EE42/100 Problem Set 5

Due at 12:00 noon TUESDAY October 4 in box in 240 Cory Hall. Well
Make a solution available 1 hour later on top of the boxes in 240
so you can study it for the midterm, which is
Thursday Oct. 6 in class.

1. (Initial condition on charging a capacitor through a resistor) (10 points)

At the instant that a power supply is connected to an initially uncharged capacitor, the capacitor
voltage is zero, and a high charging current can flow. Find this current when an ideal 3-volt
battery having a 1-ohm internal resistance (RThvenin = 1 ohm) is connected to
(a) a 30 pF capacitor; (b) a 60 F capacitor; (c) a 5 F supercapacitor having a 5-ohm
resistor in series with it.

2. (Transient rules of thumb) (10 points)

Capacitor charging and discharging is frequently used in electronics, so it is handy to have
mental rules of thumb with which to gauge these effects.

(a) What is the analytical expression for the voltage of a capacitor, having capacitance C,
that was charged to voltage V0, that is discharged through a resistor having resistance R
connected across the capacitor terminals?
(b) To what fraction of its initial value has the capacitor voltage dropped after a time equal to
the time constant for discharge?
How long, in terms of time constants, does it take after the resistor is connected for the
capacitor voltage to drop to 1% of its initial value?
(d) Write the analytical expression for the charging by a voltage source V 0 of an initially
uncharged capacitor C through resistance R?
(e) To what fraction of V0isthecapacitorchargedafteronetimeconstant?

3.(Powerfromadischargingcapacitor)(10points)
In class you saw a capacitor discharged by shorting its terminals with a screwdriver. Suppose the
capacitor was a 30,000 F electrolytic charged to 60 volts. Suppose the discharge occurred in 1
ms. Assume the current that flows is constant (unrealistic, but convenient for this problem).

(a) Calculate the current in amperes that flows just after the capacitor is shorted
(b) Calculate the rate of energy dissipation in watts just after the capacitor is shorted.
(c) What is the average power dissipation during the discharge?

4. (Using the transient formula given in class) (15 points)

In class you were given a formula for the variation of either voltage or current during a first-
order transient
x(t) = xf + [x(t0+) xf]e-(t- t0+)/
Apply that formula to the charging of a simple RC circuit.

R
i
t=0
Vs C
 (a) What is the current i(t) for t<0?
(b) What is the current for t = 0+, the instant that the switch is closed?
(c) What is i(t) at infinite time?
(d) Using the formula, write the expression for i(t) for 0<t to infinity.
(e) Verify that the formula satisfies the differential equation obtained applying KVL to this
circuit.

5. (Transient with different sources) (10 points)

Find an expression for v0(t) for this circuit:
R

V1 + t=0 +
C vo

+ V2
+

6. (Transient occurring at different time) (5 points)

Find an expression for all times t for this circuit (the switch is flipped at time t 1 that is different
from 0)

t1 +
+ C vo
Vs

7. (Two-resistor RC circuit) (10 points)

Find an expression for v0(t) for this circuit: Make your procedure clear to the grader.

t=0 R1

+
Vs + R2 C vo