiometer to a suitable value for a steady current to flow (e.g. 80μA).
4. Remove the shorting wire and the capacitor will charge up.
5. Repeat the above procedure and record the time for the capacitor to charge up at a
constant rate. The potentiometer must be adjusted to keep a constant current flowing in
the circuit.
6. Measure the times for the CRO trace to move up by 1cm, 2cm, 3cm. The height is
equivalent to the voltage across the capacitor. Tabulate the results.

Results

P.d. across 1 2 3 4 5

capacitor V/V
Time t/s 6.15 12.06 18.87 25.28 32.22

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P.d. across the capacitor against time

P.d. across capacitor V/V

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 6.15 12.06 18.87 25.28 32.22
Time t/s

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Discussion
When the shorting lead removed, the capacitor is being charged up. Moreover, the
microammeter reading is being decreased and the CRO trace is being increased.

By the graph, it shows that p.d. is directly proportional to the time. It can be deduce that
as the capacitor discharges, the p.d. across it decreases. The variation is linear.

When a capacitor is charged by connecting it to a battery or other dc power supply, the

current in the circuit gradually falls to zero. The rate at which this happens depends on both
the capacitance of the capacitor and the presence of any resistance in the circuit. If the
resistance of the circuit is high, the current will be correspondingly small and the capacitor
will charge up more slowly than if there were less resistance in the circuit.

Sources of errors
1. Error in keeping the current constant
2. Internal resistance of the cell
3. Non-zero value of the variable resistance when it is "minimum"

Conclusion
The microammeter reading is being decreased and the CRO trace is being increased
when the shorting lead removed. It can be deduce that as the capacitor discharges, the p.d.
across it decreases.

A-Level Practical Physics (Third Edition)  Oxford University Press 2005