TITLE: ENERGY STORED AND ELECTRIC -FIELD ENERGY IN other through the flash tube.

ough the flash tube. Once this path is established, the

CAPACITORS stored energy is rapidly converted into a brief but intense flash
OBJECTIVE: Determine the potential energy of light. An extreme example of the same principle is the Z
stored inside the capacitor given the machine at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, which
geometry and the potential difference is used in experiments in controlled nuclear fusion (Fig. 1
across the capacitor below). A bank of charged capacitors releases more than a
STEM_GP12EM - IIId -26 million joules of energy in just a few billionths of a second. For
that brief space of time, the power output of the Z machine is
INTRODUCTION 2.9 x 1014 W, or about 80 times the power output of all the
Many of the most important applications of capacitors electric power plants on earth combined.
depend on their ability to store energy. The electric potential In other applications, the energy is released more slowly.
energy stored in a charged capacitor is just equal to the amount Springs in the suspension of an automobile help smooth out the
of work required to charge it—that is, to separate opposite ride by absorbing the energy from sudden jolts and releasing
charges and place them on different conductors. that energy gradually; in an analogous way, a capacitor in an
Key Concepts electronic circuit can smooth out unwanted variations in
 Energy Density voltage due to power surges.
 Application  Electric-Field Energy
DISCUSSION We can charge a capacitor by moving electrons directly
When the capacitor is discharged, this stored energy is from one plate to another. This requires doing work against the
recovered as work done by electrical forces. electric field between the plates. Thus, we can think of the
We can calculate U the potential energy of a charged energy as being stored in the field in the region between the
capacitor by calculating the work W required to charge it. plates. To develop this relationship, let’s find the energy per
Suppose that when we are done charging the capacitor, the unit volume in the space between the plates of a parallel-plate
final charge is Q and the final potential difference is V. capacitor with plate area and separation We call this the energy
density, the total stored potential energy is ½ CV 2 and the
Q
V =¿C ¿ volume between the plates is just hence the energy density is,

2
Let and be the charge and potential difference, ½CV
respectively, at an intermediate stage during the charging u = Energy density =
Ad
process; then v = q/C. At this stage the work dW required to
transfer an additional element of charge dq is, The capacitance C is given by C = ϵ 0 A/d. The potential
difference is related to the electric-field magnitude E by V = Ed.
q dq If we use these expressions the geometric factors A and d
dW = v dq =
C cancel, and we find,
The total work needed to increase the capacitor charge
from zero to a final value Q is

Although we have derived this relationship only for a

When Q is in coulombs, C in farads (coulombs per volt), parallel-plate capacitor, it turns out to be valid for any
and V in volts (joules per coulomb), U is in joules. capacitor in vacuum and indeed for any electric field
U - W 1/2 QV, shows that the total work W required to configuration in vacuum.
charge the capacitor is equal to the total charge Q multiplied by This result has an interesting implication. We think of
the average potential difference ½ V during the charging vacuum as space with no matter in it, but vacuum can
2
Q nevertheless have electric fields and therefore energy. Thus
process. The expression U = ½ ( ), shows that a charged
C “empty” space need not be truly empty after all.
capacitor is the electrical analog of a stretched spring with  Sample Problem
elastic potential energy U = ½ kx 2. The charge Q is analogous Transferring charge and energy between capacitors
to the elongation and the reciprocal of the capacitance, 1/C, is Problem: We connect a capacitor C 1=8.0 μF to a power
analogous to the force constant k. The energy supplied to a supply, charge it to a potential difference V o =120V , and
capacitor in the charging process is analogous to the work we disconnect the power supply (Fig below). Switch is open.
do on a spring when we stretch it. (a) What is the charge Q on?
If a capacitor is charged by connecting it to a battery or (b) What is the energy stored in C 1?
other source that provides a fixed potential difference V then (c) Capacitor C 2=4.0 μF is initially uncharged. We close switch
increasing the value of C gives a greater charge Q = CV and a S. After charge no longer flows, what is the potential difference
greater amount of stored energy U = ½ CV2. If instead the goal across each capacitor, and what is the charge on each
is to transfer a given quantity of charge Q from one conductor capacitor? (d) What is the final energy of the system?
to another, the work W required is inversely proportional to C; When the switch S is closed, the charged capacitor is
the greater the capacitance, the easier it is to give a capacitor a connected to an uncharged capacitor C 2. The center part of the
fixed amount of charge. switch is an insulating handle; charge can flow only between
 Applications of Capacitors: Energy Storage the two upper terminals and between the two lower terminals.
Most practical applications of capacitors take advantage of
their ability to store and release energy. In electronic flash units
used by photographers, the energy stored in a capacitor is
released by depressing the camera’s shutter button. This
provides a conducting path from one capacitor plate to the
 (a) What is the potential difference between the plates?
(b) If the charge is kept constant, what will be the potential
difference between the plates if the separation is doubled?
(c) How much work is required to double the separation?

Problem #2
A 5.80 μF, parallel-plate, air capacitor has a plate
separation of 5.00 mm and is charged to a potential difference
Solution: In parts (a) and (b) we find the charge and stored
of 400 V. Calculate the energy density in the region between
energy for the single charged capacitor using equation
the plates, in units of J/m 3.
respectively. After we close switch S, one wire connects the
upper plates of the two capacitors and another wire connects
the lower plates; the capacitors are now connected in parallel.
In part (c) we use the character of the parallel connection to
References
determine how Qo is shared between the two capacitors. In
part (d) to find the energy stored in capacitors and the energy
of the system is the sum of these values.
Shipman, J. Wilson J., & Higgins, C. (2013). An Introduction to
Execute:
Physical Science (13th ed). 20 Channel Center Street,
(a) The initial charge Qo on C 1 is
Boston, MA 02210 USA.
Q0 = C 1 V 0 = (18.0 μF )(120 V) = 960 μC
Tillery, B. W. (2009). Physical Sciences (9th ed.) Arizona State
(b) The energy initially stored in C 1 is, University. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of
Uinitial = ½ Q 0 V 0 = ½ (960 x 10−6C) (120 V) = 0.058 J the Americas, New York, NY 100020.

(c) When we close the switch, the positive charge Q 0 is

distributed over the upper plates of both capacitors and the
negative charge −Q0 is distributed over the lower plates. Let
Q1and Q2 be the magnitudes of the final charges on the
capacitors. Conservation of charge requires that Q 1+ Q 2 = Q 0.
The potential difference V between the plates is the same for
both capacitors because they are connected in parallel, so the
charges are Q 1= C1V and Q 2=C 2V . We now have three
independent equations relating the three unknowns Q 1, Q 2
and V. Solving these, we find Freedom wall 😊

Evaluate: The final energy is less than the initial energy; the
difference was converted to energy of some other form. The
conductors become a little warmer because of their resistance,
and some energy is radiated as electromagnetic waves

 Activity #1
Read and Analyze the problem carefully.

Problem: (a) What is the magnitude of the electric field

required to store 1.00 J of electric potential energy in a volume
of 1.00 m 3 in vacuum? (b) If the field magnitude is 10 times
larger than that, how much energy is stored per cubic meter?

 Assessment
Read, Analyze, and solve the problem carefully.

Problem #1
A parallel-plate air capacitor has a capacitance 920 pF. The
charge on each plate is 2.55 μC.