THE STUDY OF DISCHARGING CAPACITORS

Objective

: 1. To investigate discharging of capacitors in series and in parallel by

measuring the potential difference across the capacitors in series and in
parallel as a function of time.
2. To investigate the relationship between the time constant of the circuit
and the arrangement of the capacitors in series and in parallel

Apparatus
: 3 charged capacitors(10x10-6), connecting wires, voltmeter,
resistor*6800ohm, stopwatch
Procedure

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Set up the apparatus as figure 1

Make sure the capacitors are fully charged
Close the switch and start the stopwatch
Record the reading of voltmeter every 10 seconds until the voltage is zero
Repeat the experiment by using parallel circuit as figure 2

Tabulation of data
Series
Time, t/s
0
10
20
30
40

:
Potential difference,
V

Parallel
Time, t/s
0
10
20
30
40

Potential difference,
V