Differences between Inductor and Capacitor voltage waveforms.

A 20ms period square pulse is applied (10ms ON and 10ms OFF). Both the capacitor and inductor are meant to fully charge by 10ms. The voltage waveform across the resistor in each circuit is the opposite shape of the voltage waveform of the capacitor or inductor in that same circuit. This is because the total source voltage in any circuit must be used by all components. If at the beginning of the cycle (0ms) the capacitor has no voltage stored, all the voltage will be droped across the resistor, at the end of the ON cycle (10ms) most voltage is stored in the capacitor thus very little is dropped across the resistor. The voltage waveform of the capacitor is identical to the voltage waveform of the resistor in the inductor circuit and viceversa. The voltage and current waveforms in the resistors are similar. The current waveforms of the same circuit are identical.

published 8 years ago