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Capacitance 1

1) Capacitors are electrical devices that store energy and are commonly used as backups if power fails. They can be in the form of parallel plates or a spherical conductor. 2) The capacitance of a capacitor is defined as the amount of charge stored per unit potential difference and determines how much energy can be stored. It is measured in Farads. 3) Capacitors can be connected in series or parallel. Capacitors in series have a lower combined capacitance than the individual capacitors, while capacitors in parallel have a higher combined capacitance than the individual capacitors.

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52 views18 pages

Capacitance 1

1) Capacitors are electrical devices that store energy and are commonly used as backups if power fails. They can be in the form of parallel plates or a spherical conductor. 2) The capacitance of a capacitor is defined as the amount of charge stored per unit potential difference and determines how much energy can be stored. It is measured in Farads. 3) Capacitors can be connected in series or parallel. Capacitors in series have a lower combined capacitance than the individual capacitors, while capacitors in parallel have a higher combined capacitance than the individual capacitors.

Uploaded by

tony
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Capacitance

AS / A LEVEL – PHYSICS - 9702


 Capacitors are electrical devices used to store energy in
electronic circuits, commonly for a backup release of
energy if the power fails
 They can be in the form of:
 An isolated spherical conductor
 Parallel plates
 Capacitors are marked with a value of
their capacitance. This is defined as:
The charge stored per unit potential difference
 The greater the capacitance, the greater the energy
Defining stored in the capacitor
Capacitance
 A parallel plate capacitor is made up of two conductive metal plates connected
to a voltage supply
 The negative terminal of the voltage supply pushes electrons onto one
plate, making it negatively charged
 The electrons are repelled from the opposite plate, making it positively
charged
 There is commonly a dielectric in between the plates, this is to ensure
charge does not freely flow between the plates
 The capacitance of a capacitor is defined by the equation:

 Where:
 C = capacitance (F)
 Q = charge (C)
 V = potential difference (V)
 It is measured in the unit Farad (F)
 In practice, 1 F is a very large unit
 Capacitance will often be quoted in the order of micro Farads
(μF), nanofarads (nF) or picofarads (pF)
Calculating  If the capacitor is made of parallel plates, Q is the charge on the
plates and V is the potential difference across the capacitor
Capacitance  The charge Q is not the charge of the capacitor itself, it is the
charge stored on the plates or spherical conductor
 This capacitance equation shows that an object’s capacitance is
the ratio of the charge on an object to its potential
Capacitance of a Spherical Conductor
 The capacitance of a charged sphere is defined by the charge per unit
potential at the surface of the sphere
 The potential V is defined by the potential of an isolated point
charge (since the charge on the surface of a spherical conductor can be
considered as a point charge at its centre):

 Substituting this into the capacitance equation means the capacitance C of a


sphere is given by the expression:
 The circuit symbol for a parallel plate capacitor is two parallel lines

 Capacitors can be combined in series and parallel circuits


 The combined capacitance depends on whether the capacitors are
Derivation connected in series or parallel

of C = Q/V
 Consider two parallel plate capacitors C1 and C2 connected in series, with Capacitors
a potential difference (p.d) V across them in Series

 In a series circuit, p.d is shared between all the components in the circuit
 Therefore, if the capacitors store the same charge on their plates but
have different p.ds, the p.d across C1 is V1 and across C2 is V2

 The total potential difference V is the sum of V1 and V2


V = V1 + V2
 Rearranging the capacitance equation for the p.d V means V1 and V2 can be
written as:

 Where the total p.d V is defined by the total capacitance

 Substituting these into the equation V = V1 + V2 equals:

 Since the current is the same through all components in a series circuit, the
charge Q is the same through each capacitor and cancels out
 Therefore, the equation for combined capacitance of capacitors in series is:
 Consider two parallel plate capacitors C1 and C2 connected in parallel, each
Capacitors
with p.d V in Parallel

 Since the current is split across each junction in a parallel circuit, the
charge stored on each capacitor is different
 Therefore, the charge on capacitor C1 is Q1 and on C2 is Q2
 The total charge Q is the sum of Q1 and Q2
Q = Q 1 + Q2

 Rearranging the capacitance equation for the charge Q means Q1 and Q2 can be
written as:
Q1 = C1V and Q2 = C 2V

 Where the total charge Q is defined by the total capacitance:

Q = CtotalV

 Substituting these into the Q = Q1 + Q2 equals:

 CtotalV = C1V + C2V = (C1 + C2) V

 Since the p.d is the same through all components in each branch of a parallel
circuit, the p.d V cancels out
 Therefore, the equation for combined capacitance of capacitors in parallel is:

 Ctotal = C1 + C2 + C3 ...
 When charging a capacitor, the power supply pushes electrons from
the positive to the negative plate
 It therefore does work on the electrons, which increase
their electric potential energy

 At first, a small amount of charge is pushed from the positive to the


negative plate, then gradually, this builds up
 Adding more electrons to the negative plate at first is relatively
easy since there is little repulsion

 As the charge of the negative plate increases ie. becomes more


negatively charged, the force of repulsion between the electrons on
Area Under a the plate and the new electrons being pushed onto it increases
 This means a greater amount of work must be done to increase the
Potential- charge on the negative plate or in other words:
Charge Graph The potential difference V across the capacitor increases as the
amount of charge Q increases
 The charge Q on the capacitor is directly proportional to its potential
difference V
 The graph of charge against potential difference is therefore a straight line
graph through the origin
 The electric potential energy stored in the capacitor can be determined from
the area under the potential-charge graph which is equal to the area of a
right-angled triangle:
 Recall the electric potential energy is the area under a potential-
charge graph
 This is equal to the work done in charging the capacitor to a
particular potential difference
 The shape of this area is a right angled triangle
 Therefore the work done, or energy stored in a capacitor is defined
by the equation:

 Substituting the charge with the capacitance equation Q = CV,


the work done can also be defined as:

Energy
 By substituting the potential V, the work done can also be
Stored in a defined in terms of just the charge and the capacitance:

Capacitor

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