2.
2 The Capacitor
Introduction
So far we have dealt with a class of electrical components which we can call resistors.
Today we begin a study of another very important component, the capacitor.
A capacitor is made up of a pair of conductors separated by an insulator. One form of
capacitor is the parallel plate capacitor.
It is made by having two parallel metal plates separated by some insulating material. As
we saw previously, there are many different kinds of insulators. Since it is convenient,
air can be used for the insulating material between the metal plates. The insulating
material is called the dielectric. As for all electronic components, engineers have a
special symbol for the capacitor, which they use to represent it in circuit schematic.
The unit symbol for a capacitor is F for Farads, with either the greek letter Mu μ (micro)
10-6 or the Pico p 10-12 denoting the size of the capacitor. for example 47μF would be 47
microfarads.
Having seen basically what a capacitor is, we must now learn about its function. The
function of a capacitor is to STORE CHARGE. The more charge a capacitor can store,
the larger its capacitance. Let us consider the circuit below.
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Activity 4.2.8 The Capacitor – Page 1
When the switch is closed current flows through the resistor, R, so that the top plate of
the capacitor becomes charged positively and the lower plate becomes charged
negatively. The charge on the capacitor continues to build up until the voltage across
the capacitor is equal to the battery voltage, the more charge the capacitor stores. Since
the amount of charge stored also increases with the capacitance, C of the capacitor,
we can write our equation for the charge stored as follows.
CHARGE STORED = CAPACITANCE x VOLTAGE
Q=CxV
COULOMBS = FARADS x VOLTS
A coulombs is a unit of charge, while a farad is a unit of capacitance. The farad,
however, is an inconveniently large unit, so to describe typical capacitors, smaller units
are used. These are the microfarad(μF)=(one millionth of a farad, 1 / 1,000,000 farad)
and the picofarad (one millionth millionth of a farad, 1 / 1,000,000,000,000).
A capacitor effectively acts as a barrier to DC. However, the capacitor does conduct AC.
This fact is of great use in designing electric circuits, because since it passes AC and
not DC, the capacitor can be used as a means of separating them.
*More on the difference between AC and DC voltage soon*
Equipment
● Engineering notebook
● Calculator
● Capacitors Video
o Capacitors
● PC with Internet access
o https://www.tinkercad.com/
o https://www.circuit-diagram.org/editor/
Circuit Schematic #1
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Activity 4.2.8 The Capacitor – Page 2
Let us begin by looking at how capacitors behave when connected to a DC voltage
source. I will give you the option of using tinkercad or physical circuits
Start the simulation and then close the switch
Does the LED light?
initially yes
This means that a capacitor passes/does not pass direct current?
passes
The charge stored (coulombs) by the capacitor can be calculated as follows:
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Activity 4.2.8 The Capacitor – Page 3
Stored Charge = Farads =
(microFarads on your Capacitor) / 1,000,000 x voltage of battery = WRONG, Q=CV
0.004
23
coulombs
Measure the range of voltage across the capacitor. (9V-0V)
5.3-1.5V
Measure the range of voltage across the LED.(0V-9V)
1.8V-1.48V
Measure the range of current through the LED (mA)
5.25-0
Review Questions
1. What is the function of a capacitor?
hold charge and dissipate it really fast
2. Name a characteristic of a capacitor that makes them useful.
it can release charge very fast
3. Convert 50,000 μF to farads
0.05 F
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Activity 4.2.8 The Capacitor – Page 4
4. How much charge can be stored by a capacitor with a capacitance of 100μF from
a power supply of 25VDC?
Q = CV = (100 / 1,000,000) x volts
Q in Coulombs
C is capacitance, must be converted to normal farads, that’s what the 100/1,000,000 is
V is Voltage
0.0025 C
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Activity 4.2.8 The Capacitor – Page 5
