CHEMISTRY PROJECT

REPORT
Name: SAHANA.N
Class: XII SCIENCE
Institute: NARAYANA E TECHNO
SCHOOL

Year: 2022-2023
TOPIC: To Investigate how a series of
capacitors charges and discharges.

NARAYANA e-TECHNO SCHOOL

(Recognized by Govt.India Affiliated to CBSE Board, New Delhi)
CBSE Affiliated code:830600
Vidyaranyapura Bengaluru-560097
Phone Number:9606084902 School Code:45542

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that SAHANA.N of class XII,

NARAYANA E-TECHNO SCHOOL, Bangalore has successfully completed
her project in chemistry on investigation of how a series of capacitors charges
and discharges for the partial fulfilment of AISSCE as prescribed by CBSE in
the year 2022-2023

DATE: REGESTRATION NO:

Signature principal signature of teacher signature of Examiner

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly, I would like to thank the CBSE board for

giving me this opportunity to do this project.
My sincere thanks to the principal for encouragement
and all the facilities provided. wish to express my deep
gratitude towards my physics Faculty whose invaluable
guidance, constant support, motivation and
encouragement has helped me in making this project a
successful one
I am also grateful to my parents whose valuable advice
and support has made this project a wonderful
experience.

Index

Serial.no Content Page.No

1 Introduction 6

2 Aim 7

3 Material Required 8
 4 Theory 9

5 Procedure 10

6 Observation 11

7 Calculation

8 Conclusions

9 Precautions

10 Bibilography

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.
1. 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 lowing
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:
o The low of current alters the charge on a capacitor,
just as the low 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 low 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.

o 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.

o Current can low "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 low
through the pipe even though no water molecule can
pass through the rubber membrane. Of course, the low
 cannot continue the same direction forever; the
capacitor will experience dielectric breakdown, and
analogously the membrane will eventually break.

o 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.

o A charged-up capacitor is storing potential energy,

analogously to a stretched membrane.

2. 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: -
1 relaxed membrane (uncharged)

2 stretched membrane (charged)

AIM
To verify that 63% charge is stored in a capacitor in a
R-C circuit at its time constant and 63% charge remains
when capacitor is discharged and hence plot a graph
between voltage and time
Materials Required: -
o Breadboard

o 100pF capacitor

o 1 MW resistor

o Multi-meter

o 9V battery

o Wire stripper

o connecting wires

o battery connector

o Stopwatch
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 «e x’
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 battery
Q
E-Vc-IR=0........…………….. (i) vc= c
PUTTING ABOVE VALUE IN EQ. (i)
Q
E= −IR=0
C
ⅆQ
SINCE, I = ⅆt
Q ⅆQ
THEREFORE, E= c = ⅆt R=0

INTEGRATING BOTH SIDES

t Q
1 1
∫ RC ⅆt =∫ ⅆQ
0 0 EC−Q

EC−Q t
-In EC
=
RC ………………(ii)
−t
Q
1− =ⅇ RC
EC
Hence we get, 1−ⅇ
−t
RC

Since EC =Q For a capacitor

0

Therefore
Q=Q (1−ⅇ ) …………………..(iii)
−t
RC
0

Here Q= Charge at time t

Q =Max charge
0
 Also, Q = CV and Q =C v Where, V and v0 0 0 are
Voltage at time T and Maximum voltage
Therefore, from eq. (iii)
−t
Cv=C v 0 (1−ⅇ RC )
(required equation)
−t
v=v 0 (1−ⅇ RC )

[Note: This is the charging equation only, for

discharging equation proceed the same way but only
remove E from Kirchhoff law equation]

Thus, equation for discharging

−t
RC
v=v 0 (ⅇ )

When RC=t,
V=0.63 v 0
i.e, the voltage on capcitorat times T=RC becomes 63% of the max voltage, which means
63% of the total charge has been stored in the capacitor.

This product of R and C has been given a new name, ie., time constant and is denoted by τ
Which mean for any capacitor in RC circuit 63% of the total charge is at constant .

In my experiment I have used a 100 μF capacitor and 1Mohms resistors thus,

TIME CONSTANT =100=10−6 ×106=100 sec

PROCEDURE
• Connect all the components in breadboard

• Now take multimeter leads and place them in the

two terminals

• Now take the Battery and its terminal across the

terminal of the capacitor and start the stopwatch.
 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
100sec which is quite practical to measure at and
hence this experiment is very much justified.].

• 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.

• Now let the capacitor be charged up to 460 secs

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.

• Plot the graph between voltage and time for charging

as well as discharging

Observation
 Serial.no Multi-meter Multi-meter Time (in s)
reading while reading while
charging (in discharging
V)

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

7 6.72 2.21 140

8 7.00 1.54 180

9 8.12 0.74 250

10 8.40 043 300

GRAPH
-Plot of voltage vs time
Time on X-axis and Voltage on Y-axis

• For Charging

• For

Discharging
CALCULATION
Now since the Graph are very much similar to the
graph of charging and discharging of capacitor.
At z=100s, during charging of capacitor the voltage on
capacitor is 5.69 volt as it is observed in the experiment.
Now using the charging formula, we get
P = 5. 67=5.69
Which is achieved experimentally as well.

Similarly, during discharging,

V = 3.32 = 3.30
Which is achieved experimentally as well.

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

PRECAUTIONS

• Do all the connections carefully

• Do all the connection neat and tight

• Do not connect LED without resistance

• Keep yourself safe from high voltage

• Before doing any experiment please consult to your

subject teacher or lab assistance

BIBLOGRAPHY
1. http://www.comeforlearn.com
2. http://healthyeating.sfgate.com
3. https://nutriheal.weebly.com/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rc- circuit
5. https://www.google.co.in
6. https://priskajp.wordpress.com