Capacitor charging and discharging: RC time constant

Change the resistance and capacitance to see the charging and discharging curves and read the voltage and current at any time.

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Questions students ask

What is the time constant of an RC circuit?

τ = RC: the time for a charging capacitor to reach 63% of the supply voltage, or a discharging one to fall to 37%.

How long does a capacitor take to charge fully?

About 5τ, when it has reached over 99%.

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