Simulation of an RC Circuit

by Ruan Vosloo

Submitted : Spring 2009

In this project, the behavior of an RC circuit was simulated under various conditions. First, the given equations for the behavior of the circuit were proven to be correct by applying known equations for the behavior of each part of the circuit. For each condition, the source voltage, the capacitor voltage, and the current were computed and plotted on a graph as functions of time. Each value was calculated with the step size of each data point being .01 seconds from zero to twenty seconds. The calculations were done using Microsoft Excel for the three different voltage source equations given. Since a different equation was given for E in each of the three conditions, E was the factor that had a direct effect on the other variables within the equation for the circuit. What was noticed was that the capacitor voltage, Vc, always became closer to E as time went on. Also, the current, I, always stayed close to zero in each of the conditions studied.

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