JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

EEE 2208: CIRCUITS & NETWORK THEORY I

LABORATORY PRACTICAL 2
TITLE: R-C SERIES CIRCUIT

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate the behavior of R-C series circuit.

THEORY

Figure 1 shows a resistor connected in series with a capacitor.

Figure 1: Series R-C circuit

Resistance R, and capacitive reactance XC (1/C), oppose the flow of current in an AC circuit. The
resultant opposing component is known as impedance Z, and its value can be calculated by use of the
equation (1) below;

Z = R 2 + X C2  = R 2 + 1  ……………………………………………. (1)
( C )
2

The impedance triangle of the circuit is shown in Figure 2.

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 Figure 2: R-C circuit impedance triangle

The phase angle  is given by

X 1
 = tan −1 C = tan −1 ……………………………………… (2)
R RC
The voltage across the total impedance V is given by
V = VR + VC

V = VR2 + VC2
Where VR: voltage across the resistance being a vector quantity
VL: voltage across the inductance being a vector quantity
The same current I, flows through R and C.
V V
I= =
Z R + X C2 
2

The phasor diagram of the circuit is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Voltage phasor diagram

The capacitance causes a phase displacement , between the voltage and current as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Voltage and current waveforms in an RC circuit

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If the supply voltage V and frequency f are maintained constant, the current I that flows in the circuit is
dependent on both R and C. The angle  also varies as R and C are varied.

APPARATUS

Signal generator, Dual (2 -two) channel oscilloscope, three (3) oscilloscope probes, plug type resistor,
decade capacitor box, Circuit board (breadboard) and connecting wires.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
R1

1kΩ

V1
C1
0.1µF
5 Vpk
1kHz
0°

Figure 5: Circuit connection diagram

PROCEDURE

Experiment 1
1. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure 5.
2. Set the following values:
Signal generator frequency f, 1 kHz and voltage 5 V peak to peak.
Capacitor C, 0.1µF, Resistance R, 100 Ω.
3. Measure the potential difference (p.d) across the source (V) and C (VC) and their phase difference
using the dual oscilloscope and record your results in Table 1.
4. Maintain the output voltage of the signal generator at 5 Vp-p constant. Vary the value of resistance
R up to 500 Ω in steps of 100 Ω. For each value of R, measure V and VC and their phase difference
and record your results in Table 1.

EXPERIMENT 2
1. Using the circuit diagram of Figure 5, connect a resistor R of 1 kΩ.
2. Set the Capacitor C to 0.1µF.
3. Set the output voltage of the signal generator at 5 Vp-p, frequency f 1 kHz.
4. Measure the potential difference (p.d) across the source (V) and C (VC) and their phase difference
using the dual oscilloscope and record your results in Table 2.
5. Maintain the output voltage of the signal generator at 5 Vp-p constant. Vary the value of the decade
capacitor from up to 0.5 µF in steps of 0.1µF. For each value of C, measure V and VC and their
phase difference and record your results in Table 2.
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HOMEWORK
1. From the results of experiments 1 and 2, for each reading, compute the phase difference
between the source voltage and VR, and the circuit power factor and tabulate alongside the
experimental results.
2. From the results of Experiment 1, calculate the circuit impedance Z and the rms values of V,
VR, VC, and I. Tabulate your results as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Calculated results

R (Ω) Z () V (V) VR (V) VC (V) I (mA)

100
200
300
400
500

3. From the results of Experiment 2, calculate the circuit impedance Z and the rms values of V,
VR, VC, I, and the phase difference between the source voltage and current. Tabulate your
results as shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Calculated results

C (µF) Z () V (V) VR (V) VC (V) I (mA)

0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5

DISCUSSION
1. Discuss how I, VR and VC and the phase angle change with change in capacitance.
2. Discuss how I, VR and VC and the phase angle change with change in resistance.
3. Compare and contrast your calculated (experimental) and theoretical results.

CONCLUSION
1. For the circuit investigated, does the current lead or lag the voltage?
2. Draw appropriate conclusions on the series R-C circuit.

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EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

(This page MUST be signed by either the lecturer or technologist in charge of the
lab and attached to the lab report)
Group Members:

Name Reg. No. Sign

Table 1: Experiment 1 results

R (Ω) VP-P (V) VC(P-P) (V) Phase difference

between V and VC (°)
100

200

300

400

500

Table 2: Experiment 2 results

C (µF) VP-P (V) VC(P-P) (V) Phase difference
between V and VC (°)
0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

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