Answer: Calculating Time to Discharge Capacitor Rated x Micro-Farads

[James889]

Hi,

If i have a capacitor rated x micro-Farads. And i know that it is charged to a certain voltage.
And it's being discharged by a current. How would i find the time it takes to completely discharge the capacitor?

 

[TurtleMeister]

google: capacitor rc

 

[James889]

okay so it's an exponential decay type of function?
I suspect this is really easy. I have that the capacitor is rated at 1014$$\mu$$ farads
and that it is charged to 179V, and is being discharged at a constant rate of 163$$\mu$$A

 

[berkeman]

okay so it's an exponential decay type of function?
I suspect this is really easy. I have that the capacitor is rated at 1014$$\mu$$ farads
and that it is charged to 179V, and is being discharged at a constant rate of 163$$\mu$$A

If you are discharging with a constant current, the voltage decay is not exponential, it is linear.

How exactly is this capacitor being discharged? How did it get to 179V in the first place?

 

[James889]

Hmm, sorry. I just discovered i posted in the wrong forums.
Forgive me...

 

[berkeman]

Hmm, sorry. I just discovered i posted in the wrong forums.
Forgive me...

No worries. Do you want me to move the thread to the Homework Help forums?