RC low-pass filter simulation: A signal, smoothed out
Watch an RC filter reduce a signal, then find its corner frequency.
Watch it built from an empty canvas · R = 1 kΩ · C = 1 µF · input = 1 V peak · real desktop recording, no sound · 0:33Read the transcript
Drop in a sine source, set 500 Hz.
Add a 1 kΩ resistor and a 1 µF capacitor.
Press W, then click pin to pin.
Run a 20 ms transient.
Probe input and output: smaller, and later.
Run the experiment.
Run Transient for 20 ms with a 10 µs output step. The settled output peaks near 0.303 V. For AC, use a 1 V AC magnitude and sweep 1 Hz to 100 kHz at 50 points per decade: the −3 dB corner is 159.1 Hz.
Now change one thing.
Double the capacitor to 2 µF. The corner falls to about 79.6 Hz. At the same 500 Hz input, the output is smaller and lags further behind.
Make the prediction before pressing Run. After changing a component value, the previous result is marked out of date until you run it again.
Know the assumptions.
The transient starts with zero stored energy, so compare settled cycles. AC is a small-signal analysis, not a time-domain recording.