Capacitor
A passive electrical component which stores energy in the form of electric charge.
Capacitors appear in different shapes and sizes but the basic configuration is two conductors carrying equal but opposite
charges.
The simplest form of a capacitor consists of two conducting parallel plates of area A and separation d
Capacitors in uncharged state do not carry any charge. During the charging phase, charge moves from one conductor to the
other; making one conductor positively charged and other negatively charged (net charge on the capacitor is zero).
These charges establish electric field between the conductors and consequently creates the potential difference between the
conductors with conductor carrying the positive charge at higher potential.
Symbols:
Normal Polarized
Capacitance:
The capacitance is a measure of the capacity of capacitor of storing electric charge for a given potential difference between
the conductor (plates) of the capacitor.
Denoted by C and is defined as
Unit of capacitance is Farad, abbreviated as F. Typical capacitors have the capacitance in the range pF to mF (very large
capacitors)
Elastance:
Inverse of capacitance
Measured in Daraf
q-v Characteristics:
Linear characteristics (ideal capacitor)
How to Compute Capacitance?
Parallel Plate Capacitor:
Two metallic plates of area A, separated by distance d; each carrying charge q ++++++++q+ ++++ ++++
Ignoring the edge effect, we assume the charge density of each plate is
- - - - - - - - - - - - -q - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Cylindrical Capacitor
We consider a cylindrical capacitor that includes a hollow/solid cylindrical conductor surrounded by the concentric hollow
spherical cylinder.
-q
+q
Role of Dielectric:
Dielectric, electrically insulating material that does not conduct electric current, is used between the metallic plates of t he
capacitor. The use of dielectric enables
- Separation between the plates; we can increase the capacitance by keeping smaller plate separations
- Increases the capacitance by reducing the strength of electric field. This requires explanation; dielectric under the
influence of electric field creates its own electric field that is in opposite direction and thus allow the capacitor to same
amount of charge at a lower voltage. Mathematically, is replaced by , where k>1 (k=1 for vaccum, 1.00059 for air)
is referred to as the dielectric constant. The capacitance is increased by the value of dielectric constant.
Commonly used dielectric includes air, paper (k=4 -7), glass (4-10), mica (3-6) and water (81).
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Capacitors in Electric Circuits:
Applications of a Capacitor:
Tons of applications; to name a few
• Storing energy
• Delaying voltage changes
• Filtering
• Resonant circuits
• Voltage divider (frequency dependent)
Relationship between Voltage and Current:
For a capacitor, we have
Using the relationship between charge and the current, we can write
+ v
A couple of examples to further elaborate
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Energy in Capacitors:
We know
The work done to move the total charge is
Alternatively;
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