SUDHIR MEMORIAL INSTITUTE

SESSION:2019-2020
TOPIC-DETERMINATION OF TIME
CONSTANT IN R/C CIRCUIT

NAME- RISHAV SUREKA

CLASS-XII (SCIENCE-MATHS)
ROLL NO.- 19
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have taken efforts in this assignment. However, it wouldn’t

have been possible without the kind support and help of many
individuals. I would like to extend our sincere thanks to all them.

I am highly indebted to my subject teacher for the guidance and

constant supervision as well as providing necessary information
regarding this assignment.

I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents and

friends for their encouragement which helps me in completion of
this assignment.
 DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the project work entitled
“DETERMINATION OF TIME CONSTANT OF A R-C
CIRCUIT” submitted to the ‘SUDHIR MEMORIAL
INSTITUTE’ is a record of original work done by me except of
the experiments, which are duly acknowledge, under the
guidance of my subject teacher.
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that RISHAV SUREKA a student of class XII
of SUDHIR MEMORIAL INSTITUTE session 2019-20 has
satisfactorily completed the required Physics project work as per
the syllabus of standard XII.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

 INDEX

SL.NO. TOPIC PG.NO.

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 AIM 2

3 THEORY 3

4 APPARATUS REQUIRED 4

5 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM 5

6 PROCEDURE 6

8 OBSERVATIONS 9

9 CALCULATIONS 10

10 GRAPH 11

11 SOURCES OF ERROR 12

12 PRECAUTIONS 13
13 CONCLUSIONS 14

14 BIBLIOGRAPHY 15
 AIM
To experimentally determine the time constant (t) of a slow
RC circuit and verify the value using the actual formula.
 INTRODUCTION
This project is based on the analysis of a simple RC circuit and
how the voltages across its components vary with time. A
resistor-capacitor circuit (RC circuit), or RC filter or RC
network, is an electric circuit composed of resistors and
capacitors driven by a voltage or current source. A first order RC
circuit is composed of one resistor and one capacitor and is the
simplest type of RC circuit.
In this project, the focus is on slow RC circuits, the ones in
which charging and discharging of the capacitor take place in a
notable amount of time. This makes it possible for the human
eye to observe the changes in the voltage and derive results from
the readings. The various technical terms and formulae have
been explained in detail in the project's theory.
 THEORY
A resistor–capacitor circuit (RC circuit), or RC filter or RC
network, is an electric circuit composed
of resistors and capacitors driven by a voltage or current source.
A first order RC circuit is composed of one resistor and one
capacitor and is the simplest type of RC circuit.
RC circuits can be used to filter a signal by blocking certain
frequencies and passing others. The two most common RC filters
are the high-pass filters and low-pass filters; band-pass
filters and band-stop filters usually require RLC filters, though
crude ones can be made with RC filters.
 APPRATUS REQUIRED
• A Battery Eliminator of 10 V
• An Electrolytic Capacitor of 100 m F
• A Carbon Resistor of 220 k W
• A Voltmeter
• A Two-Way Switch
• Connecting Wires
• Stopwatch
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
 PROCEDURE
• i. Obtain the components required for the circuit.
• ii. Clean the ends of the connecting wires with a sand paper.
• Connect the +ve terminal of the battery eliminator E to the
common end of two way switch S.
• iv. Connect the -ve terminal of E to the shorter leg of the
electrolytic capacitor C.
• v. Draw a wire from the one of the ends of S and join it to the
above wire to form a junction.
• vi. Connect a wire from the capacitor side of this junction to
ground ( 0 Volts ).
• Connect a wire from the longer leg of the capacitor to the
resistor R.
• Connect the other end of R to the remaining end of S.
• ix. Connect the Voltmeter, V, in parallel across C to complete
the circuit.
• x. To start the experiment, turn S to the upper position and
switch on E. Wait till the voltmeter reaches a steady value. Note
that this value will be equal to 10V, the voltage provided by E.
When this happens, the capacitor is said to be in steady state.
• xi. Once the capacitor is fully charged, turn S to the lower
position and start the stopwatch.
• As the capacitor discharges through ground, the reading in V1
reduces gradually. As the reading in V reaches a value of E
(.368), stop the stopwatch and note its reading. This is the value
of one time constant.
• Turn S to the upper position again and start the stopwatch.
• Note the time when V displays a voltage of E (.632). This is the
value of one time constant taken while charging. Both the
observed values should be about the same.
• Repeat discharging and charging three more times to get a
total of 8 readings for the time constant. Note them in the
observations table, and find their average to compute t.
• Calculate the theoretical value of t from RC and find the
percentage error in computing the experimental t.
• To find the maximum value of charge stored in C, multiply the
voltage observed at steady state with the capacitance.
• Find the percentage error again after calculating the actual
value from CE.
• Repeat the charging and discharging processes to obtain the
voltage values at 6 different time values for each.
• Plot these on graph paper. Graph
i. Take two graph sheets and mark voltage (in volts) along the y-
axis, and time (in seconds) along the x-axis.
ii. Plot the readings under charging in one and discharging on
the other.
iii. Join the plotted points with a smooth freehand curve.
iv. Both the graphs should be exponential in nature.
OBSEVATIONS
 CALCULATION
Experimental Value of t1 = ……. S
Actual value of R*C = t2 = …………. s
Difference in values = t = | t1 - t2 |
= ……. s
Percentage Experimental Error = ∆t × 100
t1

= ……………. %
GRAPH
SOURCES OF ERROR
• Values can change due to heating effect
• .Eddy current can change the readings
CONCLUSION
 PRECAUTIONS
• The insulation from the ends of the connecting wires must be
removed properly and the ends must be cleaned with
sandpaper.
• All connections must be ensured to be tight.
• Readings involving the use of a stopwatch must be taken
carefully and accurately.
• The polarities of all equipment used must be taken into
account while connecting the circuit.
• The Voltmeter must be connected in parallel across the
Capacitor.++
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
• WIKIPEDIA

• CBSE WEBSITE

• CBSE HELP

• NCERT

• MISC. SOURCES