PhysicsII/Chapter 26

Capacitance and Dielectrics

Lecturer: Dr. Emine YILDIRIM

1 / 26
 Vocabulary in Chapter 26
Electric circuit= elektrik devresi switch=devre anahtari
positive terminal= pozitif uc equivalent=esdeger
negative terminal= negatif uc Series Connection=seri bagli
battery=batarya
capacitor= kondansator
capacitance= siga
store=depolamak
dielectric=yalitkan madde
Power supply=guc kaynagi
2 / 26
 Definition of Capacitance
●
A capacitor is used to store electric charge and energy.

Figure: Adopted from Serway 5th Edition

●
A capacitor consists of two separate
conductors carrying equal but opposite charges.
●
The net charge on the capacitor is zero.
●
There is a potential difference ∆V between the two
conductors.
Q
. C= (26.1) Note that C is always
|Δ V| positive
Capacitance of
the Capacitor

3 / 26

●
Unit of capacitance: farad:(F) 1F= 1C/V
 Charging a Capacitor

●
One method to charge a capacitor is to connect it to a
battery
●
The electrons will flow through the wires. They never
flows between the plates of the capacitor.
●
Plate a gain electrons, become negatively charged.
Plate b loses electrons, becomes positively charged.
●
Charges will flow through the wire until the potential
difference equals the one in the battery.
4 / 26
 CALCULATING CAPACITANCE
●
Let’s see how capacitance depends on geometry of a capacitor
●
How to find Capacitance of a Parallel-Plate Capacitors?
The electric field between the plates is:

σ Q/ A
E= ϵ = ϵ (see ex .24 .5 in chap .24)
0 0

Area

−Q d
Δ V in a uniform E field is:Δ V =−Ed=
A ϵ0

Q Q ϵ0 A Distance between plates

C= = =
|Δ V | |−Qd / A ϵ 0| d

Thus, capacitance depends on geometrical factors A and d.

The larger the area A is, the more charge the capacitor can store.

5 / 26
Problem9:An air-filled capacitor consists of two parallel
plates, each with an area of 7.60 cm2, separated by a distance
of 1.80 mm. If a 20-V potential difference is applied to these
plates, calculate (a) the electric field between the plates, (b) the
surface charge density, (c) the capacitance, and (d) the charge
on each plate.
−3
Knowns : Δ V =20 V , d=1.80×10
2 −4 2
A=7.60 cm =7.60×10 m e0=ϵ 0

6 / 26
 .

When the magnitude of the charge on each conductor increases to 100µC, ΔV becomes:

7 / 26
 Example 26.1: The Cylindrical Capacitor
A solid cylindrical conductor of radius a and charge +Q is coaxial with a
cylindrical shell of negligible thickness, radius b > a, and charge -Q.
Find the capacitance of this cylindrical capacitor if its length is l
First Calculate potential
b difference
b between cylinders
Δ V =V b−V a =−∫ E ⃗ . d ⃗s =−∫ E ds cos(0) (1)
a a
The electric field at a distance r due to a cylindrically symmetric charge distribution is:

E r =2 k e λ /r (See chp .24) Er a<r<b

Now, we substitute Er into the Eq. (1) to get ΔV

ΔV=
Q
Here , λ = ds=dr
l

We plug Δ V into Eq (26.1) to get capacitance:

Notice that capacitance depends

on geometrical factors
|Δ V|
8 / 26
 Example 26.2: The Spherical Capacitor
●
In the figure, a spherical capacitor consists of a spherical conducting
shell of radius b and charge -Q concentric with a smaller conducting
sphere of radius a and charge +Q. Find the capacitance of this device.

First Calculate potential difference between spheres

b

Δ V =V b−V a =−∫ E
⃗ . d ⃗s (1)
a
By applying Gauss law, we get E field between a<r<b :
2.
E r =k e Q/r
To obtain potential difference, plug Er into (1)

Notice that capacitance 9 / 26

Depends on geometrical
factors
 Problem 4: An air-filled spherical capacitor is
constructed with inner and outer shell radii of a=7 and
b=14 cm, respectively. (a) Calculate the capacitance of
the device.(b) What potential difference between the
spheres results in a charge of 4 μ C on the capacitor?
●
In previous example, we have obtained the C of the
cylindrical capacitance.

10 / 26
 Combination of Capacitors
Parallel Combination
+-

+- +-
Ceq=equivalent capacitance=total capacitance

Rules:
●
Δ V is the same across the capacitors.
●
The total charge Q shared by two capacitors is:
Q=Q1 +Q 2 Q 1=C 1 Δ V 1 , Q2 =C 2 Δ V 2

Series Combination +- +-
+-
Rules:
●
The charges on the capacitors
●
are the same. Q
Q=C 1 Δ V 1=C 2 Δ V 2,
Q

11 / 26
● Δ V =Δ V 1 +Δ V 2
 Problem 23: Four capacitors are connected as shown in Figure. (a)
Find the equivalent capacitance between points a and b. (b) Calculate
the charge on each capacitor if Vab = 15.0 V.
Solution: C eq =C 1 +C 2 ( paralell)
1 1 1
= + (series)
C eq C 1 C 2
Cs

a c b

10.53 V
CP
Total charge in the system a c b

Δ V across the 20 μ F capacitor

10.53 V

Δ V across the 6 μ F and 2.5 μ F capacitor a b

10.53V 89.5 uC

12 / 26
 Problem 24: Consider the circuit shown in the figure, where
● C1 = 6µF, C2 =3µF, and Δ V =20 V .Capacitor C1 is first charged by the
closing of switch S1 . Switch S1 is then opened, and the charged
capacitor is connected to the uncharged capacitor by the closing of S2 .
Calculate the initial charge acquired by C1 and the final charge on
each.
Solution:
First of all, close S1
Initial
stored
charge
Then, open S1 and close S2 . In this case C1 and C2 in parallel on C1
Here, charge on C1 is:

Δ V 1 =Δ V 2 Q=120 µC=Q1+Q2

13 / 26
Problem: In the figure, C 1=C 2=C 3=16 μ F and C 4 =28.5 μ F .
If the charge on C2 is Q 2=12.4 μ C, , determine the charge on
each of the capacitors, the voltage across each capacitor, and the
voltage Vab across the entire combination.
Solution:

14 / 26
 ENERGY STORED IN A CHARGED CAPACITOR
●
The work needed to transfer small amount of charge dq from one plate
of a capacitor to the another is:
dW =Δ V dq
q
potential difference across the capacitor Δ V =
C
●
The total work needed to charge the capacitor from q=0 to q=Q is:

●
Thus we can say that energy stored in a capacitor is:
Q2 1 2
U= = C (Δ V ) here Q=C Δ V ,
2C 2

This result is independent of the geometry of the capacitor

For a parallel-plate capacitor, with C= ϵ 0 A / d and | ∆V |= Ed:

●
We can define the electric energy density as follows:
Volume= Ad volume between the plates

● Although µE is derived for electric field of parallel a plate

15 / 26
capacitor, it is valid for any electric field.
Problem 37: Two capacitors C 1=25 μ F and C 2=5 μ F are
connected in parallel and charged with a 100-V power supply. (a) Draw
a circuit diagram and calculate the total energy stored in the two
capacitors. (b) What potential difference would be required across the
same two capacitors connected in series so that the combination stores
the same energy as in part (a)? Draw a circuit diagram of this circuit.

16 / 26
Problem : A parallel-plate capacitor is charged and then
disconnected from a battery. By what fraction does the stored energy
change (increase or decrease) when the plate separation is doubled?

17 / 26
Problem19 : For the system of capacitors shown in Figure.
Find (a) the equivalent capacitance of the system, (b) the potential
difference across each capacitor, (c) the charge on each capacitor,
and (d) the total energy stored by the group.

Cac Cdf

Q2=Q4=120 uC

18 / 26
 Problem: Assume that a stationary electron is a point of charge. What
is the energy density µ of its electric field at radial distances (a) r
=1mm,b)What is µ in the limit as r→0?
a)
Electric field due to a point charge at r
ke q
E=
r
1 2
μ E= ϵ 0 E
2
2
1 ke e
= ϵ0( )
2 r
1 (−12) 9 −19 −3 2 −18 3
= ((8.85×10 )(8.9×10 )(1.6×10 )/(1×10 )) =9.18×10 J /m
2

b) when r →0
μ E =∞

19 / 26
 Capacitors with Dielectrics
●
A dielectric is a nonconducting material.
●
Let’s discuss the effects of dielectric in a capacitor

✔ First of all, consider a parallel-plate capacitor that without a

dielectric has a charge Q0 and a capacitance C0 .
The potential difference between plates of the capacitor is:
Δ V 0 =Q 0 /C 0
✔ When a dielectric is inserted between the plates of the capacitor in
the figure, what happens to the capacitance, potential difference and
Q0 ?
-The voltage across the plates decreases. However the capacitance is
increased by a numerical factor Κ. Q0 remains the same.
ΔV0
ΔV= Κ
Q0 Q0
C= =
Δ V Δ V 0 /Κ
C=Κ C 0
Figure: Adopted from
Dielectric constant Serway 5th Edition

Note: Every dielectric has a characteristic dielectric strength

(maximum electric field). If the magnitude of the electric field in the
dielectric exceeds the dielectric strength, the dielectric material will
break down and form a conductor. 20 / 26
 Problem 45: Determine (a) the capacitance and (b) the
maximum voltage that can be applied to a Teflon-filled
parallel- plate capacitor having a plate area of 1.75 cm2 and
plate separation of 0.04mm.
Solution: Knowns
−4 2 −5
A=1.75×10 m , d=4×10 m
A ϵ0
capacitence of air−filled−parallel− plate−capacitor : C 0=
d
C=Κ C 0

E max =dielectric strength

N 6
Dielectric strength of teflon=60×10 21 / 26
m
Problem 47: A parallel-plate capacitor in air has a plate
separation of 1.50 cm and a plate area of 25 cm2. The plates are
charged to a potential difference of 250 V and disconnected from the
source. The capacitor is then immersed in distilled water. Determine
(a) the charge on the plates before and after immersion, (b) the
capacitance and voltage after immersion, and (c) the change in energy
of the capacitor. Neglect the conductance of the liquid.

22 / 26
 Problem: Two different dielectrics each fill half the space between
the plates of a parallel-plate capacitor as shown in the figure.
Determine a formula for the capacitance in terms of the area A of
the plates, and the separation d1=d2=d/2. [Hint: Can you consider
this capacitor as two capacitors in series or in parallel?]

Here, single capacitor is equivalent to the two capacitors, due to two different dielectrics
.

ΔV1

ΔV2

Κ ϵ0 A
C=Κ C 0 =
d
Κ1 ϵ 0 A
C 1=
d /2
Κ2 ϵ 0 A 23 / 26
C 2=
d /2
Problem: Two different dielectrics each fill half the space between the
plates of a parallel-plate capacitor as shown in the figure. Determine a
formula for the capacitance in terms of Κ1, Κ2, the area A of the
plates, and the separation d. [Hint: Can you consider this capacitor as
two capacitors in series or in parallel?]
Here, single capacitor is equivalent to the two capacitors.

Κ ϵ0 A
C=Κ C 0 =
d

A/2 A/2

ΔV

24 / 26
 REFERENCES

1) Physics For Scientist and Engineers,

SERWAY and JEWETT, 9th Edition.

25 / 26
Recommended problems in Chapter 26:
2,5,8, 13, 20,22,23,25,26,29,34, 67, example
26.8,44, 69,43

26 / 26