charges. Capaci- A capacitor Is a device for storing tors are used in computer motherboards, in ee epi, and in television and radio circuits. Its stan symbol ig Ake ee The simplest type of a capacitor consists of tuo par. allel conducting plates separated from each other by a thin sheet of insulating material or dielectric. When connected Sa to a source of charge, such as a battery, the positive Figure 12.10: A simple type of terminal of the battery removes electrons from the plate Sel oe eonsists of two par- connected to it and transfers them to the other plate. as allel plates equally but oppo- " jally but oppositel sitely charged with a dielectric 2 FeSult of this, the two plates are equally PPositely, be charged. 4 Sees A cebacitor "She ability of a capacitor to store charges is called its capacitance. The capacitance (C) of a capacitor is math- ematically defined as the ratio of the amount of charge (q) in one plate to the potential difference (V) between the plates. In symbols, i Gi cat The SI unit of capacitance is the farad, symbolized by, letter F and named after Michael Faraday. It follows that . _ one farad equals 1 coulomb per volt. The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is af- fected by the following factors: a. area of plates. The bigger the area of the plates, the greater is the capacitance. b, distance between the plates. The closer the plates to one another, the greater the capaci- tance. z insulating material or dielectric between them. Figure 12.11: Some commercial capacitors i. The dependence of the capacitance of a parallel! plate capacitor on the factors cited above is mathematically ex- pressed as - where A is the area of one plate in square meters, dis the distance between plates in meters, and is the permitivity of the insulating material or dielectric. Table 12.3 lists the permitivity of some common dielectrics. ‘Seanne wth CamScanetSample Problem 12.13 A capacitor consists of two square metal plates, each measuring 5.00 x 10-?m ona side. In between the plates isa sheet of mica measuring 1.00 x 10-*m thick. (2) What is the capacitance of this capacitor? (b) If the charge in one plate is 2.00 x 10°*C, what is the potential difference between the plates? ‘The part of the computer that we are Solution in contact mast of the time but least no- Given: side of the square plate = 5.00 cm. ticed is the keyboard. One type of key- as board is based on capacitance. Ina ca- A = (side) ' = (500x107 m) 50 x 10° m* a. From table 12.3, the permitivity of mica is 4.8 x 107 C2/Nm?. The plates are separated by 14.00 x 10-*m. We find the capacitance by using the formula Abs ay @_)(2.50x103 pt cae4-(a8x20 Saas a 1.20x10° F ‘Seanne wth CamScanetodHH He GGG 3G, @ Figure 12.12: (a) Capacitors in series (b) Capacitors in parallel | Combination of Capaci Substituting the given values and solving fo 2.00 x10 C : Vv V =16.7 volts 1.20x10° F Practice Exercise 12.13 You are to construct a parallel plate capacitor out of two flat plates of area 25 cm. You have three dielectrics to choose from: 1.0 mm thick paraffiri, 2.00 mm thick Pyrex glass, and 3.00 mm thick mica. Which dielectric will you use to'get the maximum capacitance? itors Capacitors may be connected in series or in'parallel. Figure 12.12 shows these connections. There are three important rules for capacitors In se- ries. These are: 1. The reciprocal of the, total capacitance is equal to the suin of the reciprocals of the individual capacitance: It-should be noted that adding a capacitor in series decreases.the total capaci- tance of the combination. : 1 gd aa fosters Gaoa sc 2. The total potential difference or total voltage is the sum of the potential differences across each capacitor. V, = V, +V, + Vat... 3. The total charge is equal to the individual charge stored in each capacitor. fe = 4, = 4, = 45 For parallel capacitors, the following rules apply: 1, The total capacitance is the’sum of the indi-, vidual capacitances. GHC +G+Gt. 2. The voltage across all capacitors is equal to the voltage across each capacitor. V, o Vv, < Vv, e Vv; 3. . The total charge is equal to the sum of the indi- vidual Charges, Tata tgs Hoe “Sample Problem 12.14 Find the total capacitance for each connection shown. C, = 10.0 F,,C, = 5.0 F, and C, = 4.0 F, ‘Seanne wth CamScanetoun Ctcoee ENE Solution Given: C;= 10.0 F 2 d iG, a Cy Cy and C, are thee: Fo G,=4.0F 1 1 j see te 1 X10 jee ede Cc, 10.0F Sor ar Lo rs” 24435 41 207° 597% C= 1.8F b, C, C,, and C, are in parallel C, =10.0F +5.0F+4.0F =19 F series. 1 1 4+2, 3 C7 i0.0F *5.0F 10°10 C=3.3F First get the total capacitance of C, and C, in This series combination of C, and C, is par- allel to C,. Therefore, the total capacitance is C=C +, =3.3F + 4.0F =7.3F Practice Exercise 12.14 You have five 10.0 F capacitors. Show all possible connections of all five capacitors to produce an equivalent capacitance of (a) 50.0 F, (b) 2.0 F, and (c) 35.0 F. ° s 8 ° ° a Charge aplastic combby ubbingitseveraltimes. © with your hand. Then bring itclose toa slow streamof wwatercoming romacan, Whathappenstothesteamof § ‘water? Repeal using rubbing alcohol or cil. What hap = pens? . eee aecacossecsoessases ‘Seanne wth CamScanet