ACTIVITY No.

7
SERIES RESISTANCE-CAPACITANCE CIRCUIT

OBJECTIVES

1. To demonstrate how to get the impedance of series-capacitance circuit.

2. To investigate the impedance of series resistance-capacitance circuit to an AC
sinusoidal waveform and see how this varies with frequency.

INTRUMENT and MATERIALS

Audio generator
2-KΩ Resistor
100-nF Capacitors
Bread board
Connecting wires
Voltmeter
Milliammeter

DISCUSSION

Unless stated otherwise, we always assume that the components we use are ideal devices.
That is, resistors contain only resistance and capacitors contain only capacitance although actual
capacitors have small amounts of resistance and inductance.
The phasor current I in a series RC circuit is in-phase with the resistance voltage drop IR
and is same throughout the circuit. The capacitor voltage IXC must be 90 º clockwise from I. The
position of the total voltage is θ degrees from the total current since it is the phasor sum of the
two voltage drop (Figure 7.1).

E ² = ER ² + EC ² = (IR)² + (IXC)² = I² (R² + XC²)

E = I √ R ² + XC²

The quantity √ R² + XC² is known as the impedance (Z) of the circuit. Its unit ohm.
Also ER = IR = E cos θ is the voltage drop across the resistor and EC = IXC = E sin θ is the voltage
drop across the capacitance.
I ER

EC E

Figure 7.1
PROCEDURES

1. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 7.2.

2. Set the frequency of the audio generator to 100 Hz, and adjust the output of the
generator to give 1 V rms as read on meter.
3. Record the current for this voltage in Table 7.1.
4. Reset the output voltage to 2 V rms and record the resulting current.
5. Repeat this for voltages of 3, 4 and 5 V rms. Record the resulting currents and
calculate the impedance for each other voltage and current in Table 7.2.
6. Repeat procedure 2-5 for frequencies of 150, 200, 400, 800, and 1200Hz.
7. Calculate the average impedance for each frequency. Record the values in Table 7.3.
Plot a graph of impedance against frequency with frequency as the abscissa and
impedance as the ordinate.
8. Compare the average value of your measured impedance at each frequency with the
theoretically calculated impedance. Use Table 7.4.

R = 2 KΩ

Audio Gen C = 100 nF

V

Figure 7.2

Table 7.1
 Frequency (Hz) Voltage (V rms) Current (mA rms) Impedance (KΩ)

100

150

200

400

800

1200

Table 7.2

Frequency (Hz) Average Impedance (kΩ)

Table 7.4
Frequency (Hz) Zave Measured XC R Z Theory
100
150
200
400
800
1200

OBSERVATIONS:

CONCLUSION:

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1. Explain in your own words the relationship between resistance, capacitive reactance
and impedance in a series RC circuit.
2. Explain how changes in frequency affect impedance and current in a series RC.
3. Under what circumstances is it possible for the total impedance to decrease when a
capacitor is added in series with a given impedance?
4. A series RC circuit has 10-V, 200-Hz source and 0.68- μF capacitor. How much
resistance is required to cause the current to lead the voltage?
5. At what frequency will a 1 microfarad capacitor and a 100 kiloohm resistor in series
have an impedance of 120 kiloohm?
 Activity No. 7
In Electrical
Circuits II

Submitted By: John Paul M. Baquiran

CEIT-03-601E

Submitted To: Engr. Pio Advincula