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| author | Elizabeth Alexander Hunt <me@liz.coffee> | 2026-07-02 11:55:17 -0700 |
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| committer | Elizabeth Alexander Hunt <me@liz.coffee> | 2026-07-02 11:55:17 -0700 |
| commit | 6bf4b90c90f15f4ab60833bddf5b5756d1a6b1f6 (patch) | |
| tree | ed97e39ec77c5231ffd2c394493e68d00ddac5a4 /Homework/phys2210/Physics-II-Lab/circuit_report.tex | |
| download | misc-undergrad-main.tar.gz misc-undergrad-main.zip | |
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| -rw-r--r-- | Homework/phys2210/Physics-II-Lab/circuit_report.tex | 198 |
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diff --git a/Homework/phys2210/Physics-II-Lab/circuit_report.tex b/Homework/phys2210/Physics-II-Lab/circuit_report.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1007c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/Homework/phys2210/Physics-II-Lab/circuit_report.tex @@ -0,0 +1,198 @@ +% Created 2023-03-22 Wed 18:57 +% Intended LaTeX compiler: pdflatex +\documentclass[11pt]{article} +\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} +\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} +\usepackage{graphicx} +\usepackage{longtable} +\usepackage{wrapfig} +\usepackage{rotating} +\usepackage[normalem]{ulem} +\usepackage{amsmath} +\usepackage{amssymb} +\usepackage{capt-of} +\usepackage{hyperref} +\usepackage{ dsfont } \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage[a4paper,margin=1in,portrait]{geometry} +\author{Lizzy Hunt} +\date{\today} +\title{Building an RC Circuit} +\hypersetup{ + pdfauthor={Lizzy Hunt}, + pdftitle={Building an RC Circuit}, + pdfkeywords={}, + pdfsubject={}, + pdfcreator={Emacs 28.2 (Org mode 9.6.1)}, + pdflang={English}} +\begin{document} + +\maketitle + +\section{The Experiment} +\label{sec:orgd0521b4} +The purpose of this experiment was to gain a better understanding of the effects on the voltage over a capacitor +as a time-valued function when put in a circuit in series with a resistor. To achieve +this goal - and to experimentally verify laws governing the total resistance and capacitance of +configurations of resistors and capacitors using a multimeter - we built an "RC circuit" by combining +resistors and capacitors from respective smaller-valued components. + +Additionally, this lab fulfilled the requirement allowing us to play with dangerously high temperature metal equipment \(\ddot\smile\). + +\subsection{Theory} +\label{sec:orgcbdcb4a} +Here we list some ideas the reader should be familiar with for reference later in the report. + +\subsubsection{Resistors} +\label{sec:orga13127c} +Consider \(n\) resistors, \(r_i \ni i \in [1, n]\) representing the total resistance of the i\textsuperscript{th} resistor, +or sub-configuration of resistors, all in parallel. Then, the total resistance, R, of the group is: + +\begin{equation} +R^{-1} = \sum_{i=1}^{n}(r_i)^{-1} +\end{equation} + +Consider \(n\) resistors, \(r_i \ni i \in [0, n]\) representing the total resistance of the i\textsuperscript{th} resistor, +or sub-configuration of resistors, all in series. Then, the total resistance, R, of the group is: + +\begin{equation} +R = \sum_{i=1}^{n}(r_i) +\end{equation} + +\subsubsection{Capacitors} +\label{sec:org20ad8ce} +Total capacitance of configurations of capacitors are similar to the inversion of the laws for +resistors. + +Consider \(n\) capacitors, \(c_i \ni i \in [1, n]\) representing the total capacitor of the i\textsuperscript{th} capacitor, +or sub-configuration of capacitors, all in series. Then, the total capacitance, C, of the group is: + +\begin{equation} +C^{-1} = \sum_{i=1}^{n }(c_i)^{-1} +\end{equation} + +Consider \(n\) capacitors, \(c_i \ni i \in [1, n]\) representing the total capacitor of the i\textsuperscript{th} capacitor, +or sub-configuration of capacitors, all in parallel. Then, the total capacitance, C, of the group is: + +\begin{equation} +C = \sum_{i=1}^{n }(c_i) +\end{equation} + +\subsubsection{The RC Circuit} +\label{sec:orgcf7b1ec} +For a circuit with a resistor of resistance \(R\) and capacitor with capacitance \(C\) in series, +we can model the voltage over the capacitor, \(V_C\), given an initial voltage \(V_0\) and final +voltage \(V_f\), as a function of time: + +\begin{equation} +V_C(t) = (V_0 - V_f)e^{-\frac{t}{RC}} + V_f +\end{equation} + +\subsection{Procedure} +\label{sec:org107e08f} + +The given procedure to exercise our knowledge of equations (1) - (4) if to build both a relatively higher-valued +resistor, and capacitor, out of smaller-valued components - by soldering them in series / parallel configurations. + +Each pair of students is to produce a resistor and capacitor at a target value (and with a 10\% margin for error), +determined by seating arrangement. By happenstance, our group was chosen to build: + +\begin{enumerate} +\item A 22 kilo-ohm resistor (22 \(k \Omega\)) +\item A 1.67 micro-farad capacitor (\(\mu F\)) +\end{enumerate} + +out of only 10 \(k \Omega\) resistors, and 1 \(\mu F\) capacitors. + +I did not record the configuration we used for either. So, assume the following configurations throughout the rest of the lab (pretty sure +these were pretty close to our monstrosities): + +\subsubsection{Building a Resistor} +\label{sec:orga374597} +Assume all resistors as \(10 k \Omega\) +\begin{center} +\includegraphics[width=240px]{./resistors.png} +\end{center} + +In theory, the total resistance measured from the leftmost point to the rightmost is 22 \(k \Omega\): + +\begin{align*} +R &= 10^4 \text{ (leftmost resistor in series (2))} \\ + &+ 10^4 \text{ (second leftmost resistor in series (2))} \\ + &+ (\frac{5}{10^4})^{-1} \text{ (5 resistors in parallel (1))} \\ + &= 2.20 * 10^4 \Omega +\end{align*} + +\subsubsection{Building a Capacitor} +\label{sec:orgc015c61} +\begin{center} +\includegraphics[width=200px]{./capacitors.png} +\end{center} + +In theory, the total capacitance measured from the leftmost point to the rightmost is 1.67 \(\mu F\): + +\begin{align*} +C &= 2(\frac{3}{10^-6})^{-1} \text{ (two groups of 3 1-}\mu F \text{ capacitors in series (3) in parallel with) } \\ + &+ 10^{-6} \text{ (another 1-} \mu F \text{ capacitor (4)) } \\ + &\approx 1.67 * 10^{-6} F +\end{align*} + +\subsubsection{Determining the \(RC\) constant} +\label{sec:org1d0608b} + +To measure our \(RC\) constant, we connected two voltage probes over \(V_c\) (as shown in the diagram below) to a computer-generated +positive square wave oscillating at 0.50 Hz with an amplitude of 5V. We then record for 1.5 seconds, polling at 1 kHz, from +the time \(V_C\) is at 4.95 V (the capacitor has charged) - allowing us to record at least half a second of discharge +from the capacitor. + +\begin{center} +\includegraphics[width=200px]{./total_circuit.png} +\end{center} + +We expect to see that as it discharges, the measured voltage over the capacitor would follow an exponentially decreasing fit, +according to the \(-\frac{t}{RC}\) term in (5). To find the value of \(RC\) we measure the voltage at each discrete time step (\(\frac{1}{1000}\) of a second) +from near the beginning of the exponential drop to where it reaches stability, and copy those values into a Magic Excel Sheet\textsuperscript{TM}. This +region is somewhat shown in the figure below (some values are actually truncated): + +\begin{center} +\includegraphics[width=200px]{./rc-discharge.png} +\end{center} + +The Magic Excel Sheet\textsuperscript{TM} produces a good exponential fit to this data. But, it takes some manual fiddling with the \(RC\) value itself +to determine the minimum sum of residuals (gradient descent inspired guess and check). The value of \(RC\) +producing the lowest error by this measure, is our result. + +\section{Results} +\label{sec:orgf43daaa} +\subsection{Building a Resistor} +\label{sec:org99028c5} + +The measured resistance (via multimeter) we obtained from our resistor was \(21.68 k \Omega\). + +\subsection{Building a Capacitor} +\label{sec:org21807f6} + +The measured capacitance (via multimeter) we obtained from our resistor was \(1.78 \mu F\). + +\subsection{The Value Of \(RC\)} +\label{sec:orgbc9c601} + +For our computer determined RC constant, we found it to be \(3.72 * 10^{-2}\) s. + +\section{Discussion} +\label{sec:org8408366} +\subsection{Building a Resistor} +\label{sec:org9b4e64e} +Our target value was \(22.00 k \Omega\), and we came out with \(21.68 k \Omega\) - an error of 1.45\%. + +\subsection{Building a Capacitor} +\label{sec:orgf2e0c7e} +Our target value was \(1.67 \mu F\), and we came out with \(1.78 \mu F\) - an error of 6.59\%. + +\subsection{The Value of \(RC\)} +\label{sec:org7e41eff} +If our resistor and capacitor were exactly on the target value, our \(RC\) constant would be \((2.20 * 10^4 \Omega)(1.67 * 10^{-6} F) = 3.67 * 10^{-2}\) s. + +The \(RC\) constant from the measured resistance and capacitance would be \((2.17 * 10^4 \Omega)(1.78 * 10^{-6} F) = 3.86 * 10^-2\) s. + +But, our human-gradient-descent-plus-excel-magic-thanks-computer told us it was \(3.72 * 10^{-2}\) s - a 3.62\% error from the +theoretical measured value, and 1.36\% from the overall "target" value. +\end{document}
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