How current relates to capacitance

[JFS321]

Hi all,

I have a simple circuit with a battery, resistor, and finally, the capacitor.

Am I correct in saying that adding additional resistors will increase the charging time, because adding resistors will decrease the overall current?

Thanks--

 

[technician]

Basically...yes...with the information you have provided!

PS...unless you connect the resistors in parallel

 

[sophiecentaur]

Hi all,

I have a simple circuit with a battery, resistor, and finally, the capacitor.

Am I correct in saying that adding additional resistors will increase the charging time, because adding resistors will decrease the overall current?

Thanks--

It is really far more fruitful to describe what happens using Maths.
We assume the three are in series. The time constant (time for the voltage across the Resistor to go to 1/e of any initial value) is given by RC. It's an Exponential variation. As the Voltage decreases exponentially, so does the current flowing because I = V/R.

 

[technician]

A more direct way for you to consider the time constant is that RC is the time taken for the CURRENT in the series circuit to decrease to 1/e of its initial value.
(your question related to the current)
T = RC so larger R means longer time for the current to decrease.
Increasing R decreases the current which increases the time to charge the capacitor.