Impedance triangle

Resistance (in ohms)
2 ohms 10 ohms
5
Capacitance (in mF)
0.5 mF 3 mF
2
Inductance (in mH)
0.2 mH 5 mH
3
Frequency (in Hz)
60 Hz 160 Hz
90

This simulation shows the impedance triangle for a series RLC circuit. The impedance (Z) of the circuit is the hypotenuse of the triangle. The resistance is the horizontal side of the triangle. The vertical side is the sum of the inductive reactance (XL, in the positive y direction) and the capacitive reactance (XC, in the negative y direction) vectors.
The maximum current is the maximum voltage divided by the impedance.
Given the limits on the sliders, see if you can determine the maximum and minimum values of the impedance and the current.

Simulation first posted on 3-11-2016. Written by Andrew Duffy

Creative Commons License
This work by Andrew Duffy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This simulation can be found in the collection at http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/classroom.html.

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