CAPACITANCE
The more charge that’s already inside, the slower it fills up.
•At the very start, it is full of charge, so it can
push out a lot of current (electricity flows strongly).
•As it loses charge, there is less and less left
inside to push out.
•Finally, when it is completely empty, there is
nothing left to push — so the current becomes
zero.
• When a capacitor is losing its charge, the speed at which it loses
charge depends on how much charge is still left inside.
• 👉 If the capacitor has a lot of charge, it will lose it quickly.
👉 If the capacitor has only a little charge left, it will lose it slowly.
• It’s just like a water bucket with a hole:
• When the bucket is full, water pours out fast.
• When the bucket is almost empty, water only drips out slowly.
• So, the more charge left, the faster it discharges. The less charge
left, the slower it discharges.
Charge on the plates
• Think about a capacitor with uncharged plates.
• Each plate has equal amounts of positive and negative charge.
• The positive terminal of the power supply pulls electrons away from one
plate of the capacitor, leaving it with a net positive charge (+Q).
• The negative terminal of the power supply pushes electrons onto the
other plate, giving it a net negative charge (−Q).
• The supply does work in separating the charges.
• Since the two plates now store equal and opposite charges, the total
charge on the capacitor is zero.
• When we talk about the ‘charge stored’ by a capacitor, we mean the
quantity Q, the magnitude of the charge stored on each plate.
Charge on the plates
• To make the capacitor plates store more charge, we would have to
use a supply of higher e.m.f.
• If we connect the leads of the charged capacitor together, electrons
flow back around the circuit and the capacitor is discharged.
The meaning of capacitance
Other markings on capacitors
• Many capacitors are marked with their highest safe working voltage.
• If you exceed this value, charge may leak across between the plates,
and the dielectric will cease to be an insulator.
• Some capacitors (electrolytic ones) must be connected correctly in a
circuit.
• They have an indication to show which end must be connected to the
positive of the supply.
• Failure to connect correctly will damage the capacitor, and can be
extremely dangerous.
Energy stored in a capacitor
• When you charge a capacitor, you use a power supply to push
electrons onto one plate and off the other.
• The power supply does work on the electrons, so their potential
energy increases.
• You recover this energy when you discharge the capacitor.
• If you charge a large capacitor (1000 µF or more) to a potential
difference of 6.0 V, disconnect it from the supply and then connect it
across a 6.0 V lamp, you can see the lamp glow as energy is released
from the capacitor.
Energy stored in a capacitor
• The lamp will flash briefly. Clearly, such a capacitor does not store
much energy when it is charged.
• In order to charge a capacitor, work must be done to push electrons
onto one plate and off the other (Figure 23.6).
• At first, there is only a small amount of negative charge on the left-
hand plate. Adding more electrons is relatively easy, because there is
not much repulsion.
• As the charge on the plate increases, the repulsion between the
electrons on the plate and the new electrons increases, and a greater
amount of work must be done to increase the charge on the plate.