Experiment # 3

To calculate resonance frequency of RLC series

circuit:

Purpose:
This experiment is an introduction to alternating current (AC) circuits. Using
the oscilloscope, we will examine the frequency response of inductors,
resistors and capacitors in an AC circuit. Then, we will find the resonant
frequency of an inductor-resistor-capacitor circuit and compare our
experimentally determined value with that predicted by theory.

Equipment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Resistor box
Inductor box
Capacitor box
Power supply
CRO
Connecting wires
7. calculator

PRINCIPLE:
AC CIRCUIT:
In alternating current (AC) circuits, the current varies with time, both in
magnitude and direction. The voltage drop across circuit elements also
varies with time, both in magnitude and polarity (sign). It has been found
that a time-varying voltage is a more efficient way to deliver power to
electric devices.

In addition, time-varying voltages generate changing electric and magnetic

fields, which in turn generate electromagnetic waves a key feature in
communications technology. Because of their use in transmitting information,
AC voltages are often referred to as signals. As the voltage reverses polarity,
the current reverses direction, so that charge oscillates back and forth in the

wires hence the name alternating current. All of this takes place in a
sinusoidal and cyclic fashion.

Terminology:

The amplitude of the signal is its maximum strength. It is the

maximum value the voltage reaches, whether positive or negative.

The period (T) of the signal is the time for the signal to go through one
complete cycle from crest back to crest, for instance.

The frequency (f) of the signal is the inverse of the period how cycles
take place in one second:

1
T

In AC circuits we often measure voltage peak-to-peak. That is, we measure

the voltage difference between the top of a crest to the bottom of a trough.
The peak-to-peak voltage is twice the amplitude of the signal, but since the
factor of two appears in all terms, it cancels out in any calculations. In this
lab we will measure voltages peak-to-peak.

Inductors, Capacitors and Resistors in an AC Circuit:

CAPACITOR:
A capacitor is a device that stores charge. It usually consists of two
conducting electrodes separated by non-conducting material. Current does
not actually flow through a capacitor in circuit. Instead, charge builds up on
the plates when a potential is applied across the electrodes. The maximum
amount of charge a capacitor can hold at a given potential depends on its
capacitance. The unit of capacitance is the farad, which is dimensionally
equivalent to seconds per ohm.

Since it takes time for charge to build up in or discharge from a capacitor,

there is a time lag between the voltage across it and the current in the

circuit. We say that the current and the voltage are out of phase: they reach
their maximum or minimum values at different times. We find that the
current leads the capacitor voltage by a quarter of a cycle. If we associate
360 degrees with one full cycle, then the current and voltage across the
capacitor are out of phase by 90 degrees.

INDUCTOR:
An inductor is simply a coil of conducting wire. When a time-varying current
flows through the coil, a back-EMF is induced in the circuit which counters,
to some extent, the applied EMF of the voltage source. This back-EMF is
proportional to how fast the current is changing in other words, it is
proportional to the frequency of the alternating current. At high frequencies
the effect is large; at low frequencies the effect is small. At zero frequency
which is direct current there is no effect at all: the inductor is just another
piece of wire.
The end result is that there is also a phase difference between the voltage
across the inductor and the current in the circuit. In the inductor, however,
current lags the voltage by a 90-degree phase angle.

The unit of inductance is the henry, which is equivalent to an ohm-second.

For future reference, note the product of an inductance and a capacitance is
a time squared (L x C = T2).

RESISTOR:
Since resistance is not frequency dependent, there is no phase difference
between the voltage across a resistor and the current in the circuit. That is,
the current and the voltage across the resistors in an AC circuit are always in
phase. See Diagram 2 for the phase relationship between these three circuit
components.

Impedance and Reactance:

Inductors and capacitors will oppose the flow of current in a circuit, just like
resistors. The mechanism of this impedance, however, is much different
than for a resistor.

As described above, inductors and capacitors react to the flow of current,

and their resistance to current flow is called reactance. For both, the

magnitude of the reactance depends on the frequency of the voltage in the

circuit.

For capacitors, we find that

X C

1
2fC

where XC is the reactance measured in ohms, f is the frequency of the signal

voltage and C is the capacitance of the capacitor. At low frequencies the
reactance is large the capacitor is, after all, essentially a gap in the circuit.
At high frequencies, however, the current is oscillating so fast that this gap
hardly matters, and the reactance is small.

The voltage drop across a capacitor is given by:

VC IX C

where I is the current at any time in the circuit. This is similar to Ohms Law
for a resistor in a DC circuit. Note that since I varies with time, so does Vc.

For inductors, we find that

X L 2fL

Here XL is the reactance of the inductor, f the frequency of the signal and L
the inductance of the inductor. The voltage drop across the inductor is:

VL IX L
Again, this is similar to Ohms Law, with XL, measured in Ohms, taking the
place of a resistance. Again, the current and voltage are time-varying.

Resistors have no frequency response. Their response in an AC circuit is

given by

V R IR

Just as in DC circuits.

The LRC Circuit:

When an inductor, a resistor and a capacitor are connected in series in an AC
circuit, the resistance to current flow caused by the three together is called
impedance. For an AC circuit, we rewrite Ohms Law as:

Vp I p Z

where Z is the impedance, Vp is the maximum (peak) voltage and Ip is the

maximum (peak) current. Z is measured in ohms.

The impedance depends on the reactance of the circuit elements. However,

we cannot simply add the individual reactance as we did in the case of
resistors in a series DC circuit. This is because the voltage drops across the
different circuit elements are not in phase with each other they are not
going through their cycles in step with each other.
The voltage varies with time in each of
the circuit elements. In particular, note that when the voltage is a maximum

across the resistor, it is zero across the inductors and capacitor, with the
inductor ahead of the resistor and the capacitor behind it in phase. We say
the inductor leads the resistor by 90 degrees and the capacitor lags the
resistor by 90 degrees. At the same time, the inductor and capacitor are 180
degrees out of phase.

To add up the reactance we must take these phase differences into account.
The impedance Z of the circuit is the sum of resistance of the circuit
components. Impedance is given by

Z R2 (X L X C )2

The Resonant Frequency:

Since XL and Xc are frequency dependent, so is the impedance Z. From the
expression above, we see that the impedance in the circuit will be a
minimum when

XL XC

When this occurs, the current in the circuit will have its maximum value for a
given input voltage V0. The circuit is said to be in resonance with the input
voltage, and the frequency at which this occurs is called the resonant
frequency, f0. Using the above expressions for XL and Xc, we can derive:

f0

1
2 LC

Note that the square root in the denominator has units of time. This time is
called the characteristic time for the circuit.

We will use the oscilloscope to track the change in the voltage across the
circuit as we vary the input frequency. At resonance, the voltage across the
inductor and capacitor will be approximately zero. We can compare the
frequency at which this occurs with the expression above.

Use of RLC series circuit:

(Note: finding resonance in a circuit is what you are doing when you tune
your radio. In that case, the radio station sends out a signal (radio waves) of
a definite frequency. The signal is the input voltage for the circuit in the
radio set; turning the tuning knob adjusts a variable capacitor in the set until
resonance is found. At resonance, the amplitude of the signal becomes
large.

Dielectrics and insulators

As is well known, to conduct an electric current is the same as to transmit
electrons. All substances have some ability to transmit electrons but they
differ greatly in the ease with which electrons pass through them. For
instance, a copper wire conducts electricity readily; glass seems to conduct
so little current that it is hardly measurable. Substances through which
currents easily pass are known to be conductors. Those substances that
strongly resist the flow of current are termed insulators. An insulator is also
called a dielectric. It has very few free charges that are able to move under
the influence of the electric field.
There is, however, no sharp distinction between conductors and insulators
(dielectrics). Under ordinary conditions there is no perfect conductor and no
perfect nonconductor. There is a continuous gradation from good conductors
to good dielectrics.
For instance, paper though a poor conductor is by no means a perfect
insulator. Indeed, all substances conduct a little electricity even such
materials as porcelain, rubber, paper, and glass, which are considered as
good insulators. However, the insulators have so few electrons that can
move about freely that, in practice, they allow only a negligible current to
flow through them.
Almost all metals are good conductors of electricity but silver is believed to
be the best conductor of all. Copper comes next; it is followed by aluminum.

Copper is our most commonly used conductor. In addition to its high

conductivity, copper is abundant, easily mined and processed.
Some liquids also conduct electric currents. They even prove to be good
conductors of electricity. Water with salt conducts electricity well. On the
other hand, we know distilled water to have high resistively.
Most gases conduct current under proper conditions of pressure and
temperature. However, they are not as good electrical conductors as metals.
As a rule; most of the non-metals are found to transmit only a negligible
current; that is why they are considered as insulators. The most common
materials used to resist electric flow are: glass, rubber, porcelain, paper, oil,
cotton, and silk. Non-ionized clean air is also considered to be a good
insulator. It is often used for this purpose in electrical apparatus.
It would be quite wrong to think that conducting materials are the only
materials to be used for power transmission. We need both conductors and
insulators. Indeed, we cannot do without the copper wire which conducts the
electric current, that is, acts as a conductor. However, we have to use an
insulator to prevent electrical loss.
In the transmission of power, we generally employ the best conductor
available in order that as little power as possible might be lost in heating the
transmission line. For other purposes, however, the poorer conductors are
often used because they happen to possess other desirable properties. Thus,
tungsten is usually the metal to be chosen for the filaments of electric lamps.
The study of dielectric properties is concerned with the storage and
dissipation of electric and magnetic energy in materials .It is important to
explain various phenomena in electronics, optics, and solid-state physics.
All dielectrics are insulators but all insulators are not dielectrics.

Dielectrics used
Air
In first experiment we used air as dielectric material. The purpose of
dielectric material as we discussed above is to increase the capacitance of
the capacitor. In this manner if we dont use any other material between
plates of capacitor than air play the role of dielectric material, because air is
also polarizable, so that it reduces the electric field and results in the
increasing of the capacitance of the capacitor. Air has a dielectric constant 1.
Transformer oil
In second experiment we use transformer oil as dielectric material.
Transformer oil or insulating oil is a highly refined mineral oil that is stable at
high temperatures and has outstanding electrical insulating properties.
Transformer oil must remain stable at high temperatures for a long period. .
Basically transformer oil was used to increase the capacitance of the
capacitor, generally transformer oil is used in transformer for two purposes.
I.
For coolant purpose, because of high voltage circulating in the
transformer it heat up frequently so the oil cool it down and attain a constant
temperature.
II.
For insulation purpose, because it also delivers part of the electrical
insulation between internal live parts.
Bakelite sheet
In third experiment we use Bakelite sheet to compare the resonance
frequency in case of air, transformer oil and Bakelite sheet. Bakelite
sometimes spelled Baekelite, or polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, is
an early plastic. It is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, made from
an elimination reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. It was industrialized by
Belgian-born chemist Leo Baekeland in New York in 1907. Bakelite was a
combination of phenol, formaldehyde, and wood flour. The mixture is put
under pressure, and later drying, a hard plastic material forms.

Bakelite
One of the first plastics made from artificial components, Bakelite was used
for its electrical non-conductivity and heat-resistant properties in electrical
insulators. In its industrial applications, Bakelite was mostly suitable for the
developing electrical and automobile industries because of its amazingly

high resistance not only to electricity, but to heat and chemical action. It
was shortly used for all nonconducting parts of radios and other electrical
devices, such as bases and sockets for light bulbs and vacuum tubes.
Dielectric constant for Bakelite sheet is 4.4 5.4.

Experiment no readings: S/No. Inductance (L)

Resonance frequency (fr) Capacitance
C=
1

200mH

24.5KHz 2.10 1010

Or 0.21nF
2

300mH

22KHz

1.70 1010

18KHz

1.95 1010

17KHz

1.75 1010

15KHz

1.87 1010

Or 0.17nF
3

400mH
Or 0.195nF

500mH

Or 0.175nF
5

600mH

Or 0.187nF
6

700mH

14KHz

1.84 1010

Or 0.184nF
7

800mH

13.5KHz 1.73 1010

Or 0.173nF
8

900mH

13.2KHz 1.61 1010

Or 0.161nF

Experiment no 4 readings

Data for finding relative permittivity for oil Same apparatus, same procedure

S/No. Inductance
(L)

Resonance frequency

Fr (air)

Resonance frequency

Fr (oil)

Relative permittivity

= ()
1

10

100mH

27KHz

25KHz

1.166

200mH

25KHz

20KHz

1.562

300mH

20KHz

18KHz

1.234

400mH

19KHz

17KHz

1.249

500mH

16.5KHz

14KHz

1.389

600mH

15.5KHz

13KHz

1.421

700mH

14.3KHz

12.8KHz

1.248

800mH

13.5KHz

11.9KHz

1.286

900mH

12.2KHz

10.4KHz

1.376

1000mH

11.6KHz

9.7KHz

1.430

Experiment no 5 readings

Data for finding the resonance frequency and relative permittivity in Bakelite
sheet
S/No. Inductance
(L)

Resonance frequency

Fr (air)

Resonance frequency

Fr (oil)

Relative permittivity

= ()
1

100mH

47KHz

37.9KHz

1.537

200mH

32KHz

30.8KHz

1.079

300mH

31KHz

24KHz

1.668

400mH

21.5KHz

19.5KHz

1.215

500mH

21KHz

18.5KHz

1.288

600mH

19KHz

16.5KHz

1.325

700mH

18.2KHz

15.5KHz

1.378

800mH

17.1KHz

14.5KHz

1.390

10

900mH

16.8KHz

14KHz

1.44

1000mH

16KHz

13.5KHz

1.404