Capacitors What makes up a capacitor?

Can current flow through a capacitor? How is current through a capacitor different from current through other circuit components?

What is the potential difference of a capacitor?

Charging:

Discharging:

Equations: 1. Q = CV. (C is capacitance, measured in farads; what does it mean when capacitance is large or small?) 2. E = QV = CV2. (Why the ?) 3. Charging and discharging time equations: Charging Q(t) = Q0 (1 exp (-t/RC)) I(t) = I0 exp (-t/RC) Q0 = final charge = CV I0 = initial current = V/R = Q0/RC V = final pd of capacitor (= emf of battery) Discharging Q(t) = Q0 exp (-t/RC) I(t) = I0 exp (-t/RC) Q0 = initial charge = CV I0 = initial current = V/R = Q0/RC V = initial pd of capacitor

Charge: Current: Symbols:

What about the pd of the capacitor with time? RC is the time constant of the circuit. What does it tell you? What is the effect of increasing R? Increasing C?

Questions (numbering from Schaum s worked problems) 27.142 In the lab, a student charges a 2-F capacitor by placing it across a 1.5V battery. While disconnecting it, the student holds its two lead wires in two hands. Assuming that the resistance of the body between the hands is 60k , what is the time constant of the series circuit composed by the capacitor and the student s body? How long does it take for the charge on the capacitor to drop to 1/e (37%) of its original value? What about to 1% of its original value? 27.143 In a certain electronic device, a 10-F capacitor is charged to 2000V. When the device is shut off, the capacitor is discharged for safety reasons by a bleeder resistor of 1M placed across its terminals. How long does it take for the charge on the capacitor to decrease to 0.01 of its original value? Explain in detail why the capacitor needs to be discharged. 27.144 A 400-F capacitor is connected through a resistor to a battery. Find (a) the resistance R and (b) the emf of the battery if the time constant of the circuit is 0.5s and the maximum charge on the capacitor is 0.024C. 27.145 A 50-F capacitor initially uncharged is connected through a 300- resistor to a 12-V battery. (a) What is the magnitude of the final charge Q0 on the capacitor? (b) How long after the capacitor is connected to the battery will it be charged to Q0? (c) How long will it take for the capacitor to be charged to 0.90Q0? 27.146 A 150-F capacitor is connected through a 500- resistor to a 40-V battery. (a) What is the final charge Q0 on a capacitor plate? (b) What is the time constant of the circuit? (c) How long does it take the charge on a capacitor plate to reach 0.8Q0? Explain, with circuit diagrams, how a capacitor can be used to: (a) Make a circuit in which a car s inner lights remain on while the car door is open and gradually dim after the car door is closed. (b) Smooth out the non-uniform emf output of an electrical power source (for example, when converting AC electricity to DC electricity).

Capacitor Lab Apparatus: 10,000F capacitor; two 1-2k resistors; 2 digital multimeters; stopwatch; connecting leads. Construct the following circuit:

Safety notes: Electrolytic capacitors maintain an insulating layer between aluminum electrodes via electrochemical processes, and thus have a definite polarity: the negative end has a shorter lead and a prominent gray stripe, and must always be connected to the negative terminal of your battery holder. If your capacitor heats up, inform your lecturer immediately, and assume that the capacitor is damaged (and therefore needs replacing) unless told otherwise. (Why shouldn t a capacitor heat up?) You can quickly discharge the capacitor by short-circuiting its terminals; since the capacitance is quite high, the contact resistance from the leads is enough to prevent the current from becoming too high. Similarly, you can quickly charge the capacitor by bypassing the resistor be careful not to short-circuit the batteries though! Using the circuit, demonstrate the following properties of capacitors: 1. The charge stored on a capacitor is proportional to the potential difference across it. 2. During charging and discharging, the current in a resistor-capacitor circuit (RC circuit) decays exponentially with time. 3. The time constant of such a circuit is given by RC, where R is the resistance of the resistor and C is the capacitance of the capacitor. Key your data into a table such as the following: t (s) I (mA) V (V) Q (mC) Qtotal (mC) ln I

You will need to plot the following graphs: Potential difference against charge (this graph will be inaccurate why?) Current against time ln I against time

Instructor guide: 1. Students are to construct the circuit shown to measure the current and potential difference across a charging / discharging capacitor. Since the electrolytic capacitors have a definite polarity, the negative terminal of the capacitor should constantly connect directly to the negative terminal of the battery holder to avoid any accidental reverse current. 2. The first run undertaken should involve the largest potential difference (6.0 V) and the smallest resistance. When graphing, students should also start with the values from this run, so that the axes will take into account the largest values generated throughout the experiment. 3. For a charging run: with the capacitor completely discharged, connect the flying lead to the positive terminal of the battery holder and start the stopwatch. Every 10 seconds, record the current and potential difference shown on the multimeters. When the change between multimeter readings is less than 1% of the original readings, disconnect the flying lead and stop the stopwatch. (Since ln 0.01 = -4.6, the durations of these runs should be about 4.6RC.) 4. For a discharging run: with the capacitor completely charged (or immediately after finishing a charging run), connect the flying lead to the negative terminal of the capacitor and start the stopwatch. Every 10 seconds, record the current and potential difference shown on the multimeters. When the change between multimeter readings is less than 1% of the previous reading, disconnect the flying lead and stop the stopwatch. 5. Care must be taken to ensure that the flying leads are quickly and accurately clipped to their terminals, as any change in the contact resistance over the course of a run will affect the results. 6. The change in charge and accumulated charge columns should only be filled in after the run. The change in charge can be calculated from the current multiplied by time, while the accumulated charge is simply the running total of the previous column. (Note that this is a numerical integration using a right end-point rectangular rule, and so the accumulated charge will be underestimated. The measured values could be used with a more accurate method, such as trapezoidal integration with the initial current being calculated as I0 = V0/R.) 7. To arrive at point 1 (Q = CV), students should plot Q against V to yield a straight-line graph through the origin. The gradient will give an underestimation of C (see previous note). 8. To arrive at point 2 (I(t) decays exponentially), students should plot I against t. Their knowledge of this graph is mostly qualitative (but see the next point). 9. To arrive at point 3 ( = RC), students should plot ln I against t. Only the gradients (not the xintercepts) will be needed, so students should select a scale that allows the gradient to be measured with maximum accuracy; the origin need not be shown. The gradient of the graph should be 1/RC. As supporting evidence, the time constant can be read off the graph of I against t as the time where the current falls to 37% of its maximum. The graph of I against Q can also be plotted to yield a graph with gradient RC, but for the reason given in step 6 RC will be overestimated.