Understanding and Visualizing RC Circuit on Evive's Oscillioscope

Love Physics? Then this project is for you. You’ll get to learn the basics of a capacitor, an RC circuit, how does it charge and discharge when connected to a DC supply, and what its response is when connected to an AC supply. And all of this can be done with the help of evive’s inbuilt oscilloscope, beta function generator, and a few electronic components.

Ready for some RC fun? Let’s get started!

Things Needed

Hardware

evive
Capacitor
10k Ohm Resistor
Push Buttons
Jumper Cable

What Is a Capacitor?

A capacitor is a device capable of storing electrical charges. The maximum amount of charge that can be accumulated, divided by per unit potential difference is a property called capacitor capacitance (C) and is an indicator of the amount of energy it can store.

What Is an RC Circuit?

RC Circuit is the electric circuit which consists of Resistors and Capacitors.

RC Charging Circuit

The process of storing energy (when connected to a positive DC source) through the resistor until the voltage level across it reaches up to the input voltage level is called as charging of a capacitor. The circuit diagram can be drawn as:

Capacitors are charged according to time by the equation:

Charging Waveform

When we charge a capacitor, the voltage (or charge) increases with time. The graph of voltage (or charge) versus time is not linear but exponential (as shown in the figure below). After a time T =RC, the capacitor is 63% charged (or 0.63 x voltage of the battery V). T is a constant for a given capacitor and a given resistor. T is called the time constant.

RC Discharging Circuit

When the capacitor is fully charged and the power source is disconnected, the capacitor starts returning energy to the circuit through the resistor is called as discharging of a capacitor.

Capacitors are discharged according to time by the equation:

Discharging Waveform

When we discharge a capacitor, the voltage (or charge) decreases with time. The graph of voltage (or charge) versus time is not linear but exponential (as shown in the figure below).

The Connections

Make the following circuit using the resistor of value 10 kOhm and the capacitor of value 100 μF.

Once you make the connections, ON the evive.

Visualizing Charging Waveform

As you ON the evive, the evive Firmware shows. Open the option of Oscilloscope and see the waveforms.

Visualizing Discharging Waveform

Conclusion

Now you know what an RC circuit is, how does it charge, discharge, and what its response is to an AC input. Simply put, you’re smarter than before B-)

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