Download AC Circuits Lab

AC Circuits Lab
Please remember to answer in complete sentences and to show your work.
Background:
A resistor and battery (which are in series) are connected in parallel to a capacitor which
is connected in parallel to an inductor. A switch is placed next to the battery and it is
closed at time t=0. What is the charge on the capacitor as a function of time? (See the
worst diagram ever, below.) Assume a DC voltage.
What changes if the voltage is not DC? What is possible if the voltage is oscillating in
time?
Basic R-L-C circuits:
How do capacitors in parallel and in series add? How do inductors in series and in
parallel add? From your lab manual what was the measured L, C, and Q for parts 1.1,
1.3, 1.5 respectively. Are they reasonable values?
Transformers:
What is a transformer? Please give 3 examples of transformers being used.
What was the transformer ratio you measured?
Please show how to do the integral in part 2.2. What did you measure for the ratio of the
Vrms to Vpeak. What was the expected value?
Please explain what a rectifier does and how it works. What did you measure for the
peak and full wave rectifiers? How does it compare to what you expected?