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Discharge of an RC circuit

A capacitor is charged to tex2html_wrap_inline163 volts from a battery as shown in the diagram then discharged through the resistor by throwing the switch to ground. Use the Laplace transform method to calculate the current in the discharge. Look at the RC circuit example we studied in lectures (there we applied a step function voltage to an uncharged capacitor).

In this case the applied voltage is zero for t>0 and we handle the initial condition (the charge on the capacitor) by writing the charge as:

displaymath151

Hence show that the initial charged condition is equivalent (for t>0) to applying a step voltage tex2html_wrap_inline169 to an uncharged capacitor at t=0.
Hence find the expression for the current I(t) for t>0.

SOLUTION :

For t>0 Kirchoff's voltage rule yields:

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Taking the Laplace Transform:

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Solving for tex2html_wrap_inline179 gives:

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Inverting the Laplace Transform then gives:

displaymath156

(Using tex2html_wrap_inline181 )



Keith Jones
Mon Jun 25 11:57:27 EST 2001