Capacitor Discharging Graph

The Capacitor Discharging Graph is the a graph that shows how many time constants it takes for a capacitor to discharge to a given percentage of the applied voltage.

A capacitor discharging graph really shows to what voltage a capacitor will discharge to after a given amount of time has elapsed.

Capacitors take a certain amount of time to discharge. Discharging a capacitor is not instantaneous. Therefore, calculations are taken in order to know when a capacitor will reach a certain voltage after a certain amount of time has elapsed.

The time it takes for a capacitor to discharge 63% of its fully charged voltage is equal to one time constant. After 2 time constants, the capacitor discharges 86.3% of the supply voltage. After 3 time constants, the capacitor discharges 94.93% of the supply voltage. After 4 time constants, a capacitor discharges 98.12% of the supply voltage. After 5 time constants, the capacitor discharges 99.3% of the supply voltage.

The graph below shows all these transitions of capacitor discharging time: