LESSON 3 – Capacitors

Chifundo Polska Mlangeni

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 Introduction
• Thus far, the only passive device appearing in the text
has been the resistor. We will now consider two
additional passive devices called the capacitor and the
inductor
• Capacitor displays its true characteristics only when a
change in voltage is made in the network.
 The Electric Field
• The electric field is represented by electric flux lines,
which are drawn to indicate the strength of the electric
field at any point around the charged body. The denser
the lines of flux, the stronger the electric field.
 The Electric Field
• The electric field strength at a point is the force acting on a unit
positive charge at that point.
• Electric flux lines always extend from a positively charged body to a
negatively charged body, always extend or terminate perpendicular to
the charged surface, and never intersect.
 Capacitance
• A capacitor is constructed of two parallel conducting plates separated
by an insulator.
• Capacitance is a measure of a capacitor’s ability to store charge on its
plates.
• A capacitor has a capacitance of 1 farad (F) if 1 coulomb (C) of charge is
deposited on the plates by a potential difference of 1 volt across its
plates.
• The farad is named after Michael Faraday, a nineteenth century
English chemist and physicist.
How is Capacitance Created?
• two parallel plates of a conducting material separated by an air gap have been
connected through a switch and a resistor to a battery.
• If the parallel plates are initially uncharged and the switch is left open, no net
positive or negative charge will exist on either plate.
• The instant the switch is closed, however, electrons are drawn from the upper plate
through the resistor to the positive terminal of the battery. There will be a surge of
current at first, limited in magnitude by the resistance present.
• The level of flow will then decline, as will be demonstrated in the sections to follow.
• This action creates a net positive charge on the top plate. Electrons are being
repelled by the negative terminal through the lower conductor to the bottom plate
at the same rate they are being drawn to the positive terminal.
• This transfer of electrons continues until the potential difference across the parallel
plates is exactly equal to the battery voltage. The final result is a net positive charge
on the top plate and a negative charge on the bottom plate,
 Capacitance
• The farad is generally too large a measure of capacitance for most
practical applications, so the microfarad (10−6 ) or picofarad (10−12 ) is
more commonly used.
• Different capacitors for the same voltage across their plates will
acquire greater or lesser amounts of charge on their plates, hence the
capacitors have greater or lesser capacitance.
Capacitance
• Fringing – At the edge of the capacitor plates the flux lines
extend outside the common surface area of the plates.
 Capacitance
• Dielectric – Insulator of the capacitor
• The purpose of the dielectric is to
create an electric field to oppose the
electric field setup by free charges on
the parallel plates.
• Di for “opposing” and electric for
“electric field”
• Dipoles – Formed within the insulator of a
capacitor when the electrons of the
insulating material are unable to leave the
parent atom and travel to the positive
plate of the capacitor
 Capacitance
• With different dielectric materials between the same two parallel
plates, different amounts of charge will deposit on the plates.
• Permittivity € – The ratio of the flux density to the electric field
intensity in the dielectric.
• A measure of how easily the dielectric will “permit” the establishment
of flux lines within the dielectric.
• Relative permittivity €r – Often called the dielectric constant, it is the
ratio of the permittivity of any dielectric to that of a vacuum.
• Where For a vacuum, €𝑜 is 8.85 x 10 ^-12
• €𝑟 Relative Permittivity
• e Permittivity F/m.
 Capacitance
• For every dielectric there is a potential that, if applied
across the dielectric, will break the bonds within the
dielectric and cause current to flow.
• The voltage required per unit length (electric field
intensity) to establish conduction in a dielectric is an
indication of its dielectric strength and is called the
breakdown voltage
 Transients in Capacitive Networks:
Charging Phase
• The placement of charge on the plates of a capacitor does not occur
instantaneously.
• Transient Period – A period where the voltage or current changes from
one steady-state level to another.
• The current ( ic ) through a capacitive network is essentially zero after
five-time constants of the capacitor charging phase.
 Initial Conditions
• The voltage across a capacitor at the instant of the start of the
charging phase is called the initial value. Once the voltage is applied
the transient phase will commence until a leveling off occurs after
five-time constants called steady-state as shown in the figure.
Instantaneous Values
• To determine the voltage (or
current) at a particular instant of
time that is not an integral
multiple of the time constant ()

Discharging:
 Example
Find the mathematical expressions for the transient behavior of
vC, iC, and vR for the circuit of Fig.below when the switch is
moved to position 1. Plot the curves of vC, iC, and vR.
b. How much time must pass before it can be assumed, for all
practical purposes, that iC = 0 A and vC = E volts?
Example
• For the network shown in Fig. below:
• (a) determine the mathematical expressions for the variation of the voltage
across the capacitor and the current through the capacitor following the closure
of the switch at t = 0 on to position 1;
• (b) the switch is closed on to position 2 when t = 100 ms: determine the new
expressions for the capacitor voltage and current;
• (c) plot the voltage and current waveforms for t = 0 to t = 200 ms
 Example
• For the network shown in below, the switch is closed on to
position 1 when t = 0 and then moved to position 2 when t =
20 ms. Determine the voltage across the capacitor when T =
30 ms.
 DISCHARGE PHASE
• The established voltage across the capacitor will create a
flow of charge in the closed path that will eventually
discharge the capacitor completely.
• In essence, the capacitor functions like a battery with a
decreasing terminal voltage.
• Note in particular that the current iC has reversed
direction, changing the polarity of the voltage across R.
• If the capacitor had charged to the full battery voltage as
indicated in previously, the equation for the decaying
voltage across the capacitor would be the following:
 Capacitors in Series and Parallel

 Capacitors, like resistors, can be

placed in series and in parallel.
 When placed in series, the
charge is the same on each
capacitor.
 Capacitors in Series and Parallel
 Placing capacitors in parallel the
voltage across each capacitor is the
same.
The total charge is the sum of that
on each capacitor.
 Energy Stored by a Capacitor
 The ideal capacitor does not dissipate
any energy supplied to it. It stores the
energy in the form of an electric field
between the conducting surfaces.
 The power curve can be obtained by
finding the product of the voltage and
current at selected instants of time and
connecting the points obtained.
WC is the area under the curve.
Stray Capacitance
 Stray capacitances exist not through design but simply because two
conducting surfaces are relatively close to each other.

 Two conducting wires in the same network will have a capacitive

effect between them.
THANK YOU