Capacitor

RUSTIA, PRINCE LORD, J.,SAN JUAN, CAMILLE, R.,SANTIAGO, ARNEL II, C.

SEMILLA, CHEYENE DARIANE, B.,TORRES, JAMES ANTHONY, C.,VELASCO, MA. CARMINA, C.
Thursday 2:00-5:00PM / OZ308
Mathematics and Physics Department, Adamson University

Abstract
The purpose of the laboratory experiment is to describe the charging and discharging process of the
capacitors and to differentiate the charging and discharging of various capacitors. In this experiment, a capaci-
tor is charged by connecting it to a source and is also discharged by immediately disconnecting the source from
the circuit. The time taken is recorded at uniform interval. The graph of charging and discharging capacitors are
both in exponential form. However, they are contrasting in direction. Therefore, capacitance is the maximum
charge that a capacitor can store. The stored energy of the capacitor, nevertheless, is not always equal to its
capacitance
1. Introduction potential across the capacitor increases which is known as
Capacitors are devices that can store electric the charging process of the capacitor. However, when the
charge and energy. A capacitor can be gradually charged switch is open and the circuit is shorted, the potential
to the necessary voltage and after that released rapidly to across the capacitor approaches to zero which is known as
provide the energy required. A capacitor consists of two the discharging process of the capacitor. A resistor in se-
conductors isolated by a small separation. At the point ries is used to absorb the heat that maybe generated in
when the conductors are associated with a charging de- the process. Mathematically, the voltage across the capac-
vice (for instance, a battery), charge is exchanged from itor at any given time is derived:
one conductor to the next until the distinction in potential
between the conductors due to their equivalent, however
opposite charge noticeably equivalent to the potential Where VO is the maximum voltage in Volt, tis the
difference between the terminals of the charging device. time in seconds, R is resistance in series with capacitor in
The amount of charge stored on either conductor is specif- Ohm, and C is the capacitance of the capacitor in Farad.
ically corresponding to the voltage, and the consistent of The potential difference across the capacitor that reached
proportionality is known as capacitance. The aim of this 63% of the maximum value of voltage VO is at t = RC which
experiment is to compare the charging and discharging is known as Time Constant or the relaxation time which
process of different capacitor. measure how quickly the capacitor charges.

2. Theory 3. Materials and Procedure

A capacitor is a device which consists of parallel

conductors separated by an insulating material. It can 4. Results and Discussion
store energy by transferring charges from a conductor to
another. To move charges between the conductors, work Table 1 presents the data gathered by the stu-
must be done through the resulting potential difference dents in the experiment proper.
from the conductors. The magnitude of charge stored is Table 1. Charging and Discharging of Capacitor
directly proportional to the potential difference between
the conductors. The ratio of Charge Q to potential differ- C = 470 F C = 100 F
ence or Voltage V is constant known as the Capacitance C.
Mathematically, Time Voltage (V) Voltage (V) Voltage (V) Voltage (V)
(s) (Charging (Discharging (Charging (Discharging
C = Q/ Process) Process) Process) Process)
Where C is the capacitance in Farad (F), Q is the
magnitude of charge in Coulomb (C), and V is the Voltage 5 0.5 5.0 3.1 3.5
or potential difference in Volt (V) when a capacitor is con- 10 1.9 4.1 5.0 1.5
nected to a DC source, charges move to the plates and the 15 2.6 3.5 5.9 1.0
 20 3.2 3.0 6.0 0.5 6
25 3.9 2.5 6.4 0.4 5

Voltage (V)
30 4.3 2.1 6.4 0.4 4
40 4.9 1.5 6.5 0.0 3 470 F
50 5.2 1.1 6.5 0.0 2 100 F
60 5.6 1.0 6.5 0.0 1
70 6.0 0.4 6.5 0.0 0
The students used two values of capacitor in a RC 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 60 70
circuit. The capacitors was charged for 70 seconds using a Time (s)
DC power supply and discharged. The 470 F capacitor Figure 2. Discharging process of the capacitor
stored an approximate amount of 6.0 V after 70 seconds
while the 100 F capacitor stored 6.5 V. In the discharging Figure 2 shows the difference between 470 F
process, the 100 F capacitor discharged a lot faster than
and 100 F capacitor in discharging process. The 100
the 470 F capacitor. Since the RC time constant is the
product of the resistance and capacitance, higher capaci-
F discharged faster than 470 F also because of the
tance will result to higher time constant and makes char- value of the time constant. Capacitors with lower ca-
ging and discharging slower. pacitance will discharge faster than higher capacitor
The computed potential V at 25 seconds for 470 in a RC circuit.
F capacitor is 4.1 V and 9.2 V for 100 F capacitor. The
group obtained a 4.9% error in the first trial while 30.4% 5. Conclusion
error in the second. The errors may be due to inconsisten-
cy and inacuracy on the measuring instrument and human References
error.
1. Caares, A., Casquejo, E., Ching, M., Fadri, R., La-
7 ban, R., Miranda, M., Siguenza, R., Turnbull, W.
6
(2017). Physics Laboratory Manual Volume 2.
Voltage (V)

5
2. Charging and Discharging of Capacitor. Retrieved
4 470 F
3 from
100 F
2 http://www.academia.edu/11679388/Charging_a
1 nd_Discharging_of_a_Capacitor_Lab_Report
0 3. Physics Laboratory Manual
5 10 15 20 25 30 40 50 60 70
Time (s)
Figure 1. Charging process of the capacitor

Figure 1 shows the difference between 470 F and

100 F capacitor in charging process. 470F capacitor
charged slower than a 100 F capacitor. This is because
higher capacitance has higher value of time constant so it
will take a longer time to charge a capacitor with higher
capacitance than with lower capacitance.