On Nov 4, 4:02 am, Scott wrote:
Now I'm confused...doesn't Tau (Time Constant) = 1.1RC, hence 1 farad
and 1 ohm would give a time constant of 1.1? Yes, it's only 6AM, but am
I missing something?

No, the time constant of a resistance and capacitance is exactly R*C.
The time constant of a resistance and inductance is exactly L/R.

If you want to know the time at which something special happens in an
RC exponential decay, you may have to use the formula: v(t) =
v(0)*(e^(-t/RC)) (or a variation of that which accounts for the RC
changing from one voltage to a different one). So, for example, in a
555 one-shot timer circuit where the capacitor starts at (essentially)
zero volts and charges to 2/3 of the power supply voltage, we want to
find t such that e^(-t/RC) = 1/3, and that will be when t=1.0986... *
RC -- or sensibly t = 1.1*RC. And that likely is where you're
thinking of the 1.1 factor from. That's not the RC time constant;
it's the time period of a 555 one-shot timer.

Cheers,
Tom