SESSION : 2022-2023

SUBMITTED BY :- SUBMITTED TO :-
Name : Sanket Kumar MRS. JAYATI SINHA
Class : XII PGT (PHYSICS)
Board roll no. :
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This is to certify that the investigatory project entitled

CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF CAPACITORS is a
bonafide work done by SANKET KUMAR of class XII
Session 2022-23 in the partial fulfillment of CBSE’s
AISSCE Examinations and has been carried out under
my direct supervision and guidance.

……………………….. ………………………

Signature of External MRS. JAYATI SINHA

PGT (PHYSICS)
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Apart from the efforts of me, the success of any project

depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many
others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the
people who have been instrumental in the successful
completion of this project.

I express my heartfelt gratitude to my parents for constant

encouragement while carrying out this project.

I express my deep sense of gratitude to The Principal, Dr.

Subhosree Sarkar who has been continuously motivating and
provided moral support during completion of project.

My sincere thanks to my teacher Mrs. Jayati Sinha, a guide,

mentor and all the above a friend who critically reviewed my
project and helped in solving each and every problem, occurred
during implementation of the project

The guidance and support received from all the members who
contributed and who are contributing to this project, was vital for
the success of the project. I am grateful for their constant support
and help.
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S.NO DESCRIPTION PAGE.NO

01. Introduction 04

02. Materials required 05

03. Theory 08

04. Procedure 09

05. Observation and Calculation 12

06. Conclusion 13

07 Bibliography
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INTRODUCTION
An R-C circuit is a circuit containing a resistor and capacitor in
series to a power source. Such circuits find very important
applications in various areas of science and in basic circuits
which act as building blocks of modern technological devices.
It should be really helpful if we get comfortable with the
terminologies charging and discharging of capacitors.

Charging of capacitor :
A capacitor is a passive two-terminal electrical
component used to store energy in an electric field. In
the hydraulic analogy, charge carriers flowing through
a wire are analogous to water flowing through a pipe. A
capacitor is like a rubber membrane sealed inside a
pipe. Water molecules cannot pass through the
membrane, but some water can move by stretching the
membrane. The analogy clarifies a few aspects of
capacitors:
 The flow of current alters the charge on a capacitor, just as the
flow of water changes the position of the membrane. More
specifically, the effect of an electric current is to increase the
charge of one plate of the capacitor and decrease the charge of
the other plate by an equal amount. This is just like how, when
water flow moves the rubber membrane, it increases the amount
of water on one side of the membrane and decreases the amount
of water on the other side.

 The more a capacitor is charged, the larger its voltage drop i.e., the
more it "pushes back" against the charging current. This is
analogous to the fact that the more a membrane is stretched, the
more it pushes back on the water.
  Current can flow "through" a capacitor even though no
individual electron can get from one side to the other. This is
analogous to the fact that water can flow through the pipe even
though no water molecule can pass through the rubber
membrane. Of course, the flow cannot continue the same
direction forever; the capacitor will experience dielectric
breakdown, and analogously the membrane will eventually
break.

 The capacitance describes how much charge can be stored on

one plate of a capacitor for a given "push" (voltage drop). A very
stretchy, flexible membrane corresponds to a higher capacitance
than a stiff membrane.

 A charged-up capacitor is storing potential energy,

analogously to a stretched membrane.

Discharging of capacitor :
Using hydraulic analogy only we can understand that
when the capacitor is charged the membrane is
stretched, but now if you allow the water to come out
slowly and let the membrane relax, then it is called
discharging of capacitor. In other words, when the
charge on each of the plates becomes zero and the
potential difference across its terminals drops to zero.
Below is a graphical description of capacitor as a pipe
with a membrane: -

 Relaxed membrane (uncharged)

 Stretched membrane (charged)

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Materials required
i. Broadband

ii. 100µF capacitor

iii. 1 MΩ resistor

iv. Multimeter

v. 9 V battery

vi. Wire stripper, connecting wires, battery connector and

stopwatch
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Theory

When a capacitor of capacitance C is connected in series with a

resistor of resistance R and then connected to a battery of EMF
E it gets charged but since some resistance has been
introduced, this charging process takes some time and hence
the potential difference between the plates of the capacitor
varies as an exponential function of time, i.e.
V α e xt
The circuit diagram for this experiment is given below:-

Applying Kirchhoff’s law in the above circuit during

charging, i.e. capacitor is connected to the battery

E–Vc –iR=0…………….. (i)

𝑄
Vc=
𝐶
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Putting above value in eq. (i)

𝑄
𝐸− − 𝑖𝑅 = 0
𝐶

𝑑𝑄
Since i=
𝑑𝑡
𝑄 𝑑𝑄
Therefore, E - - R=0
𝐶 𝑑𝑡
𝑄 𝑑𝑄
E- = R
𝐶 𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑄
EC-Q= RC
𝑑𝑡
Integrating both sides
𝑡 1 𝑄 1
∫0 𝑅𝐶 𝑑𝑡=∫0 𝐸𝐶−𝑄
𝑑𝑄

𝐸𝐶−𝑄 𝑡
− ln = …………. (ii)
𝐸𝐶 𝑅𝐶

−𝑡
𝑄
1− =𝑒 𝑅𝐶
𝐸𝐶

−𝑡
Hence we get, Q=EC(1 − 𝑒 ) 𝑅𝐶

Since EC=Q0 for a capacitor

Therefore,
−𝑡
Q=Q0(1 − 𝑒 )……………….. (iii)
𝑅𝐶

Here, Q charge at time t

Qo max charge
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Also Q=CV and Qo=CVo, where V and Vo are voltage at time t

and max voltage respectively
Therefore from eq (iii),
−𝑡
CV=CVo(1 − 𝑒 𝑅𝐶 )
−𝑡
V=Vo(1 − 𝑒 𝑅𝐶 ), this is the required expression.

[NOTE:- This is the charging equation only, for discharging

equation proceed the same way but only remove E from
Kirchhoff law’s equation].
Thus equation for discharging,
−𝑡
V=V0(𝑒 𝑅𝐶 )

When RC=t, then equation becomes,

V=Vo(1 − 𝑒 −1 )
Which on solving gives
V=0.63Vo, i.e. the voltage on capacitor at time t=RC becomes
63% of the max voltage, which means 63% of total charge has
been stored in the capacitor.
This product of R and C has been given a new name, i.e. time constant and is
denoted by τ, which means for any capacitor in RC circuit 63% of total charge is
stored at time constant.

In my experiment I have used a 100µF capacitor and a 1MΩ resistor thus time
constant = 100×10-6×106=100 sec.
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PROCEDURE
i. Connect all the components in the breadboard as
shown in the following picture

ii. Now take multimeter leads and place them in the

two terminals .
iii. Before proceeding further we must have a bit of
knowledge about breadboard. A breadboard is a
simple circuit building device used to build
temporary circuits just to test their working. It is very
simple to work with as it does not require any
soldering or attachment of components. The
components could be just pushed in the holes and
connections could be made easily. A straight line
pattern of holes resembles a wire and the
arrangement of these holes are shown below:-
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iv. Now take the battery and connect its terminals

across the terminals of the capacitor and start the
stop watch. Note the readings at 20sec intervals and
write them down.
[NOTE:- Reading the previous statement could be astonishing as it
says that measure voltage at 20sec interval but one could question
that current move at very high speed so how could one measure the
changing readings! But believe me it wasn’t an easy task but since
the voltage depends on reciprocal of exponential function and as
time passes by the changing readings will get slowed down and even
after infinite time the capacitor could not be charged up to max
voltage. Also since its time constant is 100 sec which is quite
practical to measure at and hence this experiment is very much
justified]
v. Take 10 readings and if required the 20sec gap could
be increased because as the time passes by the
change in voltage becomes smaller and smaller.
vi. Now let the capacitor be charged up to 460 sec
because then it will become 99.99% charged [since
we have a limited time and we can’t wait for infinite
time for it to charge completely!]. Now remove the
battery and now attach a wire in place of the battery
terminals and again note the multimeter readings
changing and record them.
vii. Plot a graph between voltage and time for charging
as well as discharging.
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OBSERVATION :
S.no. Multimeter reading Multimeter reading Time ( in
while charging( in volt) while discharging(in seconds)
volt)
1. 0 8.95 0
2. 1.65 7.34 20
3. 3.02 6.00 40
4. 4.11 4.91 60
5. 4.90 4.03 80
6. 5.69 3.30 100 (τ)
7. 6.72 2.21 140
8. 7.00 1.54 180
9. 8.12 0.74 250
10. 8.40 0.43 300

Graphs: Plot of voltage v/s time. Time on x-axis and voltage on y-axis
 For charging

charging of capacitor
9
8
7
6
5
4 Y-Values

3
2
1
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
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 For discharging:-

Discharging of capacitor
10
9
8
7
6
5
Y-Values
4
3
2
1
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

The original graphs for discharging and charging respectively are:-

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CALCULATIONS:
Now since the graphs are very much similar to the graphs of charging and
discharging of capacitor.

At τ=100sec, during charging of capacitor the voltage on capacitor is 5.69 volt as it

is observed in the experiment. Now using the charging formula:-
−𝑡
V=9(1-𝑒 𝑡 )
1
V=9(1- )
𝑒

V=5.67≈ 5.69 which is achieved experimentally as well.

Similarly during discharging,

V=9*𝑒 −1

V=3.32≈3.30 which is achieved experimentally as well.

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0

CONCLUSION:
Hence it is verified experimentally that 63% charge is there on
capacitor after time constant during charging and 63% charge is
lost at time constant during discharging.
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1

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The list of websites and books which are referred
during the development of this project are-

WEBSITES :
 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik
i/Wireless_power_transfer

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics
/engineering/wireless-power-transfer

 https://www.electronics-
tutorials.ws/electromagnetism
/electromagnetic-
induction.html

BOOKS :

 N.C.E.R.T Physics part - 1 class 12

 Fundamental of physics by Resnick ,
Hallidayand Walker.