Capacitors
Capacitors are electrical components which are capable ofstoringenergy When a
capacitor isconnectedacross a battery it can be established thatthe amountof
charge co on the capacitor is known to be directlyproportionaltothe amount of
potential difference v applied
by the battery Hence a graph d against V is a
straight line passing through origin where the gradient ofthegraphprovides
a ratio for which is termed as capacitance of a capacitor
Q
Capacitance is denotedby C and can be calculated as
do
Q x v Capacitance
a or
c
E Gradient
V
AreaunderGraph Energystored bycapacitor
is defined as the ratio of the amount ofcharge stored on a plate with
capacitance
respect to the amount of potentialdifference applied capacitance ismeasured in units
FaradsCF where oneroad isdefinedas the capacitance when a chargeof one Columb
flowsfrom a potential difference of IV
connected to a power
During the charging processwhen a capacitor is supply elections
gets
transferred from one plateand
theygetdepositedontothe oppositeplate
Sincebothplatesacquireequalandopposite chargestherefore thechargeacrossthecapacitoris
said to be zero However work is done by the battery in movingthesechargesthrough
the circuit This work done gets converted intoelectricalenergyand is storedby
the capacitor
Electricalenergystored in the capacitor can beworked out by calculating the
area under the graph us v
Theenergy can be expressed in the form
Ok
Area
O ElectricPotentialEnergy OV
I
D CV
Electrical PotentialEnergy 2
V VIV V Icu
E
Electrical PotentialEnergy 02
20
É g
t t
t t
A B t
t t
e A B
Enample
6mF
1
lov
Howmuchelectrical
energy is stored bythe capacitor whencharged
Solution
Electrical Potential Energy V2 6 10 6 1012 3 10 4 J
I I
Howmuch work isdone bythe battery to change the capacitor
solution
O CV
6 107160 60 10 6 60NC
PotentialDifference Work
Done
Charge
WorkDone PotentialDifference x Chase
lo box to G
6 10 u g
Thecalculation shown aboveindicates thatthe energy stored bythe capacitorduring
the changing process isalways lessas compared to the workdone by thebattery
Thedifference between thetwo amountsgetsdissipated intheform of heatas
charged particles flowthroughthe connectingwires
How to calculatecharge onElectricalPotential Energy De for a capacitor
Voll a vow a Asymptotic Behavior
man
man
s
choosing capacitor t's Discharging capacitor
Vc potentialprovided
bythecapacitor
Question
capacitor
6mF Iou 15V
Electrical Potential Energystored
Duringthis process calculate theAdditional
AE
ICE I Cui Z
DE C Vz V
I
AdditionalEnergystored
vision vetsv
DE 6 10 0 152 102
I V V2 Gainelse loss
3.75 10 4 J
15V IOU Energy ofthe capacitor dissipatedovertime
DE Vi Vi
IC
Arrangement ofCapacitors inseriesandParallel
Series combination
All capacitors inseries get chargedbysame amount irrespective ofits capacitance ie d
remainsconstant
Based on d CV if charge O is constant then capacitance andvoltage are inversely proportional
toeachother indicating that the voltage ofthe batterygetsdivided in a manner suchthat
higher the capacitance the lesser the voltage
Energy stored acrosseachcapacitor is suchthat thehigherthecapacitance thelesser the
electrical energy E
EI
V Vi V2 V3 d Tve
E E E
t
Off I g
Similar to finding
[Link]'s resistance in parallel
Parallel combination
In a parallelcircuit thevoltage the battery remains constant irrespective
suppliedby of
the capacitance
Based on D cu if the voltageis constantthencharge o andcapacitancecc arestated
to be directly proportional to eachother i e the higherthe capacitance thegreater the
charge
According to E CUZ Since Voltage is constanttherefore capacitance cc and
I
Electrical Potential Energy E are proportional toeachother
The combined capacitance inparallel canbe workedoutas follows
E I Ev
Q2 I GV GV Car Car
c I Iv v e VCC Cates
CT at ca Cz Similartofindingtotal
03 I Resistance in a seriescircuit
I I v
To distinguish between seriesandparallelcombinations
In parallel positivelychargedplateisconnectedwithotherpositivelychargedplate
In seriespositively charged plate isconnected with negativelychargedplate
I I
parallel series
Question
IF
2mF 2mF
IMF
lov
lov
Find Ct forboth combinations
combinationA combinationB
at a
2 2
4mF it
at
1131
Imf
Calculate storedin Eachcombination
energy
combinationA combination B
E E
ICTV LCeva
6
L 4 10 6 lo 1 six10 o
200my SoMJ
Greater energy stored in parallel combination
If one capacitor breaths or is damaged inseries the circuitstopsworking
concept of manimum safe workingvoltage
Each capacitor is rated as 40mF 3ov
case1 case2
home 40mF Your
40mF
I
man GOV Uman 30N
Case3 40mF
1
40nF
I 40mF
Uman
I
sov isu
40mF 80mF
capacitance 1 2
voltage 2 1 man 45V
Casein come
40mF home
40mF
home
H
Zou lov Sou
uomo 120mF your
Uman TOV
Find man safevoltage 11
Il
Uman
I
40mF 80mF me
11 11 11 19
40mF
man
ratio of C 40 80 40 160
ratioof v i
man 3outisutsov 7 s v 82.5
Ouestion
Multiple Capacitors are available Eachrated 2mFlov
Draw an arrangement which can provide crime suitable to be usedwith
a Lovbattery
2mF 2mF I I2 2 I
g LOV
Cy IMF
Draw an arrangement which can provide a CT 2mF suitable tobe used
with a 200
G 2mF
CEMIL L
I ath
t
caramelI 11 age
can
[Link]
20V
I 2g
2mF
CT
OR
4 1422mF
24
IT EI
IMF game
CT
E
t
Eff
Ct 2 MF
11
Draw an arrangement suchthat Ct 3mF suitable to beusedwith a
100 battery
Solution
2mF
11 t c t
112nF 1 2mF
4 2 2
I 24
CT 3mF
OR
2MF
4th42 4 4 I
Time innit 9 Eye
FMF FMF It it I
3mF
In combination A one capacitor gets achance ofworking atfullcapacity
In combination B no capacitor gets a chance ofworking at full capacity
Question
4700mF
my
During the a charge of 22ndflows through thecircuit
first 4s
Calculate the voltageacrossthe resistor afterus
Solution
D CV
22 10 3 4700 10 6 V
v 4 68 te stage in a series gray
capacitor 4.68 dad getsdivided
Battery Vresisto weapon Battery Vresisto Vcapacitor
9 u [Link] If the chargingcontinues nd a Tvc
resistor 4.32W Total Voltage remains constant but
MVcapacitooand IVresistor
When capacitor isfullycharged
capacitor will rise to auand Vresistor to OV
Question oomf
lov
Calculate thecharge on the capacitor
D CV
o
Goxo lo
600 10 Gc
600MC
calculate the electrical potential Energy stored inthe capacitor
solution
p OV
y er E
Goxto 6 o or coooxio 6 lo
I I
3MJ 3mJ
Once charged the capacitor is disconnected from the battery and is now
connected in parallel with 40mF capacitor which is originally uncharged
60mFcharged
600 360MF the ofthetwois notthe
1 3 same therefore charge willnotdivide
inhalfbetweenthem
It
go mom
sinallyuncharged
z capacitorto completely discharged
It will discharge in the ratio of
O calculate the total capacitance capacitance
solution
c at C2 ratio of capacitance
60 40 60 40
w 3 2
Calculate the voltage in parallel
O CTV
600 10 6 toox Io G V
V GV
Calculate the charge on each capacitor
60mF yoMF
D CV CV
Cox to G G 40 106166
0 360MC 0 240MC
Calculate the final electrical energy ofthe combination
METHOD
I METHOD I
E
I Ctv
E Clooxio
6 612 G 6 2 G 612
I ICGoxio I Choxio
E L O8mJ Ez 0.72ms
NOTE During
charging 60 of the energy is retained 40 islost
in the surrounding
I it
I
t
D CV
D c
f Egr aiEoRd
C
Differences between conductors andInsulators
conductors can be charged via induction
Insulators can be charged via friction
Conductors have capacitance i e capacity to storeenergy
Insulators donot have capacitance
In conductors potentialdifference can beestablished betweenany 2points
In insulators all points are held atsame potential nodifference
Capacitor Discharging Graphs
so far only capacitors charged by a batteryhavebeenconsidered
This is when electrons flow fromthe positive tothe negativeplate
At the start when the capacitor is charging the the current is large
and then gradually falls to zero
capacitors are discharged through a resistor
The electrons nowflowbackfromthe negativeplate to the positive plate untilthere
are equal number on each plate
At the start of discharge the current is large butin oppositedirection to
when it was charging and gradually falls to zero
P 0
charging at P and DischargingatO
As a capacitor discharges the currentp d andcharge all decrease
exponentially
This means the rate at which the current pad or chargedecreases is
proportional to the amount of current pod or charge it has left
The graphs of the variation withtime ofcurrent pd andchange are all
identical andrepresent anexponentialdecay
Viv Olc
IIA
is Is Is
The of discharge
keyfeatures current graphs are
The shapeof the padand charge againsttime graphs areidentical
Each graph showsexponential decay curve with decreasing gradient
The rate at which a capacitor discharges depends onthe resistanceof the
circuit
If the from
resistance is high the current will decrease andchargewillflow
the capacitor plate more slowly meaningthatthe capacitor will take longer
to discharge andvice versa
The time constant
The time constant of a capacitor discharging through a resistor is a measure
ofhow long it takes for capacitor to discharge
It is the time taken for the chargeof a capacitor to decrease to
o 37 of its original value
Time constant T units seconds
T RC
Thtisistance C capacitance
How the shape of discharging graph isaffected if thetimeconstantCT ischanged
The three I I e th ve Vo e t o Oo e t't
forms
KEY
T higher
T lower
Question
400mF capacitor is charged using200 battery It isthendischarged via a Goon
resistor
Calculate thecharge stored
bythe capacitor
G
D CV Choox10 20 8 10 30 8me
Calculate the time constant T fordischarging circuit
R Goon T RC
400mF Goo 40010 6 0.245
Calculate thetime it takesfor the charge on capacitor todropto Lmc
DO Gmc Total Ome
O O e th
2 10 3 8 10 3 e to zu
e thorn
I
into 25
13333
Important Newconcept
Question
Capacitor of 500mF is charged via a 2400 battery It is then removed
and reconnected with a Goonresistor Find thetimefor current to fall to [Link]
Solution I Joe the KIR
to to
o i o y e
0.25 e to s so [Link]
inco 25
Iz
Co3 Inco 25 t
o are
To 42s
Important Newconcept
0 The initial current through a circuit with a capacitor of620mF is o GA The
capacitor is connected across a terminals of a 4501 resistor calculate thetime
taken for the current to fall to o 4A
o u [Link]
to279
to 279
8 e
in
8 Entire
in 0.279
84
seconds
o m3