Investigating Capacitors - page 6
Keywords: Investigating Capacitors coursework GCSE physics
By slashwk on 23/11/2006 17:28:09
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 6 of 9 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
be, we will discharge the capacitor and start again
6. We will measure the voltage at each time interval and someone will note it down.
7. When the results we are taking down start to repeat themselves over the time interval, we will know to stop because it may take a very long time for us to see very little more, and therefore it would be a waste of time.
We will use the above steps for the following circuits:
1. 3 Volts 10kΩ resistor 1000µF capacitor
2. 3 Volts 10kΩ resistor 2200µF capacitor
3. 3 Volts 100kΩ resistor 1000µF capacitor
4. 3 Volts 100kΩ resistor 2200µF capacitor
5. 6 Volts 10kΩ resistor 1000µF capacitor
6. 6 Volts 10kΩ resistor 2200µF capacitor
7. 6 Volts 100kΩ resistor 1000µF capacitor
8. 6 Volts 100kΩ resistor 2200µF capacitor
I have chosen these eight because it is easy to relate one piece of evidence to another if we use these figures. We can easily compare graphs from experiments which used 3 volts to those which used 6 volts. We can easily compare graphs which used 10kΩ resistors to graphs in which 100kΩ resistors were used. Finally, we can easily compare graphs which involved 1000µF capacitors to graphs which used 2200µF capacitors.
Results
Experiment 1 (3 Volts - 10kΩ resistor - 1000µF capacitor)
Time (secs) Voltage (volts)
5 0.97
10 1.69
15 2.03
20 2.3
25 2.46
30 2.56
35 2.63
40 2.68
45 2.7
50 2.72
55 2.73
60 2.74
65 2.75
70 2.75
75 2.75
Experiment 2 (3 Volts - 10kΩ resistor - 2200µF capacitor)
Time (secs) Voltage (volts)
5 0.65
10 1.08
15 1.38
20 1.65
25 1.87
30 2.04
35 2.17
40 2.28
45 2.37
50 2.45
55 2.51
60 2.53
65 2.59
70 2.62
75 2.65
80 2.67
85 2.68
90 2.7
95 2.71
100 2.72
105 2.72
Experiment 3 (3 Volts - 100kΩ resistor - 1000µF capacitor)
Time (secs) Voltage (volts)
10 0.25
20 0.45
30 0.65
40 0.85
50 1
60 1.15
70 1.3
80 1.42
90 1.53
100 1.66
110 1.75
120 1.83
130 1.91
140 1.98
150 2.04
160 2.1
170 2.15
180 2.2
190 2.25
200 2.29
210 2.33
220 2.36
230 2.39
240 2.42
250 2.45
260 2.47
270 2.5
Experiment 4 (3 Volts - 100kΩ resistor - 2200µF capacitor)
Time (secs) Voltage (volts)
10 0.11
20 0.24
30 0.33
40 0.44
50 0.54
60 0.63
70 0.72
80 0.8
90 0.9
100 0.97
110 1.05
120 1.1
130 1.17
140 1.24
150 1.31
160 1.37
170 1.47
180 1.53
190 1.58
200 1.63
210 1.68
220 1.72
230 1.77
240 1.81
250 1.85
260 1.88
270 1.92
280 1.95
290 1.98
300 2.01
310 2.05
320 2.07
330 2.1
340 2.13
350 2.15
360 2.18
370 2.2
380 2.22
390 2.24
400 2.26
410 2.28
420 2.3
430 2.32
440 2.33
450 2.35
460 2.37
470 2.38
480 2.39
490 2.41
500 2.42
510 2.43
520 2.45
530 2.46
540 2.47
550 2.48
560 2.49
570 2.5
580 2.51
590 2.52
600 2.52
Experiment 5 (6 Volts - 10kΩ resistor - 1000µF capacitor)
Time (secs) Voltage (volts)
5 2.4
10 3.5
15 4.18
20 4.6
25 4.93
30 5.14
35 5.25
40 5.33
45 5.38
50 5.42
55 5.44
60 5.46
65 5.47
70 5.48
75 5.48
Experiment 6 (6 Volts - 10kΩ resistor - 2200µF capacitor)
Time (secs) Voltage (volts)
5 0.95
10 2.08
15 2.65
20 3.19
25 3.66
30 3.99
35 4.25
40 4.5
45 4.7
50 4.85
55 4.95
60 5.06
65 5.15
70 5.2
75 5.26
80 5.29
85 5.33
90 5.36
95 5.38
100 5.4
105 5.42
110 5.43
115 5.44
120 5.45
125 5.46
130 5.46
Experiment 7 (6 Volts - 100kΩ resistor - 1000µF capacitor)
10 0.47
20 0.88
30 1.29
40 1.66
50 1.98
60 2.3
70 2.55
80 2.8
90 3.03
100 3.26
110 3.45
120 3.61
130 3.77
140 3.94
150 4.04
160 4.15
170 4.26
180 4.36
190 4.45
200 4.54
210 4.61
220 4.69
230 4.73
240 4.8
250 4.85
260 4.9
270 4.95
280 4.99
290 5.02
300 5.04
310 5.07
320 5.1
330 5.12
340 5.14
350 5.16
360 5.17
370 5.18
380 5.19
390 5.19
Experiment 8 (6 Volts - 100kΩ resistor - 2200µF capacitor)
Time (secs) Voltage (volts)
50 0.22
100 1.08
150 1.8
200 2.9
250 2.94
300 3.36
350 3.7
400 3.96
450 4.2
500 4.4
550 4.56
600 4.7
650 4.78
700 4.86
750 4.94
800 5
850 5.04
900 5.04
Conclusion
I shall start by stating the obvious from our results for which we can already give reasons due to evidence from prior experiments. We can see from our tables and graphs that larger capacitor took longer to charge than the smaller one. This can be argued as due to the fact that the larger capacitor could store more charge. Also, when a resistor is placed in the circuit, the higher the resistance, the longer it takes for the capacitor to charge. This is because the resistor is draining off voltage from the circuit and leaving less for the capacitor. Another fact we can state is that the more voltage there is in the circuit, it takes longer for the capacitor to charge due to the fact that it has to contain more voltage before it is fully charged (there
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