1 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

2 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Discovery of the capacitor

3 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Capacitance and the farad
Capacitance is the ability of a body to hold an electric charge.
It may also be described as the amount of electric charge for
a given voltage.

The standard unit for capacitance is the

farad (F) named after Michael Faraday,
who was the first to develop capacitors
effective enough for practical
applications, and to measure the effect of
different variables on their capacitance.

One farad is the capacitance

when 1 V voltage appears circuit
across a capacitors plates symbol for
when a charge of 1C is stored. a capacitor

4 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Inside a capacitor

5 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Do capacitors store charge or energy?
It is common to describe a capacitor as a circuit component
that stores charge. What does this mean?
When a capacitor is charged, electrons move off one plate
and onto the other. What is the overall change in charge?

uncharged charged

The capacitor remains neutral. There is no net charge stored.

However, the charge difference has created an electric field
that is capable of moving (doing work on) any other charged
particle that is placed between the capacitor plates. The
capacitor stores electrical potential energy.

6 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Investigating charge and voltage

7 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Recording your results

8 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

The capacitor equation

9 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Factors affecting capacitance
What factors determine the capacitance of a capacitor?
area The greater the area of the plates, the more charge
can be stored for a particular voltage. Capacitance is
proportional to area.
distance The greater the space between the plates, the
less effect they have on each other, so the capacitance is
reduced. Capacitance is inversely proportional to distance.
permittivity The higher the permittivity of the dielectric,
the greater its ability to transmit an electric field between
the plates, and the higher the capacitance. Capacitance is
proportional to permittivity.
A
C=
d
10 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010
Capacitors in parallel
If a capacitor has a capacitance of 10 F, what is the
capacitance of two identical capacitors connected in parallel?
Adding a second capacitor in parallel 10 F
increases the area for charge storage.
This increases the capacitance.
The individual values of capacitance
10 F
for n parallel capacitors can be
added to obtain a single value, CT:

CT = C1 + C2 + + Cn
20 F
This is the equivalent capacitance. Replacing
parallel capacitors in a circuit with a single capacitor of the
same total capacitance does not affect the rest of the circuit.

11 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Capacitors in series
If a capacitor has a capacitance of 10 F, what is the
capacitance of two identical capacitors connected in series?
Adding a second capacitor in series d
increases the effective distance between
the positive and negative plates (charges
on the plates in the middle cancel to zero).
This decreases the capacitance. 10 F 10 F
The equivalent capacitance, CT, is given by:
2d
1 1 1 1
= + ++
CT C1 C2 Cn
5 F
So the capacitance of two 10 F capacitors in series is 5 F.

12 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Equivalent capacitance calculations

13 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Capacitance summary

14 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

15 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010
Discharging a capacitor
A 200 F capacitor is charged to time / s voltage / V
10 V, then discharged through a
0 10.0
250 k resistor. A data logger
records the voltage across the 10 8.2
capacitor at 10 s intervals for 90 s. 20 6.7
30 5.5
40 4.5
50 3.7
60 3.0
70 2.5
80 2.0
How would you expect the results 90 1.7
to look?

16 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Plotting a discharge curve

17 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

The time constant RC
A capacitor C discharges through a resistor R when a switch
is closed. The time taken for the capacitor to discharge
depends on both R and C.
The product of R and C is called
the time constant for the circuit, R
C
and gives an indication of how long
the capacitor takes to discharge.

What are the units of the time constant, RC?

F = C/V V/A [using equations Q = C V and V = I R]

= C/A
= A s/A [charge = current time]
=s
18 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010
Changing the discharge time

19 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Capacitor decay equation
This is the equation for the exponential decay curve:
V = V0 e(t / RC)
How can we rearrange this equation to calculate t, or RC?
An exponential equation is the same as any other when
rearranging it, always do the same to both sides.
The inverse (or opposite) of e is the natural logarithm,
written ln and found on your calculator:
V / V0 = e(t / RC)

ln (V / V0) = t / RC

t = RC ln (V / V0) RC = t / ln (V / V0)

20 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

How does charge change with time?
If the voltage of a discharging capacitor drops off at a rate of
V = V0 e(t / RC), what happens to the charge on its plates?

What equation relates the voltage and charge of a capacitor?

Q = CV

The capacitance, C, is a fixed property of the capacitor, so

this is a constant. Substitute the equation for V:

Q = C V0 e(t / RC)
At time 0, Q0 = C V0, so the equation can be simplified to:

Q = Q0 e(t / RC)

21 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

How does current change with time?
As a capacitor discharges, voltage and charge drop
exponentially. What happens to the current in the circuit?
Current is equal to the charge passing a fixed point per
second. It is the same at every point in the circuit.
When the capacitor starts discharging, the charge drops
quickly so the current is high. As the capacitor discharges,
the charge drops more slowly so the current drops too,
until the charges on the plates are balanced again and the
current is zero.

using V = I R: I = V / R = V0 e(t / RC) / R

using V0 = I0 R I = I0 e(t / RC)

22 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Other forms of exponential decay
Capacitor discharge Radioactive decay
Initial charge Q0 Initial parent nuclei N0
Q = Q0 e(t / RC) N = N0 e( t)
RC = time to fall to Q0 / e Half life (t) = time to halve
Charge, current and Number and activity
voltage all exponentials both exponential
V0 A0
voltage

activity

RC time t time
23 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010
Discharging a capacitor calculations

24 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

25 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010
What makes capacitors useful?
Capacitors store electrical potential energy. The use of this
energy as a power source is one of their main applications.
The energy can be released quickly or slowly, depending on
the resistance of the discharge circuit.

If a capacitor is discharged
quickly through a low resistance
circuit, it produces a short burst
of large current. This is how a
camera flash is powered.

If a capacitor is discharged slowly through a high resistance

circuit, it produces a low current over a longer time. This can
be useful as a temporary power supply, such as to power the
internal memory of a device while its batteries are changed.

26 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Capacitors as energy sources

27 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Energy transfer in a defibrillator

28 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Energy stored in a capacitor
A capacitor is charged up to 5 V. This means it stores 5 J of
potential energy per coulomb of charge. When the capacitor is
discharged, its voltage starts to drop, but if it is only discharged
by a small amount, then the energy released is 5 JC1.
This is equal to the area of a small strip on the Q-V graph:
The voltage is now lower, so if it Q
is discharged by another small
amount, the energy released is

charge
equal to the next small strip, etc.
The total energy stored is equal
to the sum of all these strips, or
the area under the graph:
voltage V
W = QV
29 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010
Energy storage equation

30 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Alternative energy storage equations
The equation W = Q V gives the energy stored when a
charge Q is stored on a capacitor at voltage V. How can the
energy stored be calculated if only the capacitance and the
voltage are known?
Can you think of an equation that links charge,
capacitance and voltage?
the capacitor equation: Q = CV
Substitute this into the energy equation to find a new
formula for W:
W = QV = CV V
W = CV2
Can you find an equation for W in terms of only Q and C?
W = Q2 / C
31 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010
Energy storage: true or false?

32 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

33 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010
Glossary

34 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Whats the keyword?

35 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010

Multiple-choice quiz

36 of 36 Boardworks Ltd 2010