Physics Lesson 15.7.1 - What are RC Circuits?

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Welcome to our Physics lesson on What are RC Circuits?, this is the first lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of RC Circuits, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.

What are RC Circuits?

A RC circuit is the combination of a pure resistance R in ohms and a pure capacitance C in Farads. As discussed in the previous chapter, the capacitor stores energy while the resistor connected in series with the capacitor controls the charging and discharging process in the capacitor. A simple RC circuit is shown in the figure below.

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When the circuit is closed (ON) as shown above, the opposite charges collect at the two plates of capacitor. As a result, an extra charge is stored in the capacitor. This charge is then used when the switch is open (OFF), i.e. when no current produced by the battery flows through the circuit.

You have reached the end of Physics lesson 15.7.1 What are RC Circuits?. There are 2 lessons in this physics tutorial covering RC Circuits, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.

More RC Circuits Lessons and Learning Resources

Electrodynamics Learning Material
Tutorial ID	Physics Tutorial Title	Revision Notes	Revision Questions
15.7	RC Circuits
Lesson ID	Physics Lesson Title	Lesson	Video Lesson
15.7.1	What are RC Circuits?
15.7.2	Charging and Discharging a Capacitor

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Enjoy the "What are RC Circuits?" physics lesson? People who liked the "RC Circuits lesson found the following resources useful:

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Electrodynamics Physics tutorial: RC Circuits. Read the RC Circuits physics tutorial and build your physics knowledge of Electrodynamics
Electrodynamics Revision Notes: RC Circuits. Print the notes so you can revise the key points covered in the physics tutorial for RC Circuits
Electrodynamics Practice Questions: RC Circuits. Test and improve your knowledge of RC Circuits with example questins and answers
Check your calculations for Electrodynamics questions with our excellent Electrodynamics calculators which contain full equations and calculations clearly displayed line by line. See the Electrodynamics Calculators by iCalculator™ below.
Continuing learning electrodynamics - read our next physics tutorial: Miscellaneous

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