Contents

Capacitors__________________________________1
Amount of Charge Q A Capacitor Can Store________2
Self-Capacitance_____________________________4
Charging & Discharging of a Capacitor____________5
Energy in a Capacitor_________________________6
Type of Capacitors___________________________7
Uses of Capacitors___________________________10
Bibliography________________________________13
 Capacitors

Introduction
A capacitor is a device used to store electric charge.
Capacitors have applications ranging from filtering static
out of radio reception to energy storage in heart
defibrillators. Typically, commercial capacitors have two
conducting parts close to one another, but not touching.
When battery terminals are connected to an initially
uncharged capacitors, equal amount of positive and
negative charge, +Q and –Q, are separated into its two
plates. The capacitor remains neutral overall, but we
refer to it as storing a charge Q in this circumstance.

FIG. Both capacitors

shown here were

initially uncharged
before being connected
to a battery. They now
have separated charges
of +Q and –Q on their two
halves.
 A) A parallel plate capacitor

B) A rolled capacitor with an insulating material between the charged

plates

Pg. 02

Amount of Charge Q A Capacitor Can

Store
The amount of charge Q a capacitor can store depends
below each electric field line starts on an individual
positive and ends on a negative one, so that there will be
FIG. Electric field lines more field lines if there is more charge. The electric field
in the parallel plate
strength is, thus, directly proportional to Q.
capacitor, as always,
start on positive and end
on negative charges. The field is proportional to the
on two major charge: E α Q
factors- the
voltage applied
and the
capacitor‟s
physical
characteristics,
such as its size.
In Figure given
 W
e So, VαE
kn
o Hence, V α Q
w
thRemoving sign of proportionality we get,
at
, Q = CV
V
= Where C = capacitance of the
E
d parallel plate capacitor.
Pg. 03

The unit of capacitance is the farad (F), named for

Michael Faraday (1791-1867), an English scientist
who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism
and electrochemistry. Since capacitance is charge
per unit voltage, we see that a farad is a coulomb
per volt.

A 1-farad capacitor would be able to store 1 coulomb

with the application of only 1 volt. One farad is,
thus a very large capacitance. Typical capacitors
range from fractions of a picofarad to millifarads.
FIG. Some common

capacitors. Capacitors
are primarily made of
ceramic, glass, or
plastic, depending upon
purpose and size

Pg. 04

Self-Capacitance
Self-capacitance property is related to the capacitors
especially to the isolated conductor to raise its potential
difference to one volt. Generally normal conductors will
have mutual capacitance. This is also measured in the
S.I units i.e. Farads.

The Self-capacitance of a conducting sphere which has

the radius „R‟ is given by.

C=4πεoR

Self-capacitance values of some standard devices are

given below.
 For the top plate of a van de Graff generator which
is having radius of 20 cm self-capacitance is

22.24pF.

For the planet EARTH self-capacitance is 710 µF.

Pg. 05

Charging & Discharging of a

Capacitor
Let us assume that the capacitor, which is shown in the
Figure below in the circuit, is completely discharged. In
this circuit the capacitor value is 100 µF and the supply
voltage applied to this circuit is 12V.

Now the switch which is connected to the capacitor in the circuit

is moved to the
point A. Then the
A B
 capacitor starts charging with the charging current I. The
charging voltage across the capacitor is equal to the

supply voltage when the

capacitor is fully charged i.e. VS = VC = 12V.

In the case of ideal capacitors the charge remains

constant on the capacitor but in the case of general
capacitors the fully charged capacitors is slowly
discharged because of its leakage current.

When the switch is moved to the position B, then the

capacitor slowly discharges by switching on the lamp
which is connected in the circuit.
Pg. 06

Energy in a Capacitor
Energy is the amount of some work against the
electrostatic field to charge the capacitor fully. In the
capacitor at initial stage of charging, the charge Q
transferred between the plates from one plate to another
plate. This charge either +Q or –Q is interchanged
between two plates of a capacitor. After transformation of
some charge an electric field is formed between the
plates, in that case we need some extra work to charge
the capacitor fully. This extra work is called as the
 energy stored in a capacitor, the energy is measured in
the units of Joules (J). Now we see the equations for this

energy and work.

dW = V dQ
dW = (Q/C) dQ

After integration of the above equation

2 is
W = Q / 2C
2
W = (CV) / 2C W = CV / 2 Joules
2

Finally we get the energy stored in a capacitor

2 is
Energy (W) = CV / 2 Joules

Now we calculate the energy stored in a capacitor of

capacitance 200 µF which operate with voltage of 12V
-6 2
W = (200 x 10 x 12 ) / 2 = 14.4 mJ
Pg. 07

Type of Capacitors
 Film Capacitors

Film Capacitors comprising of a generally

 expansive group of capacitobeing in their dielectric

properties.rs with the distinction 


 Film Capacitors are available in almost any value and

voltages as high as 1500 volts.
 
 They come in tolerance from 10% to 0.01%.


There are two
types of film

capac itors i.e. Radial lead type & Axial

lead type. 

The electrodes of film capacitors may 
be metalized aluminum or zinc.
 
It use polystyrene, polycarbonate or 

Teflon as their dielectrics.


It can be used in AC voltage
applications, and they have much more stable

electrical parameters.
P g. 08

Ceramic Capacitors


Ceramic capacitors are used in high frequency circuits 

 such as audio to RF.


Ceramic Capacitors are the vest choice for high
  frequency compensation in audio circuits.

 
 These capacitors are also called as disc
capacitors.

 Ceramic capacitors are made by coating two
sides of a small porcelain or ceramic disc

with silver and are then stacked 

together to make a capacitor.

 Onecanmakeboth
capacitanceinceramic
capacitors.


They come in values from a few Pico farads

to 1  microfarad.


The voltage range is from a few volts up to
many 
 thousands of volts.


Ceramics are inexpensive to manufacture and
they  come with several dielectrics types.

Pg. 09
Electrolytic
Capacitors
 wide tolerance capacity.It is most prevalently used
c apacitors which have a



Electrolytic capacitors are available with working
 voltages up to about 500V.


There are two
types of
and electrolytic capacitor,

Aluminum. Tantalum


Tantalums
capacitors have
ordinarily better exhibition, hvalue. igher

 The dielectric properties of 

tantalum oxide is much superior to those of aluminum oxide.


It has an easier leakage current and better
capacitance strength which makes them suitable

 for obstructing, decoupling, filtering applications.


The thickness of the aluminum oxide film and
heightened breakdown voltage gives the
capacitor exceptionally elevated capacitance
 values for their size.
Pg. 10

Uses of Capacitors
Capacitors are devices which store electrical charge.
They are a basic component of electronics and have a
host of various applications. The most common use for
capacitors is energy storage. Additional uses include
power conditioning, signal coupling or decoupling,
electronic noise filtering, and remote sensing. Because
of its varied applications, capacitors are used in a wide
range of industries and have become a vital part of
everyday life.


Capacitors for
Energy Storage
 Capacitors have been used to store electrical
th energy since the late 18

century. Benjamin
Franklin was the first to coin the phrase “battery” for a
series of capacitors in an energy store application.

Individual capacitors generally do not hold a great deal

of energy, providing only enough power for

electronic devices to use during temporary power
outages or
when they need additional power. For example, large
capacitors are included in car audio systems to provide

extra power to amplifiers when needed.

Pg. 11

 
Capacitors for Power Conditioning
One important application of capacitors is the
conditioning of power supplies. Capacitors allow AC
signals to pass but block DC signals when they are
charged. They can effectively split these two signal
types, cleaning the supply of power. This effect has
been exploited to separate or decouple different parts
of electrical circuits to reduce noise which could lead
to reduction of efficiency. Capacitors are also used
inutility substations to counteract inductive loading
introduced by transmission lines.

 
Capacitors as Sensors
Capacitors are used as sensors to measure a variety of
things, including air humidity, fuel levels and mechanical
strain. The capacitance of a device is dependent on its
structure. Changes in the structure can be measured as
a loss or gain of capacitance. Two
aspects of a capacitor are used in sensing applications:
the distance between parallel plates and the
material between them. The former is used to detect
Pg. 12
mechanical changes such as acceleration and
pressure. Even minute changes in the material
between the plates can be enough to alter the
capacitance of the device, an effect exploited when
sensing air humidity.

  Capacitors for Signal Processing

Capacitors have found increasingly
advanced applications in information technology.
Dynamic
Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices use
capacitors to represent binary information as bits. The
device
reads
one
value
when
the

capacitor is charged and another when

discharged.
Pg. 13
Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) use capacitors in an analogue
form. Capacitors are also used in conjunction with inductors to tune
circuits to particular frequencies, an effect

exploited by radio receivers, speakers and analog

equalizers.

Bibliography
www.openstacks.com www.slideshare.com

www.googleimages.com
www.wikipedia.org

www.scribd.org
www.techwalla.com