Question

List out at least two uses for an RC circuit and explain how the RC would affect the use.

Answer 1

The two fundamental applications/operations of RC circuits are as: filter circuits, in the frequency domain; as timing circuits, in the time domain.

Given this, as virtually any interesting electronic circuit uses one or more of those fundamental operations, RC circuits are used in many applications: noise removers, delay lines, filters (high, low, band, notch, equalizers), signal coupling and bias decoupling in amplifiers, timers (the popular RC time constant…), sinusoidal and relaxation oscillators, etc… Think in any practical electronic circuit: almost certainly, you will find RC structures in it.

The duality existent between capacitors (C) and inductors (L) means those operations can also be performed by a RL circuit; however, real inductors are quite more problematic to use and fabricate than practical capacitors due to its “imperfect” behavior, and inductors are generators/receivers of electromagnetic fields (shortly speaking, they behave as antennas in a much more serious way than capacitors), which means almost always an RC circuit is preferred over an RL circuit whenever one has the option to select.