Acknowledgement

I would like to sincerely and profusely thank my Physics

teacher Mr. Ashish Mishra, for his able guidance and
support in completing my project.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to the principal for

providing me with all the facility that was required.

Last but not the least, I would extend my gratitude towards

all teaching and all the non-teaching staff of Lucknow
Public School, Sector-B P.D. Nagar, Unnao and towards
my friends who has supported me to complete this project.

PARAM DIXIT

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Certificate
This is to certify that Param Dixit of class XII-B has
successfully completed the investigatory project on the topic
“CAPACITORS” under my guidance during the year 2023-
24 in the partial fulfilment of the physics practical
examination conducted by CBSE.

Teacher’s Sign External Examiner’s Sign

Principal’s Sign

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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 FIG.
negative charge, +Q and –Q, Both capacitors shown here were
are separated into its two initially being connected to a
battery. They now have separated
plates. The capacitor remains charges of +Q and –Q on their two
neutral overall, but we refer to halves. A) A parallel plate
it as storing a charge Q in this capacitor B) A rolled capacitor
with an insulating material
circumstance. between the charged plates.

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 AMOUNT OF CHARGE STORED
The amount of charge Q a
capacitor can store depends on
two major factors- the voltage
applied and the capacitor’s
physical characteristics, such as
its size. In Figure given below
each electric field line starts on an
individual positive and ends on a
negative one, so that there will be
more field lines if there is more
charge. The electric field strength
is, thus, directly proportional to Q.

The field is proportional to the

charge: FIG. Electric field lines in the
E αQ parallel plate capacitor, as
always start om positive and end
We know that, on negative charges.

V = Ed
So, VαE

Hence, VαQ

Removing sign of proportionality we get,

Q = CV

Where C = capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor.

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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.

1C/1V=1f

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.

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 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.

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 CHARGING AND DISCHARGING
OF 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
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.

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 ENERGY IN A CAPACITOR
Energy is the amount of some work against the electro-
static 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 electr
ic field isformed 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 is

W = Q2/ 2C
W = (CV)2/ 2C
W = CV2 / 2 Joules
Finally, we get the energy stored in a capacitor is

Energy (W) = CV2/ 2 Joules

Now we calculate the energy stored in a capacitor of

capacitance 200 µF which operate with voltage of 12V

W = (200 x 10-6x 122) / 2 = 14.4 mJ

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 TYPES OF CAPACITORS
 Film Capacitors
 Film Capacitors comprising of a generally expansive
group of capacitors with the distinction being in their
dielectric properties.
 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 capacitors i.e. Radial lead
type & Axial lead type.
 The electrodes of film capacitors may be metalized
aluminium or zinc.
 It uses polystyrene, polycarbonate or Teflon as their
dielectrics.
 It can be used in AC voltage applications, and they
have much more stable electrical parameters.

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 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.
 One can make both capacitance in ceramic
capacitors.
 They come in values from a few Pico farads to
1microfarad.
 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.

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 Electrolytic Capacitors
 It is most prevalently used capacitors which have a
wide tolerance capacity.
 Electrolytic capacitors are available with working
voltages up to about 500V.
 There are two types of electrolytic capacitor,
Tantalum and Aluminium
 .Tantalums capacitors have ordinarily better exhibition,
higher value.
 The dielectric properties of tantalum oxide is much
superior to those of aluminium oxide.
 It has an easier leakage current and better
capacitance strength which makes them suitable for
obstructing, decoupling, filtering applications.
 The thickness of the aluminium oxide film and
heightened breakdown voltage gives the capacitor
exceptionally elevated capacitance values for their
size.

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 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 energy since the
late 18th 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.

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 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 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.

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 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.
Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) use capacitors in
analogue form. Capacitors are also used in conjunction
with inductors to tune circuits top articular frequencies, an
effect exploited by radio receivers, speakers and
analogue equalizers.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 PHYSICS CLASS 12TH NCERT

 WWW.OPENSTACK.COM

 WWW.SLIDESHARE.COM

 WWW.GOOGLEIMAGES.COM

 WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM

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