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Act Sheet For Robotics

The document describes several circuits: 1. A transistor circuit used to illuminate an LED when a switch is closed, allowing current to flow through the transistor's collector. 2. A charging and discharging capacitor circuit with two switches, one to charge the capacitor and one to discharge it. The time it takes a capacitor to charge is calculated using the time constant formula. 3. A light sensor circuit using a light dependent resistor (LDR) and potentiometer to measure light levels.

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Erah Kim Gomez
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45 views

Act Sheet For Robotics

The document describes several circuits: 1. A transistor circuit used to illuminate an LED when a switch is closed, allowing current to flow through the transistor's collector. 2. A charging and discharging capacitor circuit with two switches, one to charge the capacitor and one to discharge it. The time it takes a capacitor to charge is calculated using the time constant formula. 3. A light sensor circuit using a light dependent resistor (LDR) and potentiometer to measure light levels.

Uploaded by

Erah Kim Gomez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PART 1.

Using a transistor to switch on an LED

The purpose of the circuit is to illuminate LED1 (as previously mentioned, LED2 is included simply to show that the
current flowing to the Base is very small). In its stable state - when the push button is not pressed - current is not
able to flow completely through the circuit from the battery's positive terminal to the negative terminal. There are
two routes for the current to take:

1. Through R1, then LED1, along the yellow jumper wire, and then onto the transistor's Collector pin. This is where
the current stops along this route.

2. Along the red jumper wire and then down to the switch. This is where the current stops along this route.

ENCIRCLE THE TWO ROUTES in the following circuit diagram

TRACE THE ROUTE OF CURRENT WHEN THE SWITCH IS CLOSED

PART 2. Charging and Discharging a Capacitor

The circuit can be thought of as having two halves: one half (the left-hand side) to charge the capacitor and the
other half (the right-hand side) to discharge it.
TRACE the flow of current in figure 1 WHEN SWITCH 1 is CLOSED and trace the flow of current when SWITCH 2
is CLOSED

Connecting the resistor (R1) and capacitor (C) in series forms what is known as a resistor-capacitor (or RC) circuit,
which is a very common circuit used in electronics, and which we discussed briefly in Chapter 10 when we
examined the 555 Timer. The values of these two components - in ohms for the resistor and farads for the
capacitor - determine how long it takes for the capacitor to charge. This is known as the time constant (TC) and is
calculated using the following formula:

T=RxC

where:

T = time constant (in seconds) R = value of resistance (in ohms) C = value of capacitance (in farads)

Example 1

To calculate the time constant for a 1 kΩ resistor and 1000 µF capacitor, firstly we need to convert the resistance
value into ohms, and the capacitance value into farads:

1 kΩ = 1000 Ω 1000 µF = 0.001 F


Therefore, to calculate the time constant (T):

T=RxC

T = 1000 x 0.001

T = 1 second

So, we have calculated that it takes 1 second to charge the capacitor. In fact, this isn't quite true because after one
time constant the capacitor is only about 66% charged. It will take another four-time constant before we can
confidently say that the capacitor is fully charged. So now, we can see that instead of it taking 1 second to charge
the capacitor, it will in fact take about 5 seconds.

PROBLEM 1

Calculate the time constant for a 100 kΩ resistor and 1000 µF capacitor. How long will it take for the capacitor
to be fully charged?

PROBLEM 2

What is the purpose of the diode in the circuit?

PART III. Building a Light Sensor


Figure 1. Day light breadboard circuit

PROBLEM 1. What happens to the resistance of the LDR when there is a light source?

PROBLEM 2. What is the purpose of the potentiometer?

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