Capacitors and Their Circuits

Capacitors and their
Circuits
The Lord is my light and my
salvation- whom shall I fear? The
Lord is the stronghold of my life – of
whom shall I be afraid?.
Psalms 27:1
Capacitors
 Capacitors, C, are also simple passive devices.
It is a component which has the ability to store energy in the
form of electrical charge producing a potential difference
across its plates.
It is consists of two or more parallel conductive metal or foil
plates which are not connected or touching each other but are
electrically separated either by air or by some form of
insulating material such as paper, mica, ceramic, or plastic
which are commonly called the dielectric.
Capacitors
 When the plates of a capacitor are connected across a DC
supply voltage, it takes some time for the charge, in the form
of electron, on the plates to reach its full intensity.
When a sufficient amount of charge, Q, measured in
coulombs, have been transferred from the source voltage to
the capacitor plates, the voltage across the plates, Vc will be
equal to the source voltage, Vs, and flow of electrons will
cease.
Capacitors: Symbols
The symbol used in schematic and electrical drawings for capacitor can
either be a two parallel lines or a straight and curved line.
Capacitors: Applying Charge
 In figure (a), the capacitor is neutral with
no charge because it has not been
connected to any source of applied voltage
and there is no electrostatic field in the
dielectric.
Closing the switch in figure (b), however,
allows the negative battery terminal to
repel free electrons in the conductor to
plate A. At the same time, the positive
terminal attracts free electrons from plate
B. The side of the dielectric at plate A
accumulates electrons because they cannot
flow through the insulator, and plate B has
an equal surplus of protons.
Capacitors: Storing Charge
The negative and positive charges on
opposite plates have an associated electric
field through the dielectric, as shown by the
dotted lines in figure (b) and (c). The
direction of these electric lines of force is
shown repelling electrons from plate B,
making this side positive.
The electric field distorts the molecular
structure so that the dielectric is no longer
neutral. The dielectric is actually stressed by
the invisible force of the electric field. The
result of the electric field, then, is that the
dielectric has charge supplied by the voltage
source.
Capacitors: Discharging
The action of neutralizing the charge by
connecting a conducting path across the
dielectric is called discharging the
capacitor.
In figure (d) , the wire between plates A
and B is a low-resistance path for discharge
current. The negative plate repels electrons,
which are attracted to the positive plate
through the wire, until the positive and
negative charges are neutralized. Then there
is no net charge.
.
Unit of Capacitance
Capacitance is the ability of a dielectric to hold or
store an electric charge. The more charge stored for a
given voltage, the higher the capacitance. The symbol
for capacitance is C , and the unit is the farad (F),
named after Michael Faraday.
Unit of Capacitance


The value of capacitor is an expression of the ratio
between the amount of charge flowing and the rate of
voltage change across the capacitor plates.
A capacitance of one farad, F, represents a charging
current of one ampere when there is a voltage, V,
increase or decrease at a rate of one volt per second.
Unit of Capacitance
Practical capacitors have sizes in millionths of a farad,
or smaller. The reason is that typical capacitors store
charge of micro coulombs or less. Therefore, the
common units are:
1 microfarad = 1  F = 1 x 10-6 F
1 nanofarad = 1 nF = 1 x 10-9 F
1 picofarad = 1 pF = 1 x 10-12 F
Capacitor: Types
Capacitor: Types
Variable capacitors change value due to the variation
in the overlapping area of the plates, or by varying the
spacing between parallel plates.
Air dielectric is used for the larger capacitance values.
Trimmers and smaller variable types use very thin
mica or plastic sheet as dielectric materials between the
plates.
Capacitor Connection: Series
Placing capacitors in series effectively increases
the thickness of the dielectric, decreases the
capacitance.
The charging current (Ic) flowing through the
capacitors is the same for all capacitors.
In series, the voltage across each capacitor is
inversely proportional to its capacitance. The
smaller capacitance has the larger proportion of
the applied voltage.
Capacitor Connection: Series

Capacitor Connection: Parallel
The voltage, Vs, connected across all capacitors
is the same.
Connecting capacitances in parallel is equivalent
to adding the plate areas. Therefore, the total
capacitance is the sum of the individual
capacitances.
Capacitor Connection: Parallel

Energy Stored in Electrostatic
Field of Capacitance


The electrostatic field of the charge stored in a
dielectric has electric energy supplied by the
voltage source that charges, C . This energy is
stored in the dielectric.
The electric energy stored is:
Energy Stored in Electrostatic
Field of Capacitance


For example, a 1-F capacitor charged to 400 V
has stored energy equal to:
= 0.08 J
This 0.08 J of energy is supplied by the voltage
source that charges the capacitor to 400 V.
To be Continued…

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