Dennis Dozortsev

Experiment Performed 11/12/14

Reactance and Impedance
Abstract
The purpose of this experiment was to use an oscillator to power a resistor(R),
capacitor(C), and inductor(L) in series with AC power, given constant current,
allowing us to measure the resistance, capacitance, and inductance, respectively.
From these we can measure the impedance (I) of the entire series circuit.
Additionally, we can find the optimal frequency, resonance frequency res, for our
circuit given all of these values. The given values were: resistor R=2727 ,
capacitor C=.021 F, and inductor L=.106 H at 1000 Hz. Our experimental values
were obtained from plotting voltage/current(V/I) to obtain the relative resistance of
each of the three, and from theory calculation the experimental values were Rexp
= 3007 , Cexp=.015 F, and Lexp=.09 H at 5000Hz. The found series impedance
was Iexp = 3232 , and the optimal resonance frequency =4331 Hz. Calculated
phase angle of the RLC circuit was =89.7.
Theory
Most of the theory in this lab was derived from Ohms law(V=IR). It is used to find
most of the values needed to calculate the respective properties of the materials.

was found by plotting V/I for the single resistor in current.

X L=

2 fL

XL(resistance) was found by plotting V/I for the inductor,

allowing us to find L.

X c=
f R=

1
2 fC

Xc(resistance) was found by plotting V/I, solved for C.

1
1/ 2
2 ( LC)

This equation recombines the resonance equality to find

frequency.

X L X C

R2 + ( 2 ) 2
Z=
={tan}

(-1)

This formula summarizes the impedance of the entire circuit.

((

X L - X c )/R) This formula allows us to calculate the

phase angle of the RLC circuit. This angle is the phase of the voltage
leading the current.

Procedure
Refer to Figure 1 at the right.
First, we connected our AC power to the voltmeter in
parallel, and our Resistor is connected to our Ammeter in
series. We recorded the current from the ammeter and
voltage from our voltmeter for five times at voltages
Figure 1
varying form one to seven volts. Then we removed our Resistor and
we connected our Inductor the same way as in step 1. We recorded the voltage and
current five times at the same volt range. We removed our Inductor and we
replaced it with our capacitor and ran the recurring trials. Afterwards we connected
our Inductor, Capacitor, Resistor in series (RLC) and recorded the current and
voltage pairs from voltages one through seven. Using our RLC circuit, we set the
voltage at 5 V, and we played with the frequency until we reached a Maximum
current. We recorded the resonance frequency, current, and our constant voltage.
This ended our experimentation.
Apparatus:
Variable-frequency generator, two multi-meters (Voltmeter, Ammeter), resistor
(~2700 ), capacitor (~0.02 F), inductor (~0.106 H at 1000 Hz, ~0.146 H at
5000 Hz).
Results

R()
2727
Voltage
(V)
Curre
nt
(Amps
)

Resistor
Inducto
r
Capacit
or
RLC

1
0.000
33
0.000
36
0.000
53
0.000
3

2
0.000
75
0.000
81
0.001
15
0.000
69

L(H)
0.09
3
0.001
18
0.001
26
0.001
78
0.001
08
Figure 2

4
0.001
32
0.001
42
0.002
01
0.001
23

C(F)
0.021
5
0.001
68
0.001
79
0.002
51
0.001
55

6
0.002
04
0.002
16
0.003
03
0.001
89

7
0.002
38
0.002
54
0.003
55
0.002
21

The figures above are our trial runs from the experiment. The results seem accurate
enough to hold up in further analysis. Below are listed the four graphs made from
the above table and used to find the respective resistances of each part of our RLC
circuit and in turn each parts respective properties.

Voltage v Resistor Current

8
6
Voltage(Volts)

4
2

f(x) = 3007.94x - 0.16

Voltage v Resistor
R = 0.99
Linear (Voltage v
Resistor)

0
0 0 0 0 0 0
Current(Amps)

Figure 3
From this slope, V/I, we find the resistance of our resistor, R, to be 3007 .

Voltage v Inductor Current

8
6

f(x) = 2842.31x - 0.2

R = 0.99
4
Voltage(Volts)
Voltage v Inductor
Linear (Voltage v Inductor)
2
0
0

C urrent(Amps)

Figure 4
From Figure 4, the slope gives us XL = 2842 and allows us to calculate the inductance L
= .09 Henries at 5000 Hz.

Voltage v Capacitor Current

10 v Capacitor Current
Voltage
Voltage(Volts

f(x) = 2049.74x - 0.26

R = 0.99

Linear0 (Voltage v Capacitor Current)

0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Current(Amps)

Figure 5
From Figure 5, the slope gives us X C = 2049 and allows us to calculate the capacitance
C = .015 Farads.

Voltage v RLC Current

10
5
Voltage v RLC Current
Voltage(Volts)
0
0

f(x)Linear
= 3232.01x
- 0.13
(Voltage
v RLC Current)
R = 0.99
0

Current(Amps))

Figure 6
From Figure 6, the slope gives us Zexp = 3232 , the total impedance of the circuit.

Conclusion and Error

The graphs look linear enough to assume our data was not too flawed, and the
results are close enough to the given values where we can deduce that the
experiment was mostly successful. We had slight error in our experimental values
but that is to be expected, most were below 10% error and that is acceptable under
the circumstances.
The error was found using

2 Z
2
Z

x2

2 x
2
x

2 y
2
y

for L, C, and Z, taken

from the Mechanics Lab Manual. Error is discussed in the questions section below.

Causes of error in the lab may have come from machine tuning and inaccurate
readings of instruments. The oscillators described Hz and the actual frequency it
was outputting was found to be of considerable difference(~1200 Hz), and may
have attributed to some skewed readings.
Questions
1) Yes our values for R,L, and C are similar to the given values. Our R values had
a 9% error, L was 14% off, our highest error accumulator, and C had a 7%
error.
2) The impedence calculated and theorized were similar to within 7% of each
other. The experimental uncertainty was calculated from these values using
the above equation

V average = 4.5 V;

Standard deviation:

I average=0.001518 Amps ;

V = 0.9532 V

Standard deviation:

I = 0.000247 Amps

and Zexp was 3232 187.7. Ztheo was calculated to be 3007 .

3) At higher frequencies inductors experience larger resistance and losses to
current, to accurately measure an inductor it would be advisable to use
smaller frequencies.

4)

if X C =0 ,

Z=3232 from our graph; L= .106 H, then

resistance would be 203.35 according to this equation

XL

=3436.73 . Our internal

XL

2
R +( 2)1/ 2
Z=