Alex Choi Frank Cangialosi Firm Kerdsuwan Capacitor Lab DC Theory: In part 1, the rules of adding 4.

.7 uF capacitors in series and parallel were tested. A capacitor was placed with two switches, one (S1) connecting it to the voltage source and the other (S2) connecting it with an ammeter. By pressing S1, we were able to allow current to flow through the circuit and charge the capacitor. When the circuit was once again opened, the current flow would stop and the capacitor would hold its charge. Pressing S2 allowed charge held by the capacitor to flow through the wire from the positive plate to negative plate, giving the ammeter a brief reading. According to the rules of capacitors, when capacitors are in series, charges are equal for both capacitors, but their equivalent capacitance is calculated with the formula . According to this equation, the equivalent capacitance of the two 4.7 uF capacitors should have been half of their individual capacitances, 2.35 uF. When in parallel, however, the equivalent capacitance is equal to the sum of each capacitors capacitance ( ). Therefore, the equivalent capacitance of the capacitors should have been 9.4 uF, the double of individual capacitances. According to the definition of capacitance, the charge stored by a capacitor is directly proportional to its capacitance ( ). Following these formulae, one would expect the current to increase as more capacitors are added in parallel and decrease as more capacitors are added in series. In part 2, the voltages of a 470uF capacitor and a 10k resistor in series were tested during the capacitors charging and discharging state. On a breadboard, we placed a capacitor and two switches, one in parallel with the capacitor and the other in series. By holding the first switch (S1) in series with the capacitor, we were able to charge the capacitor and by letting go and pressing the second switch, we were able to discharge the capacitor. Two voltmeters were also placed in the circuit, one across the capacitor and one across the resistor, allowing us to measure the voltage difference across each component. By using the definition of capacitance and Kirchhoffs Loop Law, the voltage of the capacitor as it charges could be derived ( ,
( )

( )

, when t=0, I= and V= , indicating that

). With the Kirchhoffs Loop Law, we can also deduce that the voltage across the resistor will be the difference between the EMF of the voltage source and the voltage of the capacitor. During discharge, however, the capacitors voltage is calculated the way the voltage of the resistor is found while charging and the resistors voltage is calculated the way the voltage of the capacitor is found during charging. From these derivations for the voltage/current of the capacitor, one would expect the voltage of the capacitor to slowly (but never) approach the voltage of the source and the voltage across the resistor to slowly decrease while charging and for the two values to shift values while discharging. The time constant of the circuit is a time period over which a certain percentage of the voltage in a circuit is decreased. It defined as the product of the resistance of the resistor and the capacitance of the capacitor in that circuit. From

Alex Choi Frank Cangialosi Firm Kerdsuwan using this definition, one would expect the voltage of the capacitor to increase to 63% of the EMF in a time period equal to RC while charging and the voltage to decrease from the maximum value to 37% of the maximum value in a time period equal to RC. Also in part 2 of the lab was the building of a circuit with a 33k resistor in parallel with the capacitor in addition to the 10k resistor in series. According to the rule of parallel components, the voltage difference across the resistor should be equal to the voltage of the capacitor. Therefore, it can be deduced that as the load resistance (resistance of the resistor in parallel with the capacitor) increases, the maximum voltage of the capacitor also increases, since a resistor of higher resistance would cause a higher voltage decrease. Expected graph trends:

Alex Choi Frank Cangialosi Firm Kerdsuwan Procedure: In part 1, a capacitor of a capacitance of 4.7uF and two switches were selected and placed on the breadboard with the 6V voltage source in the Electronics LearningLab. Wires were then placed so that a switch was placed in parallel to the capacitor and another in series to the parallel combination. On the parallel side of the capacitor, an ammeter was wired so that it would read the amperage of the current that would flow through during the capacitors discharge. For the sake of facilitating the measurement of the maximum current level, the analog ammeter built in to the Electronics LearningLab was used in stead of a digital ammeter. Wires were then connected to the 6V hole at the top of the breadboard which is connected to the batteries of the kit and to the ground holes at the bottom of the breadboard. When charging the capacitor, to prevent possible damages to the built-in ammeter, only one switch was pressed at a time, first the switch in series with the capacitor and ammeter. Thanks to the rapid flow of electrons, the switch needed to be pressed for only an instant. After the switch was released, the other switch was pressed, allowing the capacitor to discharge, while the analog ammeter was observed. The peak amperage was then recorded. Because the excess electrons on the negative plate of the capacitor had nowhere to travel to in order to reach the positive plate, no charge was lost between the depression of the first switch and the second. After the first circuit was tested, another 4.7 uF capacitor was added in series to the other capacitor, and the peak reading was recorded. After the recording of the second reading, the added capacitor was removed and moved so that it would be in parallel with the other capacitor. The reading was then recorded again to be compared to the other two readings. In part 2, a single 10 k resistor was placed in series with a 470 uF capacitor. Two switches were then placed, one in parallel to the resistor and the capacitor and the other in series with the other components. Two voltmeters of the Lab Pro kit were placed on the breadboard, one over the resistor and the other over the capacitor. This allowed the Logger Pro program on the computer to read and graph the voltages over the two components. The graphing was done by opening up the Logger Pro program, setting the sampling length to 60 seconds, then clicking the collect button and holding down S1, the switch in series to the capacitor and the resistor for 30 seconds, releasing the switch, then holding down S2, the switch in parallel with the capacitor, for 60 seconds. The graphs of voltage versus time for the capacitor and the resistor were then printed. Using the Logger Pro program, we looked at the collected values to find the peak voltage over the capacitor. Then we found the experimental time constant by finding the time it took for the voltage of the capacitor to reach 63% of its maximum value during its charging process. Another sample of the experimental time constant was found again, this time using the time it took for the voltage of the capacitor to drop to 37% of its maximum value during its discharging process. The two values were then compared to the theoretical time constant, which was calculated by multiplying the resistance of the resistor (10 k) by the capacitance of the capacitor (470 uF). Going back to the LoggerPro program, we determined the equation that would fit the experimental curve by using the Automatic Curve Fit feature in the form of . After determining the graphs standard form, we used the graph of voltage versus time graph for the resistor to determine the maximum voltage over the resistor and found two more experimental time constants by finding the time it took for the

Alex Choi Frank Cangialosi Firm Kerdsuwan voltage over the resistor to rise to 63% of its maximum value during the capacitors discharging process and the time it took for the voltage over the resistor to drop to 37% of its maximum value during the capacitors charging process. Using the experimental maximum voltage over the resistor, we determined the maximum current in the resistor by dividing the maximum voltage by the resistance of the resistor. We then compared the voltage drops across the capacitor and the resistor with the EMF of the battery at different times of 10 and 20 seconds using experimental data. After data was collected from the circuit, the addition of a resistor in parallel to the capacitor was proposed. We calculated/predicted the initial and final voltage drops over the 10 k resistor and the capacitor. The modification was then made by the addition of one resistor in parallel with the capacitor. There were now two resistors: a 10 k resistor in series with the capacitor and the new 33 k resistor in parallel with the capacitor. A voltmeter was not required for the newly added resistor, since the voltage drops across parallel components are equal. After the circuit was built, we again went back to the LoggerPro program and printed the graphs of voltage versus time for the resistor and the capacitor after collecting the voltage data during the charging and discharging process. The experimental data were then compared to our predictions, and by using the charging part of the graph for the capacitor, experimental time constant was found by calculating the time it took for the capacitors voltage to rise to 63% of its maximum voltage. The experimental time constant was then compared to the theoretical time constant. Experiment: For part 1, our experimental values were determined from the peak reading of amperage by the ammeter. Using the definition of capacitance ( ), we determined that the charge stored within the capacitors in the circuit was directly proportional to the equivalent capacitance in the circuit and the EMF of the Electronics LearningLabs batteries (but the EMF remained constant). The current readings given by the ammeter in each circuit matched our predictions: two capacitors of equal capacitances in parallel had a peak reading twice the size of that of the single capacitor, and two capacitors of equal capacitances in series had a peak reading of only half the size of that of the single capacitor. In part 2, our values were calculated from the points on the graph of the collected data of voltage over time for both the capacitor and the resistor. Our maximum voltage over the capacitor was less than the 6V given off by the batteries, but that was expected, as voltage can be lost even over wire, due to its resistance, albeit a very small one. Our experimental time constants were higher than the theoretical time constant of 4.7 seconds ( ) during both discharge and charge, but that could have been accounted for by the uncertainty in the value of the resistor (5%). The time constant found during the charging of the capacitor was closer to the theoretical value, but the source of the difference between the two experimental values could have been the fact that the capacitor was not fully charged to equal the EMF of 6V given off by the batteries. From the automatic curve fit function, we obtained the equation . By taking the inverse of the power e had been raised to, we were

Alex Choi Frank Cangialosi Firm Kerdsuwan able to obtain the time constant of 4.87 seconds (( ) ). The percentage difference between this time constant and the calculated theoretical time constant was 3.6%. Considering that the resistor had an uncertainty of 5%, this error was acceptable. In the resistor, our maximum voltage was 5.84V, which was lower than the 6V given off by the batteries. This error could be explained with the fact that even wires have resistances, resulting in a small loss of voltage. The experimental time constant found by calculating the time taken for the voltage over the resistance to drop to 37% of its maximum value was greater than the expected 4.7 seconds, but this error could be accounted for with the fact that there was an uncertainty of 5% in the resistance of the resistor. As time passed from t=10 to t=20, voltage across the resistor slowly decreased while the voltage across the capacitor increased, but their sum stayed approximately equal to the EMF of 6 volts. The values of voltages over the 10k resistor and the capacitor had the percentage differences of 1.5% for initial resistor voltage, 200% for the initial capacitor voltage, 1.4% for the final resistor voltage, and .2% for the final capacitor voltage between the predicted and the experimental values. All the errors could be explained with the fact that both the resistor in series and in parallel had uncertainties except for the 200% error. The 200% error occurred primarily because both the expected and experimental values were very small. Our experimental time constant was higher than the theoretical by 7.5%, but this can be explained by the fact that there was a 5% uncertainty in both resistors. What did you discover? In the first part of the lab, it was found that charge stored by a capacitor is directly proportional to both the EMF of its voltage source and its capacitance, as its charge is the product of its capacitance and voltage. Another discovery was that the equivalent capacitance of capacitors in series can be calculated with the formula , and that the equivalent

capacitance of capacitors in parallel is equal to the sum of the individual capacitances. Knowing this, we also learned that the amount of charge stored by capacitors in series will be less than the charge stored individually and that the charge stored by capacitors in parallel will be greater than the charge stored individually. Because charge is greater/lower, its current during discharge will also be greater/lower. In the second part of the lab, the concept of time constants was discovered. During charge, a capacitor will quickly gain voltage within the first moments and slow down as time goes on and quickly lose voltage within the first moments and slow down as time passes during its discharge state. Exactly how much voltage is lost can be calculated with time constants, with one time constant indicating 63% charge and discharge. A time constant can be calculated by either finding the time it takes for voltage to drop or rise by 63% or by multiplying the equivalent resistance of the resistors in a circuit by the equivalent capacitance of the capacitors in a circuit. Applications: By knowing exactly how much charge can be stored in a capacitor, one can calculate how much energy is stored in a capacitor to do certain work. Because a capacitor is a shortlived power source, it can be useful in quick bursts of energy, such as camera flashes. A

Alex Choi Frank Cangialosi Firm Kerdsuwan camera flash does not need to last long, and the brightness of the flash may be adjusted by adjusting the voltage of the cameras batteries or by adjusting the capacitance of the capacitor. By being able to calculate time constants, one can calculate the time it takes for voltage to rise or drop by a certain amount. This can be useful in designing radios because they must send signals via waves at a certain designated rate. By having a capacitor supply the electric charge needed to create the wave, a capacitor of small capacitance and a resistor of small resistance in combination can rapidly create waves. Diagrams: