Nicholas Bousse

Partner: Robert Pasma

10 February 2016
TA: Eric Sandouk
W 1pm Lab

Physics 4L Lab Four

Introduction
In this lab we will investigate the properties of inductors and capacitors in circuits
driven by an AC source. We will generate a model for the current-voltage properties
of these elements, and further see how their properties effect the phase of signals
supplied to a circuit containing an inductor or capacitor.

Part 1: AC Voltage Divider

A voltage divider is created when two resistors are hooked up in series. It can be
shown that the voltage drop across any element in the series circuit can be found as
follows.

element voltage drop=source voltage

element resistance
total resistance

A voltage divider consisting of one 2.2 k resistor and another variable resistor was
connected to an AC source with an oscilloscope set up to measure the voltage
waves across each resistor. The resistance of the second resistors was varied as the
ratio of the two output waves amplitudes was recorded. This data is summarized in
Table 4.1
Table 4.1: Voltage divider verification
R1
R2
V1
V2
R1/R2 V1/V2
2.20E
4.40E
+03
+03
3.1
1.5
0.5
0.48
2.20E
2.20E
+03
+03
2.3
2.3
1
1.00
2.20E
+03
500
0.85
3.75
4.4
4.41
It can be seen that the voltage divider rule holds up, even with an AC input signal,
as the ratio of the resistances closely matches the ratio of the voltages.

Part 2: Gaining intuition for Capacitors

In this part the voltage drop across a capacitor in an RC circuit was tested as the
driving frequency of the circuit was changed.
1

Figure 4.2: Resistor voltage (yellow) and capacitor voltage (blue) waveforms
Upon inspection of the voltage waveforms for the capacitor and resistor, seen in
Figure 4.2, it is clear that the capacitor voltage is out of phase by 90 degrees. To
further investigate, the driving frequency of the circuit was varied and the
amplitude and phase difference of the voltage waves was recorded. This data can
be seen in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: Resistor and Capacitor waveform
Driving Frequency (kHz)
V1 (V) Vc (V)
2
120
0.38
4
120
0.76
8
124
1.55
16
124
3.07
32
86
4.4
64
26.4
2.64

data at various frequencies

Vc/V1
Phase difference (degrees)
3.17E-03
90
6.33E-03
90
1.25E-02
90
2.48E-02
90
5.12E-02
90
1.00E-01
90

As the driving frequency increases, the voltage drop across the capacitor increased
relative to the voltage drop across the resistor. The 90 degree phase relationship
between the two waves was constant with frequency.

Reactive Phase Relationships and Reactive Impedance

In general, the relationship between current and voltage in a capacitor is as follows.

I =C

dV
dt

If the driving voltage signal is sinusoidal, and of the form V =V 0 sin ( t ) , then the
current waveform can be found to be.

I =C V 0 cos (t )
(1)
This shows that the phase relationship for current and voltage will always be 90
degrees. Furthermore, the factor of

in the current relationship shows that as

the frequency of the driving signal increases, the current through the capacitor will
increase.
An inductor has a similar relationship between voltage and current.

V =L

dI
dt

If in this case we drive the inductor with a current I =C I 0 sin ( t ) , we can find via
substitution the equation for the voltage across the inductor.

V =L I 0 cos ( t)
(2)
Examining this equation shows that inductors have similar properties in current that
capacitors do in voltage. If an inductor is connected across a DC supply, it will have
zero potential drop as the frequency of the signal is zero. If that signal is sinusoidal,
increasing the frequency will cause the voltage drop across the inductor to be
larger, and the current to be smaller.
When a resistor and a capacitor or inductor are in series, the voltage across the
whole circuit is the sum of the voltage across the two elements. The voltage across
the entire circuit is not in phase with either element, since it is the sum of both
voltages which are offset by 90 degrees. The phase of the circuit is dependent on
the relative voltage drop across each element; as voltage of one element grows
larger than the other, the circuit is more in phase with that element.
If a resistor and capacitor are connected in series and the driving frequency is
increased, the voltage drop across the capacitor will decrease. Since the voltage
through the resistor will grow in comparison to the capacitor voltage, the phase will
be closer to that of the resistor voltage as the frequency grows. This is the same as
saying the voltage more in phase with the current, as current and voltage are in
phase in resitors.
The impedance of a reactive element is comparable to resistance for capacitors and
inductors. Impedance can be found as follows.

X c=

Vc
1
=
I C 2 fC
(3)
3

X L=

VL
=2 fL
IL
(4)

It is important to note that rearranging these equations gives the relationship

between the amplitude of the current and voltage waves across these elements.

V c =X c I c =

Ic
2 fC
(5)

V L= X L I L =

I L 2 fL

(6)
As frequency increases, the voltage across a capacitor will decrease and the voltage
across an inductor will increase.

R-C Circuit
An RC circuit with a 2.2 k resistor and 0.01 F capacitor, with oscilloscope probes
set up as shown in Figure 4.3, such that channel one reads the voltage drop across
the resistor and channel two reads the voltage drop across the capacitor.

Figure 4.3: R-C circuit wiring and probe setup

With the function generator set to 1 kHz, the phase relationship between the
resistor and capacitor waves is 90 degrees. The amplitude of the resistor voltage
was 122 V, and the amplitude of the capacitor voltage was 0.192 V.
Sweeping the frequency causes the relative amplitudes of the waves to change. As
frequency increases, the voltage across the capacitor decreases, consistent with
equation 6, because its impedance is lower at higher frequencies.

Figure 4.4: Probe setup for phase difference measurement

Figure 4.5: Measuring time differences using the cursor function

Rewiring the oscilloscope probes to be consistent with Figure 4.4 now allows the
voltage across the resistor, the current reference as its voltage and current waves
are in phase, to be compared to the voltage across the entire circuit. At various
frequencies, amplitudes and the time difference between these two signals was
measured using the oscilloscopes cursor, as seen in Figure 4.5. This time difference
was used to calculate the phase difference in degrees using the following formula.

phase=360 timedifference frequency

(7)
These measurements can be found in Table 4.3.
Table 4.3: Phase difference measurement for an RC circuit at various frequencies
Frequency (kHz)
10
20
30
40
50

V1 (V)
VR (V)
118
4.69
16
0.28
16
1.15
4.79
0.4
20.7
0.84

t (s)

Phase Difference (degrees)

1.00E-05
2.80E-06
1.00E-06
6.00E-07
3.00E-07

36
20.16
10.8
8.64
5.4

As the frequency of the driving function increases, the phase difference between
circuit and the resistor decreases. This is because as the frequency increases, the
impedance of the capacitor drops, and the voltage drop across it is lower. This
makes the capacitors out of phase contribution to the circuit voltage less significant,
and the circuit to be more in phase with the reference. This can be seen in the
amplitude measurements. As the impedance of the capacitor decreases, so does
the overall impedance of the circuit.

R-L Circuit
An RL series circuit was then wired with a 25 mH inductor and a 2.2 k resistor.
Initially the circuit and oscilloscope probes were set up according to Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.6: R-L circuit with oscilloscope set up for individual voltage inspection
The function generator was initially set to 20 kHz. At this frequency, the amplitude
of the inductor voltage was .260 V, the amplitude of the resistor voltage was 18.0 V
and the two waves were 90 degrees out of phase.
However, at a frequency of 20 kHz, the waves have a phase difference of half that,
about 45 degrees. At higher frequencies the amplitude of the inductor wave
6

decreases, because the impedance of an inductor is directly proportional to

frequency, as can be seen in equation 4.

Figure 4.7: RL circuit setup for phase difference measurement

The circuit was then changed to allow the behavior of the circuit to be compared to
the behavior of the resistor as a current reference, as shown in Figure 4.7.
The frequency of the driving voltage was then varied, and the time difference
between the circuit and resistor voltage wave was measured using the cursor
function of the oscilloscope, as shown previously. Using equation 7, a phase
difference in degrees was calculated for each frequency. This data is summarized in
Table 4.4.
Table 4.4: Phase difference measurement for an RL circuit at various frequencies
Frequency (kHz)
10
20
30
40
50

V1 (L)
VL (V)
80
3.4
48
1.5
720
0.56
64
0.28
112
0.7

t (s)
9.60E-06
7.60E-06
6.40E-06
5.00E-06
4.40E-06

Phase Difference (degrees)

34.56
54.72
69.12
72
79.2

The phase difference is no longer 90 degrees because the circuit phase is

determined by the superposition of the out of phase resistor and inductor. This
causes it to be in phase with neither element. That phase difference increases as
the frequency of the driving signal increases, as the impedance of an inductor
increases with frequency, in accordance with equation 4. The greater impedance of
7

the inductor causes the voltage drop across the inductor to be larger, and its out of
phase contribution to the voltage of the circuit to be larger. This causes the phase of
the overall circuit to differ more from phase of the current reference as the drive
frequency of the circuit is increased.

Conclusion
In this lab we developed an understanding for the properties of two elements
reactive to frequency in an AC circuit - capacitors and inductors. We found that the
resistive equivalent for these elements, impedance, is frequency dependent. In R-L
and R-C circuits, the frequency sensitive impedance changes the ratio between the
in phase resistor voltage and out of phase inductor/capacitor voltage, causing the
phase of the circuit to vary with frequency.