Capacitor charging and discharging
What Capacitor charging and discharging means in Physics A-Level, as defined for AQA, OCR.
Definitions of Capacitor charging and discharging
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Reference: AQA
Charging curves rise from zero and approach the supply value asymptotically, while discharging curves fall from their initial values towards zero asymptotically.
Processes in which charge and potential difference rise towards a maximum steady value during charging, or decay exponentially during discharging.
Topics that use Capacitor charging and discharging
- Capacitor charge and discharge (A-level only) (AQA A-Level)
- Charging and discharging capacitors (OCR A-Level)
Related terms
- Time constant
- Area under a graph
- Circuit setup for capacitor investigations
- Current, charge and voltage graphs
- Determining the time constant from a graph
- Differential equation for discharging a capacitor
- Discharging circuit
- Effect of larger R or C
Using Capacitor charging and discharging in the exam
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