Question

Suppose that a particular RC series circuit has a time constant of 5.0 seconds. What does that mean in terms of the charging and discharging? How would this circuit compare to the ones you tried? Explain qualitatively and quantitatively. What could be a practical application of an RC circuit ?

Answer 1

time constant is the time required to charge the capacitor, through the resistor, by ≈ 63.2 percent of the difference between the initial value and final value or discharge the capacitor to ≈36.8 percent.

charging

$V(t)=V_{0}(1-e^{{-t/\tau }})$

discharging

$V(t)=V_{0}(e^{{-t/\tau }})$

The most commonly sighted applications are filters. An RC circuit can be used to create a high pass or low pass filter, meaning that when an AC signal is passed through the circuit, only certain frequencies will be allowed to pass.