University of San Carlos

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Name: John Carlo S. Tigue
submitted: Dec. 3, 2015
Subject and Schedule: EE321L/ M (1:30 4:30) PM
Date performed: Nov. 26, 2015

Date

RESISTIVE, INDUCTIVE, AND CAPACITIVE CIRCUITS

Experiment no. 2
I. Introduction
When a voltage source is connected to an RLC circuit, energy is
provided to compensate the energy dissipation in the resistor, and the
oscillation will no longer damp out. The oscillations of charge, current and
potential difference are called driven or forced oscillations. After an initial
transient time, an AC current will flow in the circuit as a response to the
driving voltage source. The current, written as

I t =I 0 sin ( t )

Equation 1

will oscillate with the same frequency as the voltage source, with an
amplitude a

I 0 a nd phase

that depends on the driving frequency.

Before examining the driven RLC circuit, lets first consider the simple
cases where only one circuit element (a resistor, an inductor or a capacitor)
is connected to a sinusoidal voltage source.

Purely Resistive Load

Consider a purely resistive circuit with a resistor connected to an AC
generator, as shown in Figure 1 (As we shall see, a purely resistive circuit
corresponds to infinite capacitance C = and zero inductance L = 0.)

Figure 1 A purely resistive circuit

Applying Kirchhoffs loop rule yields

Equation 2

V ( t )V R ( t )=V ( t )I R ( t ) R=0
where

V R ( t )=I R ( t ) R

is the instantaneous voltage drop across the

resistor. The instantaneous current in the resistor is given by

Equation 3

V ( t ) V sint
I R ( t ) = R = RO
=I RO sint
R
R
where

V RO =V O , and

I RO=V RO / R

is the maximum current. Comparing

equation 3 with equation 1, we find = 0, which means that

V R (t )

I R ( t ) and

are in phase with each other, meaning that they reach their

maximum or minimum values at the same time. The time dependence of

the current and the voltage across the resistor is depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Time dependence of

I R (t)

and

V R (t )

across the resistor

Purely Inductive Load

Consider now a purely inductive circuit with an inductor connected to
an AC generator, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 A purely inductive circuit

As we shall see below, a purely inductive circuit corresponds to infinite

capacitance

C=

R=0

and zero resistance

. Applying the modified

Kirchhoffs rule for inductors, the circuit equation reads

V ( t )V L ( t )=V ( t )

d IL
=0
dt

Equation 3

which implies

d I L V t V LO
= =
sint
dt
L
L
where

Equation 4

V LO =V O . Integrating over the above equation, we find

Equation 5

I L ( t )= d I L =

V LO
V
V

sintdt= LO cost = LO sin t

L
L
L
2

( )

( ) (

where we have used the trigonometric identity

cost=sin t
2

Equation 6

for rewriting the last expression. Comparing Equation 6 with Eq. 1, we see
that the amplitude of the current through the inductor is
Equation 7

I LO =

V LO V LO
=
L X L

where
Equation 8

X L=L
is called the inductive reactance.

It has SI units of ohms (), just like

resistance. However, unlike resistance,

XL

depends linearly on the

angular frequency . Thus, the resistance to current flow increases with

frequency. This is due to the fact that at higher 12-6 frequencies the current
changes more rapidly than it does at lower frequencies. On the other hand,
the inductive reactance vanishes as

approaches zero.

The current and voltage plots and the corresponding phasor diagram are
shown in the Figure 4 below.

Figure 4 Time dependence of

I L(t )

and

V L (t )

across the inductor.

Purely Capacitive Load

In the purely capacitive case, both resistance
zero. The circuit diagram is shown in Figure 5.

and inductance

are

Figure 5 A purely capacitive circuit

Again, Kirchhoffs voltage rule implies

V ( t )V C ( t )=V ( t )

Equation 8

Q (t )
=0
C

On the other hand, the current is

I c ( t )=

+ dQ

=C V CO cost=C V CO sin t+
dt
2

Equation 9

The above equation indicates that the maximum value of the current is

I CO =C V CO =

V CO
XC

Equation 10

where

XC=

1
C

Equation 11

is called the capacitance reactance. It also has SI units of ohms and

represents the effective resistance for a purely capacitive circuit. Note that

XC

is inversely proportional to both C and

, and diverges as

approaches zero.
The current and voltage plots and the corresponding phasor diagram are
shown in the Figure 6 below.

Figure 6 Time dependence of

IC ( t )

and

V C (t )

across the capacitor.