NAME: Katrodiya Omee

Jigneshkumar
CLASS: 12-B
ROLL NO: 17
SUBJECT : Physics
TOPIC: Capacitance
 Acknowlwdgement

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude

to my teacher Mr. Naveen Jha as well as our principal

Ms. Trishla Shah who gave me the golden opportunity to

do this wonderful project on the topic Capacitance,

which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and i

came to know about so many new things I am really

thankful to them.

Secondly i would also like to thank my parents and

friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project

within the limited time frame.

Contents

• CAPACITOR
• CAPACITANCE
• STORED ENERGY
• ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS
• NETWORKS
• APPLICATIONS
• OTHER APPLICATIONS
• HAZARD AND SAFETY
• HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN
LOW VOLTAGE CAPACITOR
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Capacitor

A Capacitor is an electrical device that can store

energy in the electric field between a pair of closely
spaced conductors (called 'plates'). When current is
applied to the capacitor, electric charges of equal
magnitude, but opposite polarity, build up on each plate.
Capacitors are used in electrical circuits as energy-
storage devices. They can also be used to differentiate
between high-frequency and low-frequency signals and
this makes them useful in electronic filters. Capacitors
are occasionally referred to as Condensers. This is now
considered an antiquated term. A capacitor consists of
two conductive electrodes, or plates, separated by a
dielectric.

varieties of Capacitors
Graph of charging and
discharging of capacitors

Capacitance
 When electric charge accumulates on the plates, an
electric field is created in the region between the
plates that is proportional to the amount of
accumulated charge. This electric field creates a
potential difference

V= E·d

between the plates of this simple parallel-plate

capacitor. The capacitor's capacitance(C) is a measure
of the amount of charge (Q) stored on each plate for a
given potential difference or Voltage (V) which appears
between the plates :

C=Q/V

In
+ SI units, a capacitor has a capacitance of one farad
when one coulomb of charge is stored due to one volt
applied potential difference across the plates. Since
the farad is a very large unit, values of capacitors are
usually expressed in microfarads (µF), nanofarads (nF),
or picofarads (pF).
The capacitance is proportional to the surface area of
the conducting plate and inversely proportional to the
distance between the plates. It is also proportional to
the permittivity of the dielectric(that is, non-
conducting) substance that separates the plates.
The capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor is given
by:

where ε is the permittivity of the dielectric A

is the area of the plates and d is the spacing between
them. The rotated molecules create an opposing
electric field that partially cancels the field created
by the plates, a process called dielectric polarization.
 Stored energy
As opposite charges accumulate on the plates of a
capacitor due to the separation of charge, a voltage
develops across the capacitor owing to the electric
field of these charges. Ever-increasing work must be
done against this ever-increasing electric field as more
charge is separated. The energy (measured in joules, in
SI) stored in a capacitor is equal to the amount of work
required to establish the voltage across the capacitor,
and therefore the electric field. The energy stored is
given by:

Where V is the voltage across the capacitor. The

maximum energy that can be (safely) stored in a
particular capacitor is limited by the maximum electric
field that the dielectric can withstand before it breaks
down. Therefore, all capacitors made with the
same dielectric have about the same maximum energy
density (joules of energy per cubic meter).

Hydraulic model
As electrical circuitry can be modelled by fluid flow, a
capacitor can be modelled as a chamber with a flexible
diaphragm separating the input from the output. As can
be determined intuitively as well as mathematically,
this provides the correct characteristics.

• The pressure difference (voltage difference)

across the unit is proportional to the integral of
the flow (current)

• A steady state current cannot pass through it

because the pressure will build up across the
diaphragm until it equally opposes the
source pressure.
 • But a transient pulse or alternating current can be
transmitted

• The capacitance of units connected in parallel is

equivalent to the sum of their individual
capacitances

Electrical circuits
The electrons within dielectric molecules are
influenced by the electric field, causing the molecules
to rotate slightly from their equilibrium positions. The
air gap is shown for clarity; in a real capacitor, the
dielectric is in direct contact with the plates.
Capacitors also allow AC current to flow and block DC
current.

DC sources
The dielectric between the plates is an insulator and
blocks the flow of electrons. A steady current through
a capacitor deposits electrons on one plate and remove
the same quantity of electrons them from the other
plate. This process is commonly called 'charging' the
capacitor. The current through the capacitor results in
the separation of electric charge within the capacitor,
which develops an electric field between the plates of
the capacitor, equivalently, developing a voltage
difference between the plates. This voltage V is
directly proportional to the amount of charge
separated Q. Since the current I through the
capacitor is the rate at which charge Q is forced
through the capacitor (dQ/dt), this can be expressed
mathematically as:

Where I is the current flowing in the conventional

direction, measured in amperes, dV / dt is the time
derivative of voltage, measured in volts per second, and
C is the capacitance in farads.

For circuits with a constant (DC) voltage source

and consisting of only resistors and capacitors, the
voltage across the capacitor cannot exceed the voltage
of the source. Thus, an equilibrium is reached where
the voltage across the capacitor is constant and the
current through the capacitor is zero. For this reason,
it is commonly said that capacitors block DC.

AC sources
The current through a capacitor due to an AC source
reverses direction periodically. That is, the alternating
current alternately charges the plates: first in one
direction and then the other. With the exception of
the instant that the current changes direction, the
capacitor current is non-zero at all times during
a cycle. For this reason, it is commonly said that
capacitors "pass" AC. However, at no time do electrons
actually cross between the plates, unless the dielectric
breaks down. Such a situation would involve physical
damage to the capacitor and likely to the circuit
involved as well. Since the voltage across a capacitor is
proportional to the integral of the current, as shown
above, with sine waves in AC or signal circuits this
results in a phase difference of 90 degrees, the
current leading the voltage phase angle. It can be
shown that the AC voltage across the capacitor is in
quadrature with the alternating current through the
capacitor. That is, the voltage and current are 'out-of-
phase' by a quarter cycle. The amplitude of the voltage
depends on the amplitude of the current divided by the
product of the frequency of the current with the
capacitance, C.

Impedance
The ratio of the phasor voltage across a circuit
element to the phasor current through that element is
called the impedance Z. For a capacitor, the impedance
is given by:

Where

Is the capacitive reactance,

 Is the angular frequency, (f is the
frequency)
C is the capacitance in farads, and j is the imaginary
unit

While this relation (between the frequency domain

voltage and current associated with a capacitor) is
always true, the ratio of the time domain voltage and
current amplitudes is equal to XC only for sinusoidal
(AC) circuits in steady state.

Hence, capacitive reactance is the negative imaginary

component of impedance. The negative sign indicates
that the current leads the voltage by 90° for
a sinusoidal signal, as opposed to the inductor, where
the current lags the voltage by 90°. The impedance is
analogous to the resistance of a resistor. The
impedance of a capacitor is inversely proportional to
the frequency -- that is, for very high-frequency
alternating currents the reactance approaches zero --
so that a capacitor is nearly a short circuit to a very
high frequency AC source. Conversely, for very
low frequency alternating currents, the reactance
increases without bound so that a capacitor is nearly an
open circuit to a very low frequency AC source. This
frequency dependent behaviour accounts for most uses
of the capacitor. Reactance is so called because the
capacitor doesn't dissipate power, but merely stores
energy. In electrical circuits, as in mechanics, there
are two types of load, resistive and reactive. Resistive
loads (analogous to an object sliding on a rough
surface) dissipate the energy delivered by the circuit,
ultimately by electromagnetic emission, while reactive
loads (analogous to a spring or frictionless moving
object) store this energy, ultimately delivering
the energy back to the circuit. Also significant is that
the impedance is inversely proportional to
the capacitance, unlike resistors and inductors for
which impedances are linearly proportional to
resistance and inductance respectively. This is why the
series and shunt impedance formulae are the inverse of
the resistive case. In series, impedances sum. In
parallel, conductance’s sum.

Displacement current
The physicist James Clerk Maxwell invented the
concept of displacement current, d D/dt, to make
Ampere’s law consistent with conservation of charge in
cases where charge is accumulating as in a capacitor.
He interpreted this as a real motion of charges, even in
vacuum, where he supposed that it corresponded to
motion of dipole charges in the aether. Although this
interpretation has been abandoned, Maxwell's
correction to Ampere’s law remains valid

Networks
Series or parallel arrangements

Capacitors in a parallel configuration each have the

same potential difference (voltage).Their total
capacitance (C eq) is given by:
The reason for putting capacitors in parallel is to
increase the total amount of charge stored. In other
words, increasing the capacitance also increases the
amount of energy that can be stored. Its expression is:

The current through capacitors in series stays the

same, but the voltage across each capacitor can be
different. The sum of the potential differences
(voltage) is equal to the total voltage.
Their total capacitance is given by:

In parallel the effective area of the combined

capacitor has increased, increasing the overall
capacitance. While in series, the distance between the
plates has effectively been increased, reducing the
overall capacitance. In practice capacitors will be
placed in series as a means of economically
obtaining very high voltage capacitors, for example for
smoothing ripples in a high voltage power supply. Three
"600 volt maximum" capacitors in series will increase
their overall working voltage to 1800 volts. This is of
course offset by the capacitance obtained being only
one third of the value of the capacitors used. This can
be countered by connecting 3 of these series set-ups in
parallel, resulting in a 3x3 matrix of capacitors with
the same overall capacitance as an individual capacitor
but operable under three times the voltage. In this
application, a large resistor would be connected across
each capacitor to ensure that the total voltage is
divided equally across each capacitor and also to
discharge the capacitors for safety when the
equipment is not in use. Another application is for use
of polarized capacitors in alternating current circuits;
the capacitors are connected in series, in reverse
polarity, so that at any given time one of the capacitors
is not conducting...

Capacitor/inductor duality

In mathematical terms, the ideal capacitor can be

considered as an inverse of the ideal inductor, because
the voltage-current equations of the two devices can
be transformed into one another by exchanging the
voltage and current terms. Just as two or more
inductors can be magnetically coupled to make a
transformer, two or more charged conductors can be
electro statically coupled to make a capacitor. The
mutual capacitance when the voltage across the other
changes by unit voltage in unit time.
 Applications
Capacitor symbols
1. Capacitor 2. Polarized
3. Variable Capacitor

Capacitors

Capacitors have various uses in electronic and electrical

systems.

Energy storage
A capacitor can store electric energy when
disconnected from its charging circuit, so it can be
used like a temporary battery. Capacitors are commonly
used in electronic devices to maintain power supply
while batteries are being changed. (This prevents loss
of information in volatile memory.)Capacitors are used
in power supplies where they smooth the output of
a full or half wave rectifier. They can also be used in
charge pump circuits as the energy storage element in
the generation of higher voltages than the input
voltage. Capacitors are connected in parallel with the
power circuits of most electronic devices and larger
systems (such as factories) to shunt away and
conceal current fluctuations from the primary power
source to provide a "clean" power supply for signal or
control circuits. Audio equipment, for example, uses
several capacitors in this way, to shunt away power line
hum before it gets into the signal circuitry. The
capacitors act as a local reserve for the DC
power source, and bypass AC currents from the power
supply. This is used in car audio applications, when a
stiffening capacitor compensates for the inductance
and resistance of the leads to the lead-acid car
battery.

Power factor correction

Capacitors are used in power factor correction. Such
capacitors often come as three capacitors connected
as a three phase load. Usually, the values of these
capacitors are given not in farads but rather as a
reactive power in volt-amperes reactive (VAr).
The purpose is to counteract inductive loading from
electric motors and fluorescent lighting in order to
make the load appear to be mostly resistive.

Filtering

Signal de-coupling
Because capacitors pass AC but block DC signals(when
charged up to the applied dc voltage), they are often
used to separate the AC and DC components of a signal.
This method is known as AC de-coupling. Here, a large
value of capacitance, whose value need not be
accurately controlled, but whose reactance is small at
the signal frequency, is employed.

Noise filters, motor starters, and snubbers

When an inductive circuit is opened, the current

through the inductance collapses quickly, creating a
large voltage across the open circuit of the switch or
relay. If the inductance is large enough, the energy will
generate a spark, causing the contact points to oxidize,
deteriorate, or sometimes weld together, or destroying
a solid-state switch. A snubber capacitor across the
newly opened circuit creates a path for this impulse to
bypass the contact points, thereby preserving their
life; these were commonly found in
contact breaker ignition systems, for instance.
Similarly, in smaller scale circuits, the spark may not be
enough to damage the switch but will still radiate
undesirable radio frequency interference(RFI), which a
filter capacitor absorbs. Snubber capacitors are usually
employed with a low-value resistor in series, to
dissipate energy and minimize RFI. Such resistor-
capacitor combinations are available in a single package.
In an inverse fashion, to initiate current quickly
through an inductive circuit requires a greater voltage
than required to maintain it; in uses such as large
motors, this can cause undesirable start-up
characteristics, and a motor starting capacitor is used
to increase the coil current to help start the motor
.Capacitors are also used in parallel to interrupt units
of a high-voltage circuit breaker in order to equally
distribute the voltage between these units. In this
case they are called grading capacitors. In schematic
diagrams, a capacitor used primarily for DC charge
storage is often drawn vertically in circuit diagrams
with the lower, more negative, plate drawn as an arc.
The straight plate indicates the positive terminal of
the device, if it is polarized.

Signal processing
The energy stored in a capacitor can be used to
represent information, either in binary form, as in
DRAMs, or in analogue form, as in analog sampled
filters and CCDs. Capacitors can be used in analog
circuits as components of integrators or more complex
filters and in negative feedback loop stabilization.
Signal processing circuits also use capacitors to
integrate a current signal.

Tuned circuits
Capacitors and inductors are applied together in tuned
circuits to select information in particular frequency
bands. For example, radio receivers rely on variable
capacitors to tune the station frequency. Speakers use
passive analog crossovers, and analog equalizers use
capacitors to select different audio bands. In a tuned
circuit such as a radio receiver, the frequency selected
is a function of the inductance (L) and the capacitance
(C) in series, and is given by:

This is the frequency at which resonance occurs in an

LC circuit.
 Other applications
Sensing
Most capacitors are designed to maintain a fixed
physical structure. However, various things can change
the structure of the capacitor — the resulting change
in capacitance can be used to sense those things.
Changing the dielectric: the effects of varying the
physical and/or electrical characteristics of the
dielectric can also be of use. Capacitors with an exposed
and porous dielectric can be used to measure humidity
in air. Changing the distance between the plates:
Capacitors are used to accurately measure the fuel
level in airplanes. Capacitors with a flexible plate
can be used to measure strain or pressure. Capacitors
are used as the sensor in condenser microphones,
where one plate is moved by air pressure, relative to
the fixed position of the other plate. Some
accelerometers use MEMS capacitors etched on a chip
to measure the magnitude and direction of the
acceleration vector. They are used to detect changes
in acceleration, eg. As tilt sensors or to detect free
fall, as sensors triggering air bag deployment, and in
many other applications. Also some fingerprint sensors.
Additionally, a user can adjust the pitch of a theremin
musical instrument by moving his hand since this
changes the effective capacitance between the users
hand and the antenna.

Pulsed power and weapons

Groups of large, specially constructed, low-inductance
high-voltage capacitors (capacitor banks) are used to
supply huge pulses of current for many pulsed
power applications. These include electromagnetic
forming, Marx generators,

Pulsed lasers(especially TEA lasers), pulse forming

networks, radar ,fusion research, and particle
accelerators. Large capacitor banks are used as energy
sources for the exploding-bridge wire
detonators or slapper detonators in nuclear weapons
and other specialty weapons. Experimental work is
under way using banks of capacitors as power sources
for electromagnetic armour and electromagnetic
railguns or coil guns.

Hazards and safety

Capacitors may retain a charge long after power is
removed from a circuit; this charge can cause shocks
(sometimes fatal) or damage to connected equipment.
For example, even a seemingly innocuous device such as
a disposable camera flash unit powered by a1.5 volt
AA battery contains a capacitor which may be charged
to over 300 volts. This is easily capable of delivering an
extremely painful and possibly lethal shock. Care must
be taken to ensure that any large or high-voltage
capacitor is properly discharged before servicing the
containing equipment. For board-level capacitors, this is
done by placing a bleeder resistor across the terminals,
whose resistance is large enough that the leakage
current will not affect the circuit, but small enough to
discharge the capacitor shortly after power is
removed. High-voltage capacitors should be stored with
the terminals shorted, since temporarily discharged
capacitors can develop potentially dangerous voltages
when the terminals are left open-circuited. Large oil-
filled old capacitors must be disposed of properly as
some contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). It is
known that waste PCBs can leak into groundwater under
landfills. If consumed by drinking contaminated water,
PCBs are carcinogenic, even in very tiny amounts. If the
capacitor is physically large it is more likely to be
dangerous and may require precautions in addition to
those described above. New electrical components are
no longer produced with PCBs. ("PCB" in electronics
usually means printed circuit board, but the above
usage is an exception.) Capacitors containing PCB were
labelled as containing "Askarel" and several other trade
names.

High-voltage
Above and beyond usual hazards associated with
working with high voltage, high energy circuits, there
are a number of dangers that are specific to high
voltage capacitors. High voltage capacitors may
catastrophically fail when subjected to voltages or
currents beyond their rating, or as they reach their
normal end of life. Dielectric or metal interconnection
failures may create arcing within oil-filled units that
vaporizes dielectric fluid, resulting in case bulging,
rupture, or even an explosion that disperses flammable
oil, starts fires, and damages nearby equipment. Rigid
cased cylindrical glass or plastic cases are more prone
to explosive rupture than rectangular cases due to an
inability to easily expand under pressure. Capacitors
used in RF or sustained high current applications can
overheat, especially in the centre of the capacitor
rolls. The trapped heat may cause rapid interior
heating and destruction, even though the outer case
remains relatively cool. Capacitors used within high
energy capacitor banks can violently explode when a
fault in one capacitor causes sudden dumping of energy
stored in the rest of the bank into the failing unit.
And, high voltage vacuum capacitors can generate soft
X-rays even during normal operation. Proper
containment, fusing, and preventative maintenance can
help to minimize these hazards.

1. High voltage capacitors can benefit from a

pre-charge to limit in-rush currents at power-up of
HVDC circuits. This will extend the life of the
component and may mitigate high voltage hazards.
 How to make your own
low voltage capacitors
MATERIALS REQUIRED
• Sheets of Paper

• Aluminium foil
• Gluestick

• Scissors

• Wires

• Tape
PROCEDURE
• Cut two equal square pieces of aluminium foil. Now
take a sheet of paper 3X times the size of
aluminium sheet, and a bit wider than the aluminium
sheet.

• Make three partitions of the paper sheet, apply

glue to all and place one of the aluminium sheets at
one corner.

• Place a small piece of wire over it at a side. Now

turn over second partition (i.e. the one in between)
over the partition containing the aluminium sheet
and wire placed over.

• Turn the paper sheet and place the other aluminium

sheet just over the first aluminium sheet, which
are now separated by paper in between which
becomes our parallel plate capacitor.

• Repeat the same process for placing the wire on

the aluminium sheet and place the corner partition
over it.
• Note that the two small wires should be placed in
different directions from each other.

• Now curl the system in a cylinder looking shape and

tape it to be in that shape only.

• Your low voltage capacitor is ready.

 Bibliography

• PHYSICS 12 NCERT PART-1

• DK Family Encyclopaedia

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