Chapter 26

Capacitance
and
Dielectrics
Capacitors
 Capacitors are devices that store electric
charge
 Examples of where capacitors are used
include:
 radio receivers
 filters in power supplies
 to eliminate sparking in automobile ignition
systems
 energy-storing devices in electronic flashes
Definition of Capacitance
 The capacitance, C, of a capacitor is defined
as the ratio of the magnitude of the charge on
either conductor to the potential difference
between the conductors
Q
C≡
ΔV
 The SI unit of capacitance is the farad (F)
Makeup of a Capacitor
 A capacitor consists of
two conductors
 These conductors are
called plates
 When the conductor is
charged, the plates carry
charges of equal
magnitude and opposite
directions
 A potential difference
exists between the
plates due to the charge
More About Capacitance
 Capacitance will always be a positive quantity
 The capacitance of a given capacitor is constant
 The capacitance is a measure of the capacitor’s
ability to store charge
 The farad is a large unit, typically you will see
microfarads (F) and picofarads (pF)
Parallel Plate Capacitor
 Each plate is
connected to a terminal
of the battery
 The battery is a source of
potential difference
 If the capacitor is
initially uncharged, the
battery establishes an
electric field in the
connecting wires
Parallel Plate Capacitor, cont
 This field applies a force on electrons in the wire just
outside of the plates
 The force causes the electrons to move onto the
negative plate
 This continues until equilibrium is achieved
 The plate, the wire and the terminal are all at the same
potential
 At this point, there is no field present in the wire and
the movement of the electrons ceases
Parallel Plate Capacitor, final
 The plate is now negatively charged
 A similar process occurs at the other plate,
electrons moving away from the plate and
leaving it positively charged
 In its final configuration, the potential
difference across the capacitor plates is the
same as that between the terminals of the
battery
Capacitance – Isolated Sphere
 Assume a spherical charged conductor with radius a
 The sphere will have the same capacitance as it
would if there were a conducting sphere of infinite
radius, concentric with the original sphere
 Assume V = 0 for the infinitely large shell
Q Q R
C= = = = 4∂ åo a
ΔV keQ / a ke
 Note, this is independent of the charge and the
potential difference
Capacitance – Parallel Plates
 The charge density on the plates is σ =
Q/A
 A is the area of each plate, which are equal
 Q is the charge on each plate, equal with
opposite signs
 The electric field is uniform between the
plates and zero elsewhere
Capacitance – Parallel Plates,
cont.
 The capacitance is proportional to the area of
its plates and inversely proportional to the
distance between the plates
Q Q Q åo A
C= = = =
ΔV Ed Qd / åo A d
Capacitance of a Cylindrical
Capacitor

 V = -2keλ ln (b/a)
  = Q/l
 The capacitance is
Q l
C= =
ΔV 2ke ln (b / a )
Capacitance of a Spherical
Capacitor
 The potential difference
will be
⎛1 1⎞
ΔV = keQ ⎜ − ⎟
⎝b a ⎠
 The capacitance will be
Q ab
C= =
ΔV ke (b − a )
Circuit Symbols
 A circuit diagram is a
simplified representation of
an actual circuit
 Circuit symbols are used to
represent the various
elements
 Lines are used to represent
wires
 The battery’s positive
terminal is indicated by the
longer line
Capacitors in Parallel
 When capacitors are
first connected in the
circuit, electrons are
transferred from the left
plates through the
battery to the right
plate, leaving the left
plate positively charged
and the right plate
negatively charged

PLAY
ACTIVE FIGURE
Capacitors in Parallel, 2
 The flow of charges ceases when the voltage across
the capacitors equals that of the battery
 The potential difference across the capacitors is the
same
 And each is equal to the voltage of the battery
 V1 = V2 = V
 V is the battery terminal voltage
 The capacitors reach their maximum charge when
the flow of charge ceases
 The total charge is equal to the sum of the charges
on the capacitors
 Qtotal = Q1 + Q2
Capacitors in Parallel, 3
 The capacitors can be
replaced with one
capacitor with a
capacitance of Ceq
 The equivalent capacitor
must have exactly the
same external effect on
the circuit as the original
capacitors
Capacitors in Parallel, final
 Ceq = C1 + C2 + C3 + …
 The equivalent capacitance of a parallel
combination of capacitors is greater than any
of the individual capacitors
 Essentially, the areas are combined
 Use the active figure to vary the battery
potential and the various capacitors and
observe the resulting charges and voltages on
the capacitors
Capacitors in Series
 When a battery is
connected to the circuit,
electrons are
transferred from the left
plate of C1 to the right
plate of C2 through the
battery

PLAY
ACTIVE FIGURE
Capacitors in Series, 2
 As this negative charge accumulates on the
right plate of C2, an equivalent amount of
negative charge is removed from the left
plate of C2, leaving it with an excess positive
charge
 All of the right plates gain charges of –Q and
all the left plates have charges of +Q
Capacitors in
Series, 3
 An equivalent capacitor
can be found that
performs the same
function as the series
combination
 The charges are all the
same
Q1 = Q 2 = Q
Capacitors in Series, final
 The potential differences add up to the battery
voltage
ΔVtot = V1 + V2 + …
 The equivalent capacitance is
1 1 1 1
= + + +K
Ceq C1 C2 C3

 The equivalent capacitance of a series combination

 The 1.0-F and 3.0-F capacitors are in parallel as are the 6.0-
F and 2.0-F capacitors
 These parallel combinations are in series with the capacitors
next to them
 The series combinations are in parallel and the final equivalent
capacitance can be found
Energy in a Capacitor –
Overview
 Consider the circuit to
be a system
 Before the switch is
closed, the energy is
stored as chemical
energy in the battery
 When the switch is
closed, the energy is
transformed from
chemical to electric
potential energy
Energy in a Capacitor –
Overview, cont
 The electric potential energy is related to the
separation of the positive and negative
charges on the plates
 A capacitor can be described as a device that
stores energy as well as charge
Energy Stored in a Capacitor
 Assume the capacitor is being charged
and, at some point, has a charge q on it
 The work needed to transfer a charge from
one plate to the other is
q
dW = ΔVdq = dq
C
 The total work required is
q
Q Q2
W = ∫ dq =
0 C 2C
Energy, cont
 The work done in charging the capacitor appears as
electric potential energy U:
Q2 1 1
U= = QΔV = C ( ΔV )2
2C 2 2
 This applies to a capacitor of any geometry
 The energy stored increases as the charge
increases and as the potential difference increases
 In practice, there is a maximum voltage before
discharge occurs between the plates
Energy, final
 The energy can be considered to be stored in
the electric field
 For a parallel-plate capacitor, the energy can
be expressed in terms of the field as U = ½
(εoAd)E2
 It can also be expressed in terms of the
energy density (energy per unit volume)
uE = ½ oE2
Some Uses of Capacitors
 Defibrillators
 When cardiac fibrillation occurs, the heart produces a
rapid, irregular pattern of beats
 A fast discharge of electrical energy through the heart can
return the organ to its normal beat pattern
 In general, capacitors act as energy reservoirs that
can be slowly charged and then discharged quickly
to provide large amounts of energy in a short pulse
Capacitors with Dielectrics
 A dielectric is a nonconducting material that,
when placed between the plates of a capacitor,
increases the capacitance
 Dielectrics include rubber, glass, and waxed paper
 With a dielectric, the capacitance becomes
C = κCo
 The capacitance increases by the factor κ when the
dielectric completely fills the region between the plates
 κ is the dielectric constant of the material
Dielectrics, cont
 For a parallel-plate capacitor, C = κεo(A/d)
 In theory, d could be made very small to create a
very large capacitance
 In practice, there is a limit to d
 d is limited by the electric discharge that could occur
though the dielectric medium separating the plates
 For a given d, the maximum voltage that can be
applied to a capacitor without causing a discharge
depends on the dielectric strength of the material
Dielectrics, final
 Dielectrics provide the following advantages:
 Increase in capacitance
 Increase the maximum operating voltage
 Possible mechanical support between the plates
 This allows the plates to be close together without
touching
 This decreases d and increases C
Types of Capacitors – Tubular
 Metallic foil may be
interlaced with thin
sheets of paraffin-
impregnated paper or
Mylar
 The layers are rolled
into a cylinder to form a
small package for the
capacitor
Types of Capacitors – Oil
Filled
 Common for high-
voltage capacitors
 A number of interwoven
metallic plates are
immersed in silicon oil
Types of Capacitors –
Electrolytic
 Used to store large
amounts of charge at
relatively low voltages
 The electrolyte is a
solution that conducts
electricity by virtue of
motion of ions
contained in the
solution
Types of Capacitors – Variable
 Variable capacitors consist
of two interwoven sets of
metallic plates
 One plate is fixed and the
other is movable
 These capacitors generally
vary between 10 and 500
pF
 Used in radio tuning circuits
Electric Dipole
 An electric dipole consists
of two charges of equal
magnitude and opposite
signs
 The charges are separated
by 2a
 The electric
r dipole
moment (p) is directed
along the line joining the
charges from –q to +q
Electric Dipole, 2
 The electric dipole moment has a magnitude
of p ≡ 2aq
 Assume the dipole
r is placed in a uniform
external
r field, E
 E is external to the dipole; it is not the field
produced by the dipole
 Assume the dipole makes an angle θ with the
field
Electric Dipole, 3
 Each charge has a
force of F = Eq acting
on it
 The net force on the
dipole is zero
 The forces produce a
net torque on the dipole
Electric Dipole, final
 The magnitude of the torque is:
= 2Fa sin θpE sin θ
 The torque can also be expressed as the cross
productrof the moment and the field:
r r
 τ = p × E
 The potential energy can be expressed as a function
of the orientation of the dipole with the field:
Uf – Ui = pE(cos θi – cos θf
U = - pEr cos θ
r
U = p ⋅E
Polar vs. Nonpolar Molecules
 Molecules are said to be polarized when a
separation exists between the average position of
the negative charges and the average position of
the positive charges
 Polar molecules are those in which this condition is
always present
 Molecules without a permanent polarization are
called nonpolar molecules
Water Molecules
 A water molecule is an
example of a polar
molecule
 The center of the
negative charge is near
the center of the
oxygen atom
 The x is the center of
the positive charge
distribution
Polar Molecules and Dipoles
 The average positions of the positive and
negative charges act as point charges
 Therefore, polar molecules can be modeled
as electric dipoles
Induced Polarization
 A linear symmetric molecule
has no permanent
polarization (a)
 Polarization can be induced
by placing the molecule in
an electric field (b)
 Induced polarization is the
effect that predominates in
most materials used as
dielectrics in capacitors
Dielectrics – An Atomic View
 The molecules that
make up the dielectric
are modeled as dipoles
 The molecules are
randomly oriented in
the absence of an
electric field
Dielectrics – An Atomic View, 2
 An external electric field
is applied
 This produces a torque
on the molecules
 The molecules partially
align with the electric
field
Dielectrics – An Atomic View, 3
 The degree of alignment of the molecules
with the field depends on temperature and
the magnitude of the field
 In general,
 the alignment increases with decreasing
temperature
 the alignment increases with increasing field
strength
Dielectrics – An Atomic View, 4
 If the molecules of the dielectric are nonpolar
molecules, the electric field produces some
charge separation
 This produces an induced dipole moment
 The effect is then the same as if the
molecules were polar
Dielectrics – An Atomic View,
final
 An external field can
polarize the dielectric
whether the molecules are
polar or nonpolar
 The charged edges of the
dielectric act as a second
pair of plates producing an
induced electric field in the
direction opposite the
original electric field
Induced Charge and Field
 The electric field due to the
plates is directed to the right
and it polarizes the dielectric
 The net effect on the
dielectric is an induced
surface charge that results in
an induced electric field
 If the dielectric were replaced
with a conductor, the net field
between the plates would be
zero