Users' Guide User guide

134 Capacitor Discharge

3. Make a graph of ln(V⁄V

) versus t.

a) Press to return to the Home Screen; press to open the Graph

display.

b) Press to open the Graphs menu; press to select New Graph

Page.

c) Press twice to highlight the data source menu. Select ln(v/v0) from

the menu

4. Apply a linear fit and find the value of τ.

a) Press to open the Tools menu; press to select Linear Fit.

b) Press the down arrow key to make the dashed box surround the entire

data set.

c) The slope of the best-fit line equals τ.

τ = _________________ (include units)

5. (Optional) Repeat the experiment with different resistors. Make a graph

of R versus τ. What is the relationship between time constant and resis-

tance?

6. (Optional) Repeat the experiment with different capacitors. Make a

graph of C versus τ. What is the relationship between time constant and

capacitance?

Press to make the dashed

box surround the entire data set

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