AAMC Assessments Physics 81 (RC circuits)

[dxu425]

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Hi everyone,

A little confused about this question from the AAMC Assessments Physics section: http://imgur.com/uSiUOE6 (you can ignore the attached image--sorry). Why is the discharging part of the graph there? I'm probably misunderstanding resistor-capacitor circuits. I had thought that when the capacitor is attached to the battery, the capacitor charges and then... stays charged, unless it's disconnected from the battery and attached to a resistor or something.

Thank you so much!!

 

[NuttyEngDude]

The voltage is a square wave which means some times it is on, sometimes it is off. so when it is off you get the falling part of the curve, this is equivalent to the capacitor discharging. So the power turning off is the same as removing it from the battery but leaving it hooked to the resistor