Chapter 26

Capacitance and Dielectric

Dr. Yasmeen qawasmeh
26.6 Definition of Capacitance
• A capacitor is a device used in a variety of electric
circuits, such as to tune the frequency of radio
receivers.
• . It consists of two metal with equal and opposite
charge (Q,-Q)separated by distance (d) and dielectric
material.
• A charged capacitor is a device that stores energy.
• It has different shape:
• 1-parallel plate capacitor.
• 2- spherical capacitor.
• 3- cylindrical capacitor
Parallel plate capacitor
Spherical capacitor Cylindrical capacitor
Shape of capacitors
Capacitance
• The farad is a very large unit of capacitance.
• In practice, most typical capacitors have
capacitances ranging from microfarads

• to picofarads
26.2 Calculating Capacitance
The Parallel-plate capacitor
• The capacitance of a device
depends on the geometric
arrangement of the conductors.
• The capacitance of a parallel-
plate capacitor with plates
separated by air
 Capacitance calculation
Q :??
Voltage difference :??
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• The potential difference between two plates is

where d is the distance between the plates.

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• The charge on one plate is given by

• where A is the area of the plate.

• From Equation 16.9, we see that plates with larger
area can store more charge.
• The same is true for a small plate separation d
because then the positive charges on one plate exert
a stronger force on the negative charges on the other
plate, allowing more charge to be held on the plates.
Capacitance of isolated charged sphere
• Although the most common situation is that of two conductors, a single
conductor also has a capacitance.
• For example, imagine a spherical, charged conductor. The electric field lines
around this conductor are exactly the same as if there were a conducting,
spherical shell of infinite radius, concentric with the sphere and carrying a
charge of the same magnitude but opposite sign.
• Therefore, we can identify the imaginary shell as the second conductor of a
two-conductor capacitor.
26.3Combination of capacitors
• Two or more capacitors can be combined in circuits in several ways,
but most reduce to two simple configurations, called parallel and
series.
• The idea, then, is to find the single equivalent capacitance due to a
combination of several different capacitors that are in parallel or in
series with each other.
Capacitors in Parallel
When capacitors are connected in parallel, the potential
difference V across each is the same and the charge on
C1, C2 is different i.e., Q1 and Q2.
• When the capacitors are first connected
in the circuit, electrons are transferred
from the left plates through the battery
to the right plates, leaving the left plates
positively charged and the right plates
negatively charged.
• The energy source for this transfer of
charge is the internal chemical energy
stored in the battery, which is converted
to electrical energy.
• The flow of charge stops when the
voltage across the capacitors equals the
voltage of the battery, at which time the
capacitors have their maximum charges.
•
• If the maximum charges on the two capacitors are Q1 and
Q2, respectively, the total charge, Q, stored by the two
capacitors is

• This equivalent capacitor Ceq must have exactly the same

external effect on the circuit as the original two, so it
must store Q units of charge and have the same potential
difference across it.
Capacitors in series
• For a series combination of capacitors, the magnitude of the charge
must be the same on all the plates.
• When a battery is connected to the
 If this analysis is applied to three or more capacitors connected in series,
the equivalent capacitance is found to be

The equivalent capacitors of a series combination is always

smaller than any individual capacitance in the combination.
Example 16.8
• Four capacitors are connected in series with a battery,
as in the Figure.
(a) Calculate the capacitance of the equivalent capacitor.
(b) Compute the charge on the 12-ᶙF capacitor. (c) Find
the voltage drop across the 12-ᶙF capacitor.
• The answer :C
26.4 Energy stored in a Charged Capacitor

• Capacitors store electrical energy, and that energy is the same as the
work required to move charge onto the plates.
• If a capacitor is initially uncharged (both plates are neutral) so that
the plates are at the same potential, very little work is required to
transfer a small amount of charge ∆Q from one plate to the other.
• Once this charge has been transferred, however, a small potential
difference ∆ V = ∆Q/C appears between the plates, so work must be
done to transfer additional charge against this potential difference.
• If the potential difference at any instant
during the charging process is ∆V, the
work ∆W required to move more charge
∆Q through this potential difference is
given by
Energy density in electric Field
 Example 16.10
• A fully charged defibrillator contains 1.20 kJ of energy stored in a 1.10
X 10-4 F capacitor. In a discharge through a patient, 6.00 X 102 J of
electrical energy is delivered in 2.50 ms.
(a) Find the voltage needed to store 1.20 kJ in the unit.
(b) What average power is delivered to the patient?
•

• The answer:
(a) C decreases.
(b) Q stays the same.
(c) E stays the same.
(d) ∆V increases.
(e) The energy stored increases.
26.5 Capacitors with Dielectric
• A dielectric is an insulating material, such as rubber, plastic, or
waxed paper.
• When a dielectric is inserted between the plates of a capacitor,
the capacitance increases.
• If the dielectric completely fills the space between the plates, the
capacitance is multiplied by the factor k, called the dielectric
constant (k > 1) .
Why inserting dielectric material increases
the capacitance ??????
• The following experiment
illustrates the effect of a
dielectric in a capacitor.
• Consider a parallel-plate
capacitor of charge Q0 and
capacitance C0 in the
absence of a dielectric.
• The potential difference
across the capacitor plates
can be measured, and is
given by ∆V0 =Q 0/C0
 If a dielectric is now
inserted between the
plates, the voltage across
the plates is reduced by
the factor k to the value

Because k > 1, ∆V is less

than ∆V0
• Because the capacitor is not connected to an external
circuit, there is no pathway for charge to leave or be
added to the plates.

• Because the charge Q0 on the capacitor doesn’t

change, we conclude that the capacitance in the
presence of the dielectric must change to the value
• According to this result, the capacitance is multiplied by
the factor k when the dielectric fills the region between
the plates completely.
• For a parallel-plate capacitor, where the capacitance in
the absence of a dielectric is

• we can express the capacitance in the presence of a

dielectric as
26.7 An atomic description of dielectric
Dielectric strength
• For any given plate separation, there is a maximum electric field that
can be produced in the dielectric before it breaks down and begins to
conduct.
• This maximum electric field is called the dielectric strength, and for
air its value is about 3 X 106 V/m. Most insulating materials have
dielectric strengths greater than that of air.
(a)C increases.
(b) Q increases.
(c) E stays the same.
(d) ∆V remains the same.
(e) The energy stored increases.
Example 16.11
A parallel-plate capacitor has plates 2.0 cm by 3.0 cm. The plates are
separated by a 1.0-mm thickness of paper. Find (a) the capacitance of
this device
(b) the maximum charge that can be placed on the capacitor.
(c) After the fully charged capacitor is disconnected from the battery,
the dielectric is subsequently removed. Find the new electric field
across the capacitor. Does the capacitor discharge?
The answer is the same as if there had been two
capacitors in series with the respective dielectrics.
When a capacitor consists of two dielectrics as shown,
however, it’s equivalent to two different capacitors in
parallel.