PHYSICS PROJECT

BY: TAZIM , SURENDHAR

AND MADHAV
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is our privilege to express our sincerest regards to our respected Principal, Mr.
John Dinakaran, for his valuable inputs, able guidance, encouragement, whole-
hearted cooperation and constructive criticism throughout the duration of our
project. I extend my appreciation to Ms. A. Angeline Rita, our Physics teacher who
guided me to the successful completion of this project. I take this opportunity to
express my deep sense of gratitude to her invaluable guidance, on-going
encouragement, enormous motivation, which has sustained my efforts at all stages
of project development. I would like to thank my parents and all other family
members for their timely encouragements, and love during the course of the project
development. Lastly, I would like to thank my classmates and friends for their
cooperation and support throughout the year.

INDEX

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S.NO CONTENT PAGE
NO

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 1

2. INTRODUCTION 2

3. AIM 6

4. MATERIALS REQUIRED 7

5. THEORY 8

6. PROCEDURE 11

7. OBSERVATION 14

8. GRAPH 16

9. CALCULATION 18

10. CONCLUSION 19

11. PRECAUTIONS 20

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY 21
INTRODUCTION

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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:

● 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.
● 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.

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 ● 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.

● 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.

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 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.

MATERIAL REQUIRED

1. Breadboard
2. 100µF capacitor
3. 1 MΩ resistor
4. Multi-meter
5. 9V battery
6. Wire stripper, connecting wires, battery connector
7. Stopwatch

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6
 DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS:
1.BREADBOARD:

THEORY
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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

Putting above value in eq. (i)

E - Vc - iR=0… (i)

Since,
dq
I= Therefore,
dt
Q dQ
E− − R=0
C dt

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 Q dQ
E− = R
C dt
dQ
EC −Q= RC
dt

Integrating on both sides,

t Q
1 1
∫❑ RC
dt =∫ ❑
EC−Q
dQ
0 0

EC−Q t
−ln = … … … … … … … . ( ii )
EC RC
−t
Q
1− =e RC
EC

Hence,we get

( )
−t
Q=EC 1−e RC … … … … ( iii )

Since, EC =Qo
Therefore,
Q=Q (1−e ) … … … … ( iii )
−1
RC
o

Where,
Q ⟶Charge at time T

Qo ⟶Maximum charge

Also,
Q=CV ∧Qo=¿C V o ¿

Where,
V ⟶Voltage at time T

V o ⟶Maximum voltage

Therefore,from eq.(iii)
( )
−1
CV =C V o 1−e RC

( 1−e )
−1
RC
V =V o

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 [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
(e )
−1
RC
V =V o

When RC =t ,then equation becomes

V =V o ( e−1 ) , Which on solving gives
V =0.63V o

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
denoted by τ ,which mean for any capacitor in RC circuit 63% of total charge
is at time constant.
In my experiment I have used a 100 μF capacitor and 1 MΩ resistor thus ,Time
constant =100 ×10−6 ×10 6=100 sec

PROCEDURE

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(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
shaped like
(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 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.

(v) 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

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a wire in place of the battery terminals and again note the multimeter readings
changing and record them.
(vi) Plot a graph between voltage and time for charging as well as discharging.

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 OBSERVATION

S No. Multi-meter reading while Multi-meter reading Time (in S)

charging (in V) while discharging (in 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 0.43 300

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Graphical Representation

Plot of voltage vs time

Time on X-axis and Voltage on Y-axis

● For Charging

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FOR DISCHARGING:

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 CALCULATION

Now since the Graph are very much similar to the graph of charging and
discharging of capacitor.

At τ=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:

V= 9(1-e-t/t)
V= 9(1-1/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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 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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 PRECAUTIONS

● Do all the connection 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

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BIBILIOGRAPHY

● Google.co.in
● En.wikipedia.org
● Concepts of physics part 2 by H.C. Verma
● Wikipedia.com
● Google search engine
● WWW.YOUTUBE.COM
● Physics NCERT book for class XII

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