KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA NO.

-2
DELHI CANTT- 10

Investigatory Project on Charging and

Discharging of capacitor in R-C circuits

A project submitted by
ABHIPSITA SARKAR

Under the guidance of

DR. MAHESH SRIVASTAVA
PGT (Physics)
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms. Abhipsita Sarkar

of class XIIth- ‘A’, Roll No.- 02, Kendriya Vidyalaya No.-2
Delhi Cantt- 10, has successfully completed her physics
project on the topic entitled on “Charging and
Discharging of capacitor in R-C circuits”,
Under the guidance of Dr. Mahesh Srivastava,
PGT (Physics),
During the academic year 2023-24
The report is the result of her efforts & endeavours.
The report is found worthy of acceptance as the final
Project report for the subject Physics
of class XIIth- ‘A’

Dr. Mahesh Srivastava External Examiner

PGT (Physics)
 AKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who
supported me throughout my physics investigative project on
"Investigating the Factors Affecting the Charging and Discharging of
Capacitors."

I am immensely thankful to my physics teacher, Dr. Mahesh

Srivastava, for his guidance and expertise, which helped shape this
project.

I would also like to extend my appreciation to my parents for their

unwavering support and encouragement throughout this endeavour.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge the resources and references that

provided valuable insights and information for my research.

Thank you all for your contributions and support.

Abhipsita Sarkar
Class- XIIth ‘A’
Roll No.- 02
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Certificate
• Acknowledgement
• Topic
• Aim
• Introduction
• Theory
• Procedure
• Observation
• Calculation
• Conclusion
• Precautions
• Bibliography
 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.
 INTRODUCTION
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.
• 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.

2. 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.
 MATERIALS REQUIRED

• Breadboard
• 100µF capacitor
• 1 MΩ resistor
• Multi-meter
• 9V battery
• Wire stripper, connecting wires, battery
connector
• Stopwatch
 THEORY
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.

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 battery
Putting above in equation (i)-

Since,

Integrating both sides,

Hence we get,
Where,
Q -> Charge at time T
Qo -> Maximum Charge

Also,
Q = CV and Qo= CVo

Where,
V -> Voltage at time T
Vo-> Maximum Voltage

Therefore, from eq.(iii)

[Note: This is the charging equation only, for discharging equation

proceed the same way but only remove E from Kirchhoff law
equation]
Thus, equation for discharging
i.e the voltage on the 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 is denoted by , which
means for any capacitor in RC circuit 63% of total
charge is at time constant
In my experiment I have used a 100µF capacitor
and 1 MΩ resistor
Thus, Time constant= 100 X 10-6 X 106 = 100 sec
 PROCEDURE
• Connect all the components in breadboard

• Now take multimeter leads and place them in the two terminals

• Now take the Battery and its terminal across the terminal of the
capacitor and start the stopwatch. 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.

• 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 a wire in place of the
battery terminals and again note the multimeter readings
changing and record them.

• Plot a graph between voltage and time for charging as well as

discharging
 OBSERVATION
Multi-meter Multi-meter
reading while reading while Time (in
S No.
charging (in discharging (in S)
V) 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

 GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION
GRAPH-
Plot of voltage vs time
Time on X-axis and Voltage on Y-axis

• For Charging

• For Discharging
 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.

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.
 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

BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Wikipedia.com
• Google search engine
• WWW.YOUTUBE.COM
• Physics NCERT book for class XII