Time constants are ubiquitous.  They are literally everywhere.  Thermal systems, electrical systems, mechanical systems, even the human memory exhibit time constant behavior.

• Why learn about Time Constants?
• Just because time constants are everywhere.  The idea of a time constant is a very fundamental idea that appears in many disciplines and understanding time constants is a bit of knowledge that can help you learn fundamental ideas in numerous disciplines.
• What background should you have to study Time Constants?
• You need to already know something about differential equations and basic calculus - enoough to calculate simple responses of linear, first order systems.
• What do you need to know about Time Constants?
• You need to learn what time constants are and how they shape the responses of linear, first order systems.
• You need to learn how to extract values for time constants from response data.
• What do you need to get out of this unit?
• When you are finished with this unit you should be able to do the following.
• Given a data set with the time response of a sensor with first order dynamics to be able to determine the time constant from the data using any of three different methods, and to be able to distinguish data sets where no time constant can be found (2nd order responses, etc.)
• Be able to predict the response of time constant systems (i.e. linear first order systems) to constant inputs.
• What are you going to learn about?  Here are some possible topics.
• An introduction to sensor dynamics
• A note on methods for computing time constants
• A note on computing temperature from voltage divider measurements
• A time constant is a time constant, right?
• What if you need more information?
• How linear, first order systems respond.
• You might encounter second order systems.
• Problems
• Problem SysDyn1P00A - A Guided Problem

• Time Constants - Introduction to First Order, Linear System responses.

        Here are some links to experiments you can do that will help you learn about time constants.

• Sensor Time Constants.
• Motor Time Constants.