SESSION 2023 – 2024

PHYSICS PROJECT FILE

TOPIC : CAPACITORS

SUBMITTED BY : SUBMITTED TO :

ABHINAV VERMA MR. ABHAY

s (12th B2) SHARMA
 INTRODUCTION
NAME – ABHINAV VERMA
CLASS – 12th

SECTION – B2

TOPIC - : Capacitors

TEACHER’s NAME – MR. ABHAY

S SHARMA
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that “ABHINAV
VERMA ” of Class “ 12th B2 ” has
successfully completed their Physics
Project on topic -
“ CAPACITORS”
Under the guidance of MR. ABHAY
SHARMA & with help of information
available on internet and textbook.

TEACHER’s PRINCIPAL’s
SIGNATURE SIGNATURE
 ACKNOWLEDGEMEN
I have taken efforts in this project. However, it
would not have been possible without the kind
support and help of many individuals. I would
like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
I am highly indebted to my physics teacher
"Mr. Abhay Sharma" for their guidance and
constant supervision as well as for providing
necessary information regarding the project.
I would like to express my gratitude towards
my school "Ajmani International School".
I would like to express my special gratitude
and thanks to school authorities for giving me
such attention and time.
 INDEX
1. ABOUT CAPACITOR
 INTRODUCTION.
 WHAT IS A CAPACITOR.
 HOW DOES A CAPACITOR WORK.
 HOW DO YOU DETERMINE THE VALUE OF
CAPACITANCE.
 ENERGY STORED IN THE CAPACITOR.
 STANDARD UNITS OF CAPACITORS.
 CAPACITANCE OF A PARALLEL PLATE
CAPACITOR.
 CAPACITANCE OF A SPHERICAL CAPACITOR.
2. FACTORS AFFECTING CAPACITORS
 DIELECTRIC.
 PLATE SPACING.
 AREA OF THE PLATES .

3. APPLICATIONS OF CAPACITORS
 ENERGY STORAGE
 POWER CONDITIONING
 SENSORS
 SIGNAL PROCESSING
ABOUT
CAPACITOR
INTRODUCTION
A capacitor is a little like a battery but
works completely differently. A battery is
an electronic device that converts chemical
energy into electrical energy, whereas a
capacitor is an electronic component that
stores electrostatic energy in an electric
field. In this article, let’s learn about
capacitors in detail.

What Is a Capacitor ?
A capacitor is a two-terminal electrical
device that can store energy in the form of
an electric charge. It consists of two
electrical conductors that are separated by
a distance. The space between the
conductors may be filled by vacuum or
with an insulating material known as a
dielectric. The ability of the capacitor to
store charges is known as capacitance.
Capacitors store energy by holding apart
pairs of opposite charges. The simplest
design for a capacitor is a parallel plate,
which consists of two metal plates with a
gap between them. But, different types of
capacitors are manufactured in many
forms, styles, lengths, girths, and
materials.

How Does a Capacitor Work?

For demonstration, let us consider the most
basic structure of a capacitor – the parallel
plate capacitor. It consists of two parallel
plates separated by a dielectric. When we
connect a DC voltage source across the
capacitor, one plate is connected to the
positive end (plate I) and the other to the
negative end (plate II). When the potential
of the battery is applied across the
capacitor, plate I become positive with
respect to plate II. The current tries to flow
through the capacitor at the steady-state
condition from its positive plate to its
negative plate. But it cannot flow due to
the separation of the plates with an
insulating material.

An electric field appears across the

capacitor. The positive plate (plate I)
accumulates positive charges from the
battery, and the negative plate (plate II)
accumulates negative charges from the
battery. After a point, the capacitor holds
the maximum amount of charge as per its
capacitance with respect to this voltage.
This time span is called the charging time
of the capacitor.
When the battery is removed from the
capacitor, the two plates hold a negative
and positive charge for a certain time.
Thus, the capacitor acts as a source of
electrical energy.

If these plates are connected to a load, the

current flows to the load from Plate I to
Plate II until all the charges are dissipated
from both plates. This time span is known
as the discharging time of the capacitor.
How Do You Determine the Value of
Capacitance?

The conducting plates have some charges

Q1 and Q2 (Usually, if one plate has +q, the
other has –q charge). The electric field in
the region between the plates depends on
the charge given to the conducting plates.
We also know that potential difference (V)
is directly proportional to the electric field
hence we can say,
Q ∝V

Q = CV

C=Q/V

This constant of proportionality is known

as the capacitance of the capacitor.
Capacitance is the ratio of the change in
the electric charge of a system to the
corresponding change in its electric
potential.
The capacitance of any capacitor can be
either fixed or variable, depending on its
usage. From the equation, it may seem that
‘C’ depends on charge and voltage.
Actually, it depends on the shape and size
of the capacitor and also on the insulator
used between the conducting plates.
Energy Stored in a Capacitor
Once the opposite charges have been
placed on either side of a parallel-plate
capacitor, the charges can be used to work
by allowing them to move towards each
other through a circuit. The equation gives
the total energy that can be extracted from
a fully charged capacitor:
U = 1/2CV^2
Capacitors function a lot like rechargeable
batteries. The main difference between a
capacitor and a battery lies in the technique
they employ to store energy. Unlike
batteries, the capacitor’s ability to store
energy doesn’t come from chemical
reactions but from the physical design that
allows it to hold negative and positive
charges apart.
Standard Units of Capacitance
The basic unit of capacitance is Farad. But,
Farad is a large unit for practical tasks.
Hence, capacitance is usually measured in
the sub-units of Farads, such as micro-
farads (µF) or pico-farads (pF).
Most of the electrical and electronic
applications are covered by the following
standard unit (SI) prefixes for easy
calculations:
 1 mF (millifarad) = 10−3 F
 1 μF (microfarad) =10−6 F
 1 nF (nanofarad) = 10−9 F
 1 pF (picofarad) = 10−12 F
Capacitance of a Parallel Plate
Capacitor

The parallel plate capacitor as shown in the

figure has two identical conducting plates,
each having a surface area A and separated
by a distance d. When voltage V is applied
to the plates, it stores charge Q.
The force between charges increases with
charge values and decreases with the
distance between them. The bigger the area
of the plates, the more charge they can
store. Hence, the value of C is greater for
a large value of A. Similarly, the closer the
plates are, the greater the attraction of the
opposite charges on them. Therefore C is
greater for a smaller d.
The formula gives the charge density on
the plates
σ = Q/A
When the distance of separation (d) is
small, the electric field between the plates
is fairly uniform, and its magnitude is
given by:
E = σ /ε0

As the electric field between the plates is

uniform, the potential difference between
the plates is given by
V = Ed = σ d/ε0 = Qd/ ε0A

Substituting the above value of V in the

capacitance formula, we get
C= Q/V = Q/Qd/ ε0A = ε0A/d
C = ε0A/d

Capacitance of a Spherical Capacitor

Spherical capacitors consist of two
concentric conducting spherical shells of
radii R1 and R2. The shells are given equal
and opposite charges +Q and –
Q respectively. The electric field between
shells is directed radially outward. The
magnitude of the field can be obtained by
applying Gauss law over a spherical
Gaussian surface of radius r concentric
with the shells.

The enclosed charge is +Q, therefore

The electric field between the conductor is
given as

Integrating E along the radial path between

the shells, we get

The potential difference between two

conductors can be calculated using the
formula

The potential difference between the plates

is
Substituting the value of V in the
capacitance formula, we get

Factors Affecting
Capacitance

Dielectric
The effect of dielectric on capacitance is
that the greater the permittivity of the
dielectric, the greater the capacitance,
likewise lesser the permittivity of the
dielectric the lesser is the capacitance.
Some materials offer less opposition to the
field flux for a given amount of field force.
Materials with greater permittivity allow
more field flux. Hence greater charge is
collected.

Plate Spacing
The effect of spacing on the capacitance is
that it is inversely proportional to the
distance between the plates.
Mathematically it is given as:
C ∝ 1/d

 Area of the Plates

The effect of the area of the plate is that
the capacitance is directly proportional to
the area. The larger the plate area, the
more the capacitance value.
Mathematically it is given as:
C ∝A
Applications of Capacitors
Capacitors for Energy Storage
Since the late 18th century, capacitors have
been used to store electrical
energy. Individual capacitors do not hold
much energy, providing only enough
power for electronic devices during
temporary power outages or when they
need additional power. Many applications
use capacitors as energy sources, and a few
of them are as follows:
 Audio equipment
 Camera Flashes
 Power supplies
 Magnetic coils
 Lasers
Supercapacitors are capacitors that have
high capacitances up to 2 kF. These
capacitors store large amounts of energy
and offer new technological possibilities in
areas such as electric cars, regenerative
braking in the automotive industry and
industrial electrical motors, computer
memory backup during power loss, and
many others.

Capacitors for Power Conditioning

One of the important applications of
capacitors is the conditioning of power
supplies. Capacitors allow only AC signals
to pass when they are charged, blocking
DC signals. This capacitor effect is used in
separating or decoupling different parts of
electrical circuits to reduce noise as a
result of improving efficiency. Capacitors
are also used in utility substations to
counteract inductive loading introduced by
transmission lines.

Capacitors as Sensors
Capacitors are used as sensors to measure
a variety of things including humidity,
mechanical strain, and fuel levels. Two
aspects of capacitor construction are used
in the sensing application – the distance
between the parallel plates and the material
between them. The former detects
mechanical changes such as acceleration
and pressure, and the latter is used in
sensing air humidity.

Capacitors for Signal Processing

There are advanced applications of
capacitors in information technology.
Capacitors are used by Dynamic Random
Access Memory (DRAM) devices to
represent binary information as
bits. 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
I “ABHINAV VERMA” of class 12th B2.
I have done this project with the help of
my subject teacher and friends. I also
taken the help of internet and my text
book.

NAME OF SITES
www.byjus.com
www.google.com
www.vedantu.com
www.toppr.com
https://edurev.in
https://www.learncbse.in
https://unacademy.com
https://www.khanacademy.org

TEXTBOOKS
S.L. Arora

Class XII NCERT Textbook

T THANK YOU !