Introductory Physics II

Chapter 24
Series and parallel capacitors
Energy stored in capacitors
Dielectrics
Lecture 9 – February 9
Outline of chapter 24

• Capacitors and capacitance

• Networks of capacitors: series and parallel
• Energy stored in a capacitor
• Dielectrics – what are they and why do we care about them

New concepts
• Capacitor
• Capacitance
• Dielectrics
 Summary so far
𝑞
𝐶= Definition of capacitance
Δ𝑉

𝜖0 𝐴 Parallel plate capacitor

𝐶=
𝑑
 Circuit diagrams

• A continuous wire in a circuit diagram has the same potential at all points.
• By continuous I mean there is no other component interrupting the wire.
• This is an “ideal” wire.
 Capacitors in Parallel

1. All capacitors in parallel have the same potential difference across each
of them
2. The total charge is equal to the sum of the charges.
Capacitors in Series

1. All capacitors in series have the same

charge.

2. The total voltage is equal to the sum of

the voltages.
 Capacitors in Parallel
equivalent capacitance

𝑉1 = 𝑉2 = 𝑉3 = 𝑉 𝑞 = 𝐶1 𝑉 + 𝐶2 𝑉 + 𝐶3 𝑉 = 𝑉(𝐶1 + 𝐶2 + 𝐶3 )
𝑞 = 𝑞1 + 𝑞2 + 𝑞3
𝑞 𝐶𝑒𝑞 = 𝐶1 + 𝐶2 + 𝐶3
𝐶𝑒𝑞 =
𝑉
 Capacitors in Series
equivalent capacitance

𝑞1 𝑞2 𝑞3 1 1 1
𝑉= + + =𝑞 + +
𝑞1 = 𝑞2 = 𝑞3 = 𝑞 𝐶1 𝐶2 𝐶3 𝐶1 𝐶2 𝐶3
𝑉 = 𝑉1 + 𝑉2 + 𝑉3 𝑞 1 1 1 1
𝑉= = + +
𝐶𝑒𝑞 𝐶𝑒𝑞 𝐶1 𝐶2 𝐶3
 24-1

All capacitances in F.

Find equivalent capacitance.
12
Remember 3 11 6
Both plates joined – parallel.
One plate joined (and nothing
else in that junction) – series.
9
 24-1

12 and 6 are in series.

12
3 11 6

1 1 1 1 2 3 1 9
+ = = + = =
12 6 Ceq 12 12 12 4
 24-1
3 and 11 and 4 are in parallel.
3 + 11 + 4 = 18
3 11 4

9
 24-1

18 and 9 are in series.

18
1 1 3 1 1
+ = = = 9
18 9 18 6 𝐶𝑒𝑞

Ceq = 6 F
 Energy Storage in a Capacitor

• In order to charge the capacitor work must be done against the electric force.
• As more charge is pushed on the plates the potential energy of the capacitor
increases.
• The energy stored in the capacitor is electrical potential energy.

Recall: work done to move a charge q in a potential difference DV

(or just V for convenience):
𝑊 = 𝑞ΔV ≡ 𝑞𝑉
+q' –q'
• In the case of capacitor charging DV is not constant.
• It increases from 0 to a final value.
• We have to consider a small amount of charges (dq)
DV
moving through the potential difference DV which dq'
increases as we put more charge on the plates.
 Energy Storage in a Capacitor

𝑞 Work done by electric force is negative

𝑊 = Δ𝑉𝑑𝑞 = 𝑑𝑞 Work done by the power source to charge the
𝐶
capacitor is positive.
𝑄
𝑞 1 2 𝑄 1 2
𝑊 = න 𝑑𝑊 = න 𝑑𝑞 = q ቚ = Q (Work done by the power supply)
0 𝐶 2𝐶 0 2𝐶
𝑞
𝐶= Definition of capacitance
Δ𝑉

𝑄2 1 1 (Three different ways to express the

𝑈= = 𝑄 Δ𝑉 = 𝐶 Δ𝑉 2 energy stored in the capacitor)
2𝐶 2 2
 Energy Storage in a Capacitor
energy density

The energy stored in the capacitor is stored as electric field energy.

The field is located in the space between the plates.

We can find the energy per unit volume of the capacitor (energy density, u):

𝜖0 𝐴
𝐶=
𝑑
1 𝜖0 𝐴 2
1
𝑈 = 𝐶 Δ𝑉 2 𝑈= 𝐸𝑑 = 𝜖0 (𝐴𝑑 )𝐸 2
2 𝑑 2
Δ𝑉 = 𝐸𝑑 ,

𝑈 1
𝑢= = 𝜖0 𝐸 2
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 2
 Capacitor with a Dielectric

Most capacitors have an insulator (or dielectric) material

between the plates of a capacitor.

It serves 3 purposes:
1. It keeps the plates physically separated by a small amount;
2. It increases the capacitance;
3. It prevents electrical breakdown (sparks).
 Capacitor with a Dielectric
The capacitance of a capacitor containing a dielectric increases by a
numerical factor  , the dielectric constant of the material.

 is also called relative Material εr

permittivity (εr ). Vacuum 1 (by definition)
Air 1.00058986
PTFE/Teflon 2.1
𝜖0 𝜅𝐴 𝜖0 𝜖𝑟 𝐴 Paper 3.85
𝐶= =
𝑑 𝑑
Concrete 4.5
Rubber 7
Strontium titanate 310
(SrTiO3)
 Capacitor with a Dielectric
microscopic picture
• In the molecular model of the dielectric, the
electric field in the material tends to align polar
molecules and to produce induced dipoles in
non-polar molecules.
• The larger the field (E0), the larger
the induced dipole or alignment.

The net effect is to produce a layer of + bound

charges on the dielectric surface near the –
plate and a layer of – bound charges near the +
plate.
Capacitor with a Dielectric

Dielectric between the plates of

an isolated capacitor

The effect of the dielectric is to

reduce the field between the plates.
 Capacitor with a Dielectric
We’ll have two types of charges:
1. Free charges on the plates (Qfree, sfree)
2. Bound charges on the surface of the dielectric Qbound, sbound )

• The result is that the net (total) field is decreased.

• The field is related to the potential difference by
DV=Ed
• If the charges on the plates are not changed, the electric field and
hence DV are decreased.
• Hence q/DV = C is increased.
• This is so if the capacitor is not connected to a battery when the
dielectric is inserted between the plates!
 Capacitor with Dielectric
If we change some parameters of the capacitor (like distance between plates
or the material between the plates) the behavior of the capacitor will depend
on the two situations the capacitor may be in:
1. Isolated, disconnected from the power source
2. Connected to the power source.

DV is constant
Q is constant
 Capacitor with a Dielectric

1. Dielectric inserted between the plates of an isolated capacitor

• Q free is constant
• sfree is constant (area does not change)
• Efree produced by the free charge does not
change
Q is constant
• E decreases (E=Efree-Ebound)
• DV decreases (DV=Ed)
• Capacitance increases by a factor of K
𝑄2
• The energy stored decreases (𝑈 = )
2𝐶
𝜎𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 − 𝜎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝐸𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒
𝐸 = 𝐸𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 − 𝐸𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 = =
𝜖0 𝜅
𝜅−1 1
𝜎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 = 𝜎𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 = 1 − 𝜎
𝜅 𝜅 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒
 Capacitor with a Dielectric

1. Dielectric inserted between the plates of an isolated capacitor

𝑄 Δ𝑉0
Δ𝑉 = =
𝜅𝐶0 𝜅

1 𝑈0 Q is constant
𝑈 = 𝑄Δ𝑉 =
2 𝜅

• The potential energy of the field decreases – the field is doing work on the
dielectric slab.
• The slab is pulled between the plates by the electric force.
 Capacitor with a Dielectric
2. Dielectric inserted between the plates of a capacitor connected to
a battery
• DV stays the same
• E does not change (DV=Ed)
𝜎
• s does not change (𝐸 = ) – net charge
𝜖0
DV is constant
• Capacitance increases by a factor of K
• Qfree increases – more charge is pushed by
the battery onto the plates.
• The energy stored increases
𝑄𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 = Δ𝑉 ⋅ 𝐶 = Δ𝑉 𝜅𝐶0 = 𝜅𝑄𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒
0
1 1
𝑈 = 𝑄Δ𝑉 = 𝜅𝑄0 Δ𝑉 = 𝜅𝑈0
2 2
The battery does work on the extra charge moved to the plates. This increases
the energy stored in the capacitors.
Dielectric slab pulled between the plates
 Electric breakdown field
The maximum electric field the dielectric can stand
without a spark going through it.
Electric Field for breakdown is typically 107 V/m (or 104
V/mm or 10 kV/mm)

Air: 3x106 V/m

 24-2
Find the capacitance.

The thicknesses of the two

dielectrics are both equal to d/2.

d = 4.62 mm, A = 7.89 cm2,

κ1 = 11.0 and κ2 = 12.0
 24-3
A certain substance has a dielectric constant of 2.8 and a dielectric
strength of 18 MV/m.
For parallel plate capacitor, what is the minimum plate area to
obtain a capacitance of 70.0 nF which will withstand 4.0 kV?
 Capacitance of a metallic sphere

𝑄
𝑉𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 =
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑅

𝑄
𝐶= = 4𝜋𝜖0 𝑅
𝑉

R C [F]
1 cm 1 pF
1m 100 pF
6.4 x 106 m (radius of the Earth) 0.71 mF