Chapter 9: Capacitance

Capacitance; capacitor; how to calculate capacitance; energy stored in a capacitor

9.1 Capacitance
In the conductor chapter we have seen that a conductor in a static electric field is an equipotential
body and a charge deposited on the conductor will distribute on its surface such that the electric
field inside the conductor vanishes and the potential becomes equal everywhere. Let us suppose
the total charge on the conductor is Q and the electric potential is V. We add some extra charge so
that it increases by a factor, k. As the systems we are dealing with are linear, the extra charge will
increase the surface charge density everywhere by the same amount without changing the nature
of the charge distribution. Since, we have now k times extra charge, the Electric field around the
conductor should increase by the same amount and the electric potential, V of the conductor should
increase by the same account, k. Thus, we can conclude that the potential on a conductor is going
to be proportional to the charge on the conductor. We write that:
𝑄 = 𝐶𝑉
where C is the proportionality constant between the charge Q and the electric potential of the
conductor. C is the called the capacitance of an isolated conducting body. The capacitance is the
electric charge that must be added to the conducting body to increase its electric potential by 1 V.
In SI units, C is defined as Coulomb per volt, or Farad (F).
Please note that wherever, you have a conductor with charge on it, a capacitance exists.
Capacitance allows to convert the spatial information about electric fields around a conductor into
one single element, C and as we will see later, we can introduce the effect of the fields as a single
circuit element.
Example 1: A spherical conductor of radius R has charge Q deposited on it. What is the
capacitance for the system?
Solution: We know that the potential, V at the surface of the conductor will be given as:
𝑘𝑄
𝑉=
𝑅
𝑄 𝑅
Thus, the capacitance, C is simply: 𝐶 = 𝑉 = = 4𝜋𝜖0 𝑅
𝑘

9.2 Capacitor
In practice, a very important geometry consists of two conductors separate by free space or a
dielectric medium as shown in the figure below. The conductors may be of arbitrary shapes. We
connect a battery or a DC voltage source to the conductors. Charge is transferred to the conductors.

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Let us say +Q charge gets transferred to the cond uctor
connected to the positive terminal of the source; then –
Q will get transferred to the negative terminal. Several
Electric field lines will originate from the positive
charge and terminate on the negative charge. Note
again that the field lines will be perpendicular to the
conductor surfaces. Thus, a potential difference is
created across the two conductors, ∆𝑉2→1. The
potential difference should be related to the magnitude
of the charge Q on the conductors that is: Figure 1 Basic configuration of a capacitor

𝑄
𝐶=
∆𝑉2→1
The capacitance of a capacitor is a physical property of this two conductor system. It only
depends on the geometry of the conductors, distances between them, and the permittivity of
the dielectric medium between them. It does not depend on the value of the charge Q or the
potential difference ∆𝑉2→1 . A capacitor has capacitance even when no voltage is applied to it
and no free charge Q exists on its conductors.
Capacitors play a very important role in our field. Let us go back to our figure above. We connected
the DC source to the two conductor system and deposited a charge on the conductors. The charge
+Q and –Q attracts each other and creates forces between the conductors. Thus, there is energy
stored between the conductors (whenever there are forces, there must be energy. We will see later
how to calculate the stored energy). Now we disconnect the source. What happens to the
charges? They still remain on the conductors. They are attracted to each other; why will they
go anywhere else? Thus, the energy stored in the capacitor remains even when the source is
removed! If we put this in a circuit, then we can release this energy as required by the circuit.
Capacitors thus, respond differently than resistors to sources. They are widely used in electronic
circuits to perform many different tasks such as smoothing, filtering, bypassing, etc.
In ECE 140, you will see how capacitors behave for DC and AC sources and how we can use the
energy stored to achieve some of the tasks like filtering and even make interesting devices like
resonators (combined with another device called an inductor which stores energy in magnetic
fields).
Let us go to a basic ECE 140 circuit you have been analyzing, a voltage source connected to a
resistor by some wires. You have treated the wires as if they don’t even exist. However, you will
have charge on the wires and Electric field created between the wires. Thus, the wires will have a
capacitance between them. In DC, nothing much changes but when the source is AC, the wires
and how you lay them will change the characteristics of the circuit.
Capacitors are also used in many sensing elements. The accelerometers you have in the phones are
effectively a capacitor where one plate is connected to a spring and is allowed to move. Many of
the touch screens are capacitive screens where the capacitance changes as you bring your finger
close to the glass due to the change in the dielectric constant.

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You may have seen a “parallel plate” capacitor in your high schools. Many students somehow
believe that capacitors are only the parallel plate geometry. Please note, the shape of the conductors
and how they are arranged can be arbitrary. Any two conductor geometry will behave as a
capacitor.
9.3 Calculation of Capacitance
Please remember again that capacitance exists whether or not the two conductors are connected to
a source. How it behaves in a circuit depends on the nature of the source. So in calculation of
capacitance, we will just look at the geometries and assume that we have placed a charge (whether
or not a source is connected). The steps to calculate the capacitance are as follows:
1. Choose an appropriate co-ordinate system for the given geometry.
2. Assume charge +Q on one conductor and –Q on the other conductor.
3. Calculate the Electric field, E from Q using Gauss Law or other relations (most of the problems
we will tackle is with Gauss Law).
4. Find the potential difference: ∆𝑉2→1 by evaluating the integral:
1
∆𝑉2→1 = − ∫ 𝐸⃗ . ⃗⃗⃗
𝑑𝑙
2

I always calculate the potential difference from the conductor with charge –Q to charge +Q. The
potential difference will always be positive and we will get Capacitance which is positive.
Please note that there is negative Capacitance which has taken some research interest in recent
years. In negative capacitance, the voltage across the conductors decreases as more charge is added
to it (see for example: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Photon-Induced-Negative-
Capacitance-in-Metal-Oxide-Roudsari-
Khodadad/7bdcdf0f1d85c698c8c22c1778a84a105426deb2). However, in this course, all the
capacitors we are analyzing are positive. If you get a negative value either you have calculated
the electric potential difference from the conductor with +Q charge to the conductor with –Q
charge or you have made an error. In the first case, you just need to take the mod of the value you
get.
5. Capacitance is calculated as:
𝑄
𝐶=
∆𝑉2→1
When you calculate C, Q values should cancel out and thus, the result should only depend on the
geometric parameters.
To solidify this, let us do some examples.

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Example 2: Parallel plate capacitor.
A parallel plate capacitor consists of two parallel conducting plates of cross-sectional area A and
separated by a distance d. The space between the plates is filled with a dielectric of constant
permittivity, 𝜖. Determine the capacitance.
Solution:
The figure shows the cross-section of the capacitor. Let us place charge +Q on the top conductor
and –Q on the bottom conductor. The charge will distribute as shown in the figure below, creating
an Electric field from the top to the bottom.

To calculate the capacitance, we need to find the Electric field between the two plates. If the area
A is much larger than the separation, d, then we can assume that charge is nearly uniformly
distributed and the field looks like:

Applying Gauss Law on the pillbox (just the cross-section is shown) we get: 𝐷𝐴 = 𝜌𝐴 and
thus,
𝑄
𝐷=𝜌=
𝐴
The Electric field can be calculated using the dielectric permittivity as:
𝐷 𝑄
𝐸= =
𝜖 𝐴𝜖
We calculate the potential difference on the green line in the figure from the bottom conductor to
the top conductor. Thus, the potential difference will be:

∆𝑉2→1 = − ∫ 𝐸⃗ . ⃗⃗⃗
𝑑𝑙

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Note E is a constant here and does not change with distance. Thus,
𝑄𝑑
∆𝑉2→1 = 𝐸𝑑 =
𝐴𝜖
The capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor will be given as:
𝑄 𝜖𝐴 𝜖0 𝜖𝑟 𝐴
𝐶= = =
∆𝑉2→1 𝑑 𝑑
Notice if instead of the dielectric material, the space between the conductors was air, then 𝜖𝑟 𝑎𝑖𝑟 ≈
𝜖0 𝐴
1 and the capacitance would have been: . Introduction of the dielectric has increased the value
𝑑
of the capacitance by its relative permittivity, 𝜖𝑟 . Thus, with the same potential difference across
the plates, we will have larger charge stored in the conductors. We will later see this also increased
the stored energy density in the capacitor.
Please also note that value of the capacitance only has the geometrical parameters of the conductors
like their area and the separation and the material properties of the dielectric between the
conductors.
It should be emphasized here that in order to be able to use Gauss Law, we made a big
approximation in that the field is all confined within the capacitor and the charge is uniformly
distributed. This is not consistent with the boundary conditions and the conservative nature of
electrostatic fields. If you go to the edge of the capacitor, you see that the tangential boundary
condition is not held in the region just inside the capacitor and just outside the capacitor. In
reality, the field is going to fringe out of the capacitor as shown in the first figure. We are just
assuming that the fringe fields is much weaker compared to the rest of the field and neglecting
it is not adding much error. However, the result is an approximation which breaks down quickly
as the dimensions of the capacitors are decreased (in an integrated circuit for example).
Numerical calculations are required there.
Also due to fringe fields, parallel plate capacitor is not a well suited geometry for storing large
amounts of energy. Look at the capacitors in your AC units at home. They will have a cylindrical
geometry. We will analyze that geometry in a bit.
Example 3: Parallel plate capacitor with different dielectrics in parallel.
Consider a parallel plate capacitor where we have a dielectric with dielectric permittivity 𝜖1
covering cross-sectional area A1 and another dielectric with dielectric permittivity 𝜖2 covering a
cross-sectional area A2 as shown in the figure below. The separation between the plates is d.
Calculate the capacitance using first principles.

𝜖1 𝜖2

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Solution:
Let us put charge Q on the top plate and charge –Q on the bottom plate. Will the charge be
uniformly distributed? No, since the dielectrics have different permittivity, there will be different
polarized charges on the dielectric of permittivity 𝜖1 and dielectric of permittivity 𝜖2 . Thus, the
charge attracted to the left hand side of the conductor will be different than the charge attracted on
the right hand side of the conductor. Let us assume that the charge is Q1 and Q2 respectively as
shown in the diagram. Again we make the approximation that charge in a region is uniformly
distributed. Thus, we have charge density on the left hand side (1) and right hand side (2) as:
𝑄 𝑄
𝜌1 = 𝐴1; and 𝜌2 = 𝐴2;
1 2

𝜌1 𝜌2

𝐸1 𝐸2

We have introduced two unknowns, 1 and 2 and thus, we need two equations to find out what
these values are. Charge is conserved and we should have:
𝜌1 𝐴1 + 𝜌1 𝐴2 = 𝑄
We can calculate E1 and E2 using Gauss Law (same method as in Example 2) and these values
will be:
𝜌1 𝜌2
𝐸1 = and 𝐸2 =
𝜖1 𝜖2

Look across the boundary of the two dielectrics. Are E1 and E2 not parallel to each other? They have to
be equal to obey the tangential boundary conditions! Thus, we get another equation:
𝜌1 𝜌2
=
𝜖1 𝜖2
Now we have two equations and we can calculate the values of 1 and 2 as:
𝑄𝜖1 𝑄𝜖2
𝜌1 = 𝜖 ; 𝜌2 = 𝜖
1 𝐴1 +𝜖2 𝐴2 1 𝐴1 +𝜖2 𝐴2

And the Electric field between the conductors will be:

𝑄
𝐸1 = 𝐸2 = 𝐸 =
𝜖1 𝐴1 + 𝜖2 𝐴2
There is one error (besides the lack of fringe fields) in the way the figure above is drawn. Can you
figure it out?

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Again E is constant between the plates and hence, the potential difference
𝑄𝑑
∆𝑉2→1 = 𝐸𝑑 =
𝜖1 𝐴1 + 𝜖2 𝐴2
The capacitance will be:
𝑄 𝜖1 𝐴1 + 𝜖2 𝐴2 𝜖1 𝐴1 𝜖2 𝐴2
𝐶= = = +
∆𝑉2→1 𝑑 𝑑 𝑑
𝜖1 𝐴1 𝜖2 𝐴2
But is the capacitance of the left hand side and is the capacitance of the right hand side.
𝑑 𝑑
When we have dielectrics in parallel, it is like having two capacitors in parallel and the equivalent
capacitance for parallel capacitors is the sum of the individual capacitances. You will see this in
ECE 140 also.
Example 4: Parallel plate capacitor with dielectrics in series.
Consider a parallel plate capacitor where we have a dielectric with dielectric permittivity 𝜖1 with
thickness d1 and another dielectric with dielectric permittivity 𝜖2 and thickness d2 sandwiched
between the plates as shown in the figure below. Calculate the capacitance.

𝑑1 𝜖1

𝑑2 𝜖2

Solution:
Again we place charge Q on the top conductor and –Q on the bottom conductor. Since the dielectric
just below the conductor is the same everywhere, the charge will be distributed uniformly on the
conductors.

𝐸1 𝜖1

𝐸2 𝜖2

We can use the two Gaussian surfaces drawn to calculate the Electric fields E1 and E2. The only
free charge enclosed is the red positive charge in the conductor. Thus, the electric field values are:
𝑄
𝜌= ;𝐷 = 𝜌
𝐴
𝐷 𝑄 𝐷 𝑄
𝐸1 = 𝜖 = 𝐴𝜖 ; 𝐸2 = 𝜖 = 𝐴𝜖
1 1 2 2

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We can calculate the potential difference between the two plates as:
𝑄𝑑1 𝑄𝑑2
∆𝑉2→1 = 𝐸1 𝑑1 + 𝐸2 𝑑2 = +
𝐴𝜖1 𝐴𝜖2
The Capacitance, C will be:
𝑄 1
𝐶= =
∆𝑉2→1 𝑑1 𝑑2
𝐴𝜖1 + 𝐴𝜖2
Let us rearrange it as:
1 𝑑1 𝑑2 1 1
= + = +
𝐶 𝐴𝜖1 𝐴𝜖2 𝐶1 𝐶2
Dielectrics in series act like capacitors in series and the equivalent capacitance is equivalent to that
of parallel resistances.
Example 5. Capacitance per unit length of a co-axial cable
A coaxial cable consists of an inner-conductor of radius a surrounded by another conductor of
radius b. The space between the conductors is filled with a dielectric of permittivity, 𝜖. Calculate
the capacitance per unit length of the cable.

Solution:
Let us start with putting charge Q over length L on the conductor at r = a and –Q on the conductor
at r = b. We can calculate the displacement vector, D, by making a Gaussian cylinder of radius r
between a and b, and length L. Thus, we get:
𝑄
𝐷2𝜋𝑟𝐿 = 𝑄 or 𝐷 = 2𝜋𝑟𝐿

Electric field at a point is just related to the Displacement vector by the dielectric permittivity at
that point. Thus, the Electric field can be calculated as:
𝐷 𝑄
𝐸(𝑟) = =
𝜖 2𝜋𝜖𝑟𝐿
The potential difference between the conductor at r = b and r = a will be:

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 𝑎 𝑎
𝑄 𝑄 𝑏
∆𝑉2→1 = − ∫ 𝐸(𝑟)𝑑𝑟 = − ∫ 𝑑𝑟 = ln ( )
𝑏 𝑏 2𝜋𝜖𝑟𝐿 2𝜋𝜖𝐿 𝑎
Thus, the Capacitance can be concluded:
𝑄 2𝜋𝜖𝐿
𝐶= =
∆𝑉2→1 ln (𝑏 )
𝑎
To calculate the capacitance per unit length, we simply move L to other side and get:
𝐶 2𝜋𝜖
=
𝐿 ln (𝑏 )
𝑎
9.4 Energy Stored in a Capacitor
Capacitors are used to store electrical energy in terms of Electric fields. The amount of energy
stored is equal to the work done to charge it. The source or the battery does the work to remove
charge from one plate and deposit it onto the other. Let us assume that we are the battery and are
picking up charge from the bottom plate slowly and placing it on the top plate as shown in the
figure below.

Figure 2. An external agent (battery in a circuit) picks up charge dq from the bottom conductor and places it on the top
conductor.

Let us start with the capacitor initially uncharged. There is no Electric field between the plates.
We steal a little bit of charge dq from the bottom plate and deposit on the top plate. In doing so,
we add +dq charge on the top plate and also at the same time make the bottom plate charged to –
dq. We repeat the steps, slowly adding charge to the top plate. Let us assume we have reached a
point where there is +q charge on the top plate and –q charge on the bottom plate. Now there is
potential difference created between the two plates given as:
𝑞
∆𝑉 =
𝐶
where C is the capacitance of the conductor system. The next charge dq we move, we will have
to do work, dW, against the potential difference ∆𝑉. The differential work will be given as:
𝑞
𝑑𝑊 = 𝑑𝑞∆𝑉 = 𝑑𝑞
𝐶

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If in the final state, we want to have the plates charged to Q, the total work we will do will be a
sum of the differential work starting from uncharged state to fully charged state. This will be:
𝑄
𝑞 1 𝑄2
𝑊=∫ 𝑑𝑞 =
𝑞=0 𝐶 2 𝐶

The work done to move the charge will be the energy stored in the capacitor. Thus, the electrical
energy, Ue, stored will be:
𝑄2
𝑈𝑒 =
2𝐶
However, we also know that Q = CV. Substituting, we also get:
1
𝑈𝑒 = 𝐶𝑉 2
2
The two equations are equivalent and in ECE 140, you may use the second equation. In terms of
understand how energy changes in a capacitor, thinking in terms of one or the other equation makes
our life easier. Let us consider few cases.
Case I: We have a parallel plate capacitor with cross-sectional area A and separation between the
plates, d. We connect a battery and charge the capacitor to Q. With the battery connected, we move
a plate so that the distance between them becomes 2d. How does the energy stored in the capacitor
change?
Since, the battery is connected, the potential difference or voltage across the conductors remains
1
the same when we move the plates, thinking in terms of 𝑈𝑒 = 2 𝐶𝑉 2 is easier. Initially the energy
stored in the capacitor, Ui will be:
1 𝐴𝜖
𝑈𝑖 = 2 𝐶𝑖 𝑉 2 where 𝐶𝑖 = 𝑑

When we move the plate, the final stored energy will be:
1 𝐴𝜖
𝑈𝑓 = 2 𝐶𝑓 𝑉 2 where 𝐶𝑓 = 2𝑑

The ratio of 𝑈𝑓 /𝑈𝑖 will be 𝐶𝑓 /𝐶𝑖 and thus, the total stored energy becomes half of the initial energy.
What has physically happened. The final charge stored on the plates given by 𝐶𝑓 𝑉 and the final
charge stored has halved. As we moved the plates apart, the capacitance decreased and thus, the
charge it can store for the same potential decreases. The battery takes some of the charge back and
in doing so does negative work. The energy decreases.
Case II: We have a parallel plate capacitor with cross-sectional area A and separation between the
plates, d. We connect a battery and charge the capacitor to Q. Now we remove the battery. The
charge Q on the conductors, is not trapped there. we move a plate so that the distance between
them becomes 2d. How does the energy stored in the capacitor change?

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In this case, the potential across the plates changes but the charged stored does not. It makes it
𝑄2
easier to think what happens in terms of 𝑈𝑒 = 2𝐶 . Initially the energy stored in the capacitor, Ui
will be:
𝑄2 𝐴𝜖
𝑈𝑖 = 2𝐶 where 𝐶𝑖 =
𝑖 𝑑

When we move the plate, the final stored energy will be:
𝑄2 𝐴𝜖
𝑈𝑓 = 2𝐶 where 𝐶𝑓 = 2𝑑
𝑓

The ratio of 𝑈𝑓 /𝑈𝑖 will be 𝐶𝑖 /𝐶𝑓 and thus, the total stored energy becomes double of the initial
energy. Even though we moved the plates by the same amount, the final energy stored is different
than in Case I. Why? When we moved the plates, the distance doubled and the potential difference
between the plated increased. To move the plates, we had to do work against the force between
the charges. The mechanical work we did got converted into electrical energy available to be
harnessed at a later time.
9.5 Energy Density of Electric Field
We can think of the energy stored in a capacitor as the energy being stored in the Electric field
itself. Let us take the simple case of a parallel plate capacitor. We have capacitance, C, given as
𝜖𝐴
𝐶= and the potential difference across the plates as 𝑉 = 𝐸𝑑. The energy stored in the capacitor
𝑑
will be:
1 1 𝜖𝐴 1
𝑈 = 𝐶𝑉 2 = (𝐸𝑑)2 = 𝜖𝐸 2 𝐴𝑑
2 2 𝑑 2
Ad is the volume of the capacitor. Let us call is v. U divided by v will give us the energy density
(E is same everywhere, so we can simply divide by the volume to get the density). Thus, the energy
density, ue, will be given as:
1 2
𝑢𝑒 = 𝜖𝐸
2
Though we have calculated the energy density for the simple case of parallel plate capacitor, it is
the same expression for any general case. 𝑢𝑒 is the density of energy present at a point in space
with Electric field, E at that point and is proportional to the square of the electric field. In general,
the energy density is written as:
1 1 1
𝑢𝑒 = ⃗ . 𝐸⃗ = 𝜖𝐸⃗ . 𝐸⃗ = 𝜖𝐸 2
𝐷
2 2 2

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