What are RC Circuits?
PhET simulation software can be used to create circuits and other properties of physics in a virtual setting.Copyright 2021 Dudhhr, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Students learn about the nature of resistors and capacitors and how they are used in circuits to observe the application of Coulomb’s law. Students review the nature of voltage divider circuits which use resistors in series and parallel circuits to vary the voltage and RC circuits in series and parallel which add capacitors to the circuits. Lastly, students study the nature of capacitors in relation to Coulomb’s Law using the PhET simulation, Capacitor Lab: Basics.
Students may not know what goes on behind the walls of their world and engineering design reveals the workings of that unseen world forming schematics for their understanding. Real life uses for RC circuits impacts people who are sitting in their car using their windshield wipers or waiting on a traffic light to change. The very heartbeat of a pacemaker wearer depends on the circuit design of RC circuits. The battery-operated world exists because of RC circuits.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Use the PhET simulation Circuit Construction Kit: AC to design and test simple voltage divider series and parallel circuits.
- Identify the components in an RC circuit.
- Compare the behaviors of series and parallel RC circuits.
- Construct and test an RC circuit using the PhET simulation.
- Describe the nature of capacitors.
- Describe the nature of resistors.