RC--Light Bulb and Capacitor

From UO Physics Demonstration Catalog

Revision as of 12:57, 20 April 2022 by Physdemo (talk | contribs) (Created page with "{{NewDemo|subject=Electricity and Magnetism|topic=Circuits|file1=}} There are two ways to do this demonstration. One is using a high-voltage power supply of around 120 volts connected to a 10-20 thousand micro-farad capacitor. The power supply is used to charge the capacitor. When the capacitor is fully charged, a light bulb is placed across it. The bulb starts out bright, and then dims. The other way to do this is to use low-voltage light bulbs such as flashlight bulbs...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Return to Circuits

Description:

There are two ways to do this demonstration. One is using a high-voltage power supply of around 120 volts connected to a 10-20 thousand micro-farad capacitor. The power supply is used to charge the capacitor. When the capacitor is fully charged, a light bulb is placed across it. The bulb starts out bright, and then dims. The other way to do this is to use low-voltage light bulbs such as flashlight bulbs and a one-farad capacitor. This demo shows the RC time constant and exponential discharging of a capacitor visually, since the current from the capacitor can be seen from the brightness of the lightbulb.

Location: