I think he's been given a practical assignment in school physics / electronics, but isn't sure how to do it, and doesn't really want to do the experiment anyway.
To Panther - if you don't do the experiment, you're cheating yourself. The whole of science is based on trying out your ideas against the real world by testing them to see if they work, so if you don't do that bit, you're not really learning science.
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It shouldn't take you long to work out the times - it's a simple formula. Look up 'capacitor', 'exponential decay', and 'time constant' on google.
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Nononono
I am doing the practical it's just that i have ONE WEEK to do it in and if I just measure the voltages then I won't have time to work out the time, so if I could record the voltages and do the calculations later using some formula it would bebetter.
I'm sorry but I cannot do those complicated solutions, I am poor at practicals/electronics. Simpler circuits are better.
Then your best advice is to go back to school, but read the textbooks this time. There are no simpler answers to your question if you refuse to become educated in the methods and background involved.
The ball is in your court.
Good Luck! Rich
Well, record the damn voltages then!
Set up your thing, with a DC power supply and series resistor to the swinging ball. Connect a capacitor from the stationary ball to ground. Measure the voltage at the capacitor. Any ordinary DVM should be able to do that - in the US, they're US$9.95. Write this voltage down. It doesn't matter what it is, just write it down. Swing the ball. Measure the voltage at the capacitor, QUICKLY! Write that number down.
Record the value of the resistor and capacitor in step 1, and use the equation for a charging capacitor to find out how long they were touching.
If I gave you any more detailed of an answer than that, I would be doing your labwork for you, which is even worse than doing your homework for you.
Get up off your dead butt and learn something.
If you only have a week left, and haven't by now learned the material, then maybe you should get into politics or something.
Good Luck! Rich
Good luck with it,
andy.
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OK I will do that thanks.
But you should really be blam>
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