Understanding Capacitors and Their Functions
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thatguysjokesUnderstanding Capacitors and Their Functions
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thatguysjokesCapacitors
Capacitor is a device used to store energy in electrical and electronic
circuits.
• A capacitor consists of two parallel metal plates with some insulator known
as dielectric, placed between the plates.
Symbol of Capacitor
• To move charge onto plates of a capacitor, it must be connected
to a voltage supply. The negative terminal of supply pushes electrons
onto one plate, making it negatively charged.
Electrons are repelled from the other plate, making it positively charged.
The current stops when the potential difference(p.d.) across the capacitor
is equal to the e.m.f. of the supply i.e capacitor is fully charged.
Muhammad Javed Solehri
Important: Q: Explain why the capacitor stores energy but not charge ?
• Since the two plates of capacitor store equal and opposite charges, so total
charge on capacitor is zero.
The supply does work in separating the charges, so energy is stored.
Note: When we talk about the charges stored by a capacitor, we mean the
quantity Q, the magnitude of the charge stored on each plate.
Capacitance
General description: It is the ability of a capacitor to store the charge on its
plates. The greater the capacitance, the greater is the charge on the capacitor
plates for a given potential difference across it.
Definition: The capacitance of a capacitor is the charge stored on the plate
per unit of potential difference between the plates.
C= = Q= magnitude of the charge on each of the capacitor’s plates.
V= potential difference between the plates
Muhammad Javed Solehri
C= Q=CV Note: SI unit of capacitance is Farad, F 1F=1CV-1
Combination of Capacitors
Capacitors are used in electric circuits to store energy. Situations often arise where two
or more capacitors are connected together in a circuit.
Capacitors in parallel
For capacitors in parallel, the following rules apply:
• The p.d. across each capacitor is the same i.e V
• The total charge on the capacitors is equal to the sum of the charges
QTotal Q1 + Q2 ( In case of two capacitors in parallel)
• The total capacitance CTotal is given by
CTotal C1 + C2
The total charge Q on two capacitors connected in parallel and
charged to p.d. V is given by
Q CTotal × V
For three or more capacitors,
QTotal Q1 + Q2 + Q3 +……
CTotal × V C1V+ C2V+ C3V
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CTotal C1 + C2 + C3 +……
Capacitor in Series
For capacitors in series,
• Equal amount of charge is stored on each plate of the capacitors i.e Q
• The p.d. V is divided between the capacitors
V V1 + V2 ( In case of two capacitors in series)
V1 , V2
The combination of capacitors stores charge Q when charged to p.d. V
V
as , V V1 + V2
CTotal ( for two capacitors in series)
• For three or more capacitors + +
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Energy stored in a capacitor
When we charge a capacitor, we use 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. We
recover this energy when discharge the capacitor. 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 new
electrons increases due to which a greater amount of work must be done to increase the
charge on the plate.
Fig shows how the p.d. V increases as the amount of
charge Q increases.
It is a straight line because Q and V are related by V
• The work done in moving charge Q through a constant
p.d. V is given by W ( fig b)
• The work done in charging a capacitor to a particular
p.d. is given by
work done W
(energy stored)
2
(
2
So,
Work done in charging up the capacitor
2
• When capacitor is discharged, energy is released, if capacitor is fully discharged
then,
energy stored energy released
• In case if capacitor is partially discharged,
Vo p.d. before discharge V p.d. after discharge
energy released Vo 2
Muhammad Javed Solehri
Muhammad Javed Solehri