Lab 9

Capacitive and Inductive Reactances

Objective

In this lab students will measure capacitive and inductive reactance, verify them theoretically, and
will determine the effect of frequency on capacitive and inductive reactance.

Equipment

• Digital multimeter (DMM)

• Oscilloscope
• Function Generator

Materials

• Resistors (RS): 1 kΩ (to use with the capacitor), 10 kΩ (to use with the inductor)
• Capacitor: value can range between 10 - 50 nF (non-electrolytic)
• Inductors: 100 mH (or available value)

Instructions

Measure the value of your components: resistances RS, capacitance C, inductance L, inductor
resistance RL.

Note: The excel examples in this handout refer to cells and component values that can be
adjusted according to your own experiment.

a. Capacitive Reactance

1. To record measured data and to perform calculations, prepare an excel table with
columns corresponding to frequency 𝑓𝑓, sensing resistor voltage 𝑉𝑉𝑠𝑠 , current magnitude
𝐼𝐼𝐶𝐶 , capacitor voltage magnitude 𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶 , time shift Δ𝑡𝑡 (s), and phase shift 𝜃𝜃 (°), found
capacitive reactance 𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶 (𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓) , and computed capacitive reactance 𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶 (𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐) .

Example:

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2. Use frequency values from 100 Hz to 1000 Hz in increments of 100 Hz, as shown in the
example.
3. Build a series circuit with an AC voltage source (Vmax = 6 V, f = 100 Hz), the capacitor,
and the corresponding sensing resistor. The capacitor should be located between the
source and the sensing resistor.
4. Use the sensing resistor to calculate the magnitude of the current in the circuit 𝐼𝐼𝐶𝐶 , and its
phase shift 𝜃𝜃𝑖𝑖 with respect to the voltage drop across the capacitor. This information will
serve you to determine the current phasor 𝐈𝐈𝐂𝐂 = 𝐼𝐼𝐶𝐶 ∠𝜃𝜃𝑖𝑖 .
a. Start by recording the voltage drop across the sensing resistor 𝑉𝑉𝑆𝑆 in the
corresponding column in your table.
b. The current magnitude can be calculated by dividing the voltage across the
sensing resistor 𝑉𝑉𝑆𝑆 over the value of the sensing resistance.

Example: If the measured sensing resistor is exactly 1 kΩ, the formula to enter in
cell C2 in excel is: This can be done in excel by entering the following formula:

=B2/1
Important notes:
i. Replace B2 by the corresponding cell where the first sensing resistor
voltage 𝑉𝑉𝑆𝑆 is listed if it is different than above.
ii. This example assumes a 1 kΩ sensing resistor. Use the actual value of the
sensor resistor 𝑅𝑅𝑆𝑆 used with the capacitor. Resistance in kilohms will
result in a current magnitude in milliamperes.

c. To compute the phase shift based on the measured time shift, enter the measured
time shift in seconds in the corresponding column, then utilize the formula 𝜃𝜃 =
Δ𝑡𝑡 ∙ 𝑓𝑓 ∙ 360° to convert to degrees in the next column.

Example: To calculate the phase shift for the first frequency, the formula entered
in cell F2 in the example is

=E2*A2*360

Where E2 corresponds to the time shift value in seconds, and A2 corresponds to

the initial frequency. Use cell notation corresponding to your own table.

5. Use differential measurement (Ch1-Ch2) to measure the magnitude of the voltage drop
across the capacitor, 𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶 . Consider the voltage drop across the capacitor as your reference
(𝜃𝜃 = 0°), therefore VC = 𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶 ∠0.
a. Record the magnitude of the capacitor voltage 𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶 in the corresponding column in
the table.

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6. Determine the capacitive reactance 𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶 by using the magnitude of capacitor current and
voltage, 𝐼𝐼𝐶𝐶 and 𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶 , as determined by steps 4 and 5 respectively. Reactance 𝜒𝜒 can be
calculated by finding the magnitude of the impedance |𝒁𝒁| = 𝜒𝜒 as shown below:

𝐕𝐕𝐂𝐂
𝒁𝒁𝒄𝒄 =
𝐈𝐈𝐂𝐂

𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶 ∠0° 𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶

𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶 ∠𝜃𝜃 = = ∠ − 𝜃𝜃𝑖𝑖
𝐼𝐼𝐶𝐶 ∠𝜃𝜃𝑖𝑖 𝐼𝐼𝐶𝐶

𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶
𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶 =
𝐼𝐼𝐶𝐶

Example: To compute the reactance out of measured voltage and current values,
the formula entered in cell G2 in the example is

= D2/C2/1000

Where D2 corresponds to the magnitude of the voltage drop across the capacitor
and, and C2 corresponds to the magnitude of the current through the capacitor.
Use cell notation corresponding to your own table. If the current is expressed in
milliamperes, the denominator should include a factor of 1000 for correct
dimensional analysis, as shown above.

7. Calculate capacitive reactance 𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶,𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 and compare it to the measured value 𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶,𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
as determined in step 6. Capacitive reactance is defined as the reciprocal of the product of
the angular frequency 𝜔𝜔 and the capacitance value 𝐶𝐶. Since the angular frequency 𝜔𝜔 =
2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋, then
1 1
𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶 = =
𝜔𝜔𝜔𝜔 2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋
Use this formula to compute the calculated capacitive reactance, 𝜒𝜒𝐶𝐶,𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 .

Example: The notation to enter this formula in cell H2 would be

=1/(2*pi()*A2*50E-9)

Important notes:
iii. Replace A2 by the corresponding cell where the first frequency value is
listed if it is different than this cell.
iv. This example assumes that a 50 nF capacitor value is used. Use the actual
value of your capacitor.

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 8. To use the formula in the cells below using the corresponding frequency values, hover
the mouse over the lower right corner of the cell that contains the formula until the cursor
takes the form of a plus sign (+). Double click on + and the column will populate with the
reactance values corresponding to the rest of the frequencies.
9. Prepare a plot of found and computed capacitive reactances versus frequency. Include
axis labels and a legend to identify each data set.

b. Inductive Reactance
10. Repeat steps 1-6 and used to determine capacitive reactance, but implement the following
changes for inductive reactance:
a. Instead of current through the capacitor 𝐼𝐼𝐶𝐶 , use the current through the inductor 𝐼𝐼𝐿𝐿 .
b. Instead of capacitor voltage magnitude 𝑉𝑉𝐶𝐶 , use the inductor voltage magnitude 𝑉𝑉𝐿𝐿 .
c. Use frequency values from 1 kHz to 10 kHz in increments of 1kHz.
i. Enter frequency values in Hertz in the table. If using kiloHertz,
incorporate corresponding factors for proper dimensional analysis in
formulas.
d. Use the corresponding value for the sensing resistor, which is about 10 times
larger in magnitude than the sensing resistor used with the capacitor.
11. Calculate inductive reactance and compare to the measured value found. Inductive
reactance is defined as the product of the angular frequency 𝜔𝜔 and the inductance value
𝐿𝐿. Since the angular frequency 𝜔𝜔 = 2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋, then
𝜒𝜒𝐿𝐿 = 𝜔𝜔𝐿𝐿 = 2𝜋𝜋𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
Use this formula to compute the calculated inductive reactance.

Example: The notation to enter this formula would be

=2*pi()*A2*100E-3

Important notes:

i. Replace A2 by the corresponding cell where the first frequency value is

listed if it is different than this cell.
ii. This example assumes that a 100 mH inductor value is used. Use the
actual value of your inductor.
12. Repeat steps 8 and 9.

Simulation

1. Simulate the series circuit with the capacitor and the sensing resistor. Select one
frequency value within the range tested. Run the circuit for one period. Compare the
measured and simulated voltage and current.

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 Voltage differential measurement in LTspice: Use differential measurement in
LTspice to measure the voltage across an element that is not adjacent to ground:

Position the cursor to measure voltage before the element of interest. Hold and drag
across the circuit element. This action would allow you to see a red voltage probe
before the element and a black probe after the element. A voltage trace appears in the
waveform window once the mouse is released.

To measure current in LTspice: Hover the mouse over the circuit element of interest
until it transforms into an arrow. Click and observe a current trace in the waveform
window. If needed, the circuit element can be rotated 180° to flip the direction of the
current.

Cursors in LTspice: To activate cursors, right click on the trace name. In the
expression editor window select Attached Cursor:1st. Observe the crosshair cursor in
the middle of the screen. To select it, hover over the crosshair lines until you see a
number 1. Click, hold the mouse, and move from side to side to observe how this
cursor follows the trace. (Eliminate gridlines if they obstruct the view of the cursor).

A secondary cursor can be attached to another trace. The positions and differential
positions of the cursors appear in a small window in the lower right of the screen.

2. Repeat simulation steps 1 and 2 using inductors.

Analysis

How does frequency affect impedance in a capacitive and inductive load? Explain in terms of
reactance and phase shift.