JMJ Marist Brothers

Notre Dame of Marbel University

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Koronadal City, South Cotabato

Experiment No. 4
CAPACITANCE OF A CAPACITOR

Name: JOY MAE B. REALES Performed: MARCH 5, 2021

Instructor: MR. JUSTINE MERCADO Submitted: MARCH 12, 2021

Laboratory Schedule: 8:30 – 9:300 AM FRI Rating:

I. OBJECTIVES

At the end of the experiment, the students should be able to:

1. Determine the energy stored in a capacitor.

2. Determine the capacitance of capacitor when there is a variation in area and
separation distance.
3. Determine relationship of capacitance, area of the plate and separation distance
between the two capacitor plates.

II. INTRODUCTION

A Farad can define as the “capacitance of a capacitor that needs a charge

of one coulomb to form a potential difference of a volt between two capacitor
plates”. For the same amount of voltage, the higher is the amount of charge stored
on a capacitor, the larger the capacitance. The capacity of a capacitor to store a
charge on its conductive plates allow it capacitance value. Capacitance can also
be calculate from the area of the plates and the properties of the dielectric material
between the plates. When there is a smaller distance, there is a higher ability of
the plates to store charge, since the negative charge on the negative charged plate
has a greater effect on the positive charged plate, in result, more electrons are
repelled off of the positive charged plate, and therefore the overall charge is
increasing. The capacitance of a capacitor can be gotten through this formula:

𝐴
𝐶 = ε0
𝑑
 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Koronadal City, South Cotabato

III. MATERIALS
- Simulation

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/capacitor-lab-basics/latest/capacitor-lab-
basics_en.html

IV. PROCEDURES
1. Open the simulation https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/capacitor-lab-
basics/latest/capacitor-lab-basics_en.html
2. When the simulator is open, select first capacitance, so that you can start
your experiment.
3. Before you start, explore in the simulation so you will be familiar with the
experiment.
4. Set the simulation to start. Above the battery, there are capacitance, top
plate charge, and stored energy. Select all of them to identify the amount of
capacitance, plate charge, and stored energy.
5. Select the voltmeter to measure the amount of voltage and connect the red
probe to the wire of positive charged plate, then connect the black probe to
the wire of negative charged plate.
6. Set the voltage to 1.5 V, check the voltmeter if you set correct the correct
voltage.
7. Start to manipulate the arrows. For the arrow up and down is used to set
and to know the amount of separation distance. For the arrow left to right,
is used to change and to set the amount of area.
8. To get obtain the values needed in the table. For the capacitor 1, drag the
arrow up and down to set the separation distance to 4.6 mm and drag the
arrow left to right to set the area to 100 m 2.
9. When everything is set, look at the value obtain above for the capacitance,
stored energy and plate charge, get your laboratory notebook and record
the data you gathered, record it as your plate charge, stored energy and
plate charge.
 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Koronadal City, South Cotabato

Note: Do not forget to convert the units to its S.I units. For the area it
must be m2, m for the separation distance, Volts for the voltage, Coulomb
for the plate charge, Joules for energy stored and Farad for the
capacitance.
10. Repeat the procedures from step 8 to step 9. Use the same amount of
voltage from capacitor 1 to 6 which is 1.5 V. For the capacitor 2, the given
area is 220 mm2 and the separation distance is 2 mm. For the capacitor 3,
the given area is 160 mm2 and the separation distance is 5 mm. For the
capacitor 4, the given area is 330 mm2 and the separation distance is 10
mm. For the capacitor 5, the given area is 110 mm2 and the separation
distance is 3.4 mm. For the capacitor 6, the given area is 180 mm2 and the
separation distance is 3 mm.

V. DATA AND DISCUSSION

Table 1.0
Capacitor Area Distance Voltage Plate Charge Energy Stored Capacitance
(m2) Separation (m) (V) (C) (J) (F)
1 1 x10-4 4.6x10-3 1.5 0.29x10-12 0.22x10-12 0.19x10-12
2 2.2x10-4 2x10-3 1.5 1.46x10-12 1.10x10-12 0.97x10-12
3 1.6x10-4 5x10-3 1.5 0.42x10-12 0.32x10-12 0.28x10-12
4 3.3x10-4 10x10-3 1.5 0.44x10-12 0.33x10-12 0.29x10-12
5 1.1x10-4 3.4x10-3 1.5 0.43x10-12 0.32x10-12 0.29x10-12
6 1.8x10-4 3x10-3 1.5 0.80x10-12 0.60x10-12 0.53x10-12

Follow up questions:

1. What are the values of the energy stored in each capacitor?

The energy stored in a capacitor is electrical potential energy, it is the
energy comes from the work that is done in charging the capacitor. We can obtain
 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Koronadal City, South Cotabato

1
the stored energy through this formula, 𝑈 = 2 𝑄𝑉. And based from the experiment

conducted in the simulation, the value of the energy stored in capacitor 1 is 0.22
pJ, for the capacitor 2 the energy stored is 1.1 pJ, 0.32 pJ is the amount of energy
stored in capacitor 3, for the capacitor 4, it stored 0.33 pJ of energy. While the
capacitor 5 stored 0.32 pJ of energy, and for the capacitor 6 stored 0.60 pJ of
energy. We can obtain the stored energy by using the formula

2. What are the factors that affects capacitance of a capacitor?

One factor that affects the capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor is the
dielectric constant, when the dielectric constant is higher, there is greater ability of
the dielectric to support electrostatic forces. Therefore, as the dielectric constant
increases, the capacitance also increases. The area of the plates is one of the
factors that affects capacitance of a capacitor. When there are larger plates, it
provide greater capacity to store electric charge. Therefore, when the area of the
plates increases, the amount of capacitance increases. Another factor that affects
capacitance of a capacitor is the separation distance between the two capacitor
plates. Based on my observation in the simulation, when the separation distance
increases, the capacitance of a capacitor decreases.

3. What is the relationship of the capacitance, area of plate and separation distance?
𝐴
From the equation 𝐶 = ε0 𝑑 , the capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor

depends on the geometry of the capacitor, it is directly proportional to the area of

each plate and permittivity of free space, and inversely proportional to the
separation distance between the two parallel plates.

4. At constant voltage, how is capacitance related to energy stored in a capacitor?

A capacitor can store charge of electrons and when the capacitor is fully
charged, there will be a potential difference and between its plates. The larger the
area of the plates and the smaller the separation distance between them, there will
be a greater charge capacitor can hold and the capacitance will also increase.
 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Koronadal City, South Cotabato

Therefore, at constant voltage, the amount of energy stored in a capacitor depend

on the capacitance, the greater capacitance of a capacitor, the greater the ability
to stored energy in a capacitor. They are directly proportional to each other.

VI. CONCLUSION

Capacitance is a measure of the ability of a capacitor to store energy, to determine

energy stored in a capacitor by using this formula U=1/2 QV. From the experiment
conducted, we determine the energy stored in a capacitor, for the capacitor 1, the energy
stored is 0.22 pJ. Whereas in capacitor 2, 1.10 pJ is the amount of energy stored. 0.32
pJ is the amount of energy stored in capacitor 3. While in capacitor 4, 0.33 pJ energy
stored, in capacitor 5, 0.32 pJ, and in capacitor 6, the energy stored 0.60 pJ. For the
capacitance of a capacitor, in capacitor 1 it has a capacitance of 0.19 pF with a separation
distance of 4.6 mm and area of 100 m 2. For the capacitor 2 it has a capacitance of 0.97
pF with a given area of 220 mm2 and the separation distance of 2 mm. For the capacitor
3, it has a capacitance of 0.28 pF, the given area is 160 mm2 and the separation distance
is 5 mm. For the capacitor 4, it has a capacitance of 0.29 pF, the given area is 330 mm 2
and the separation distance is 10 mm. While in the capacitor 5 with a given area of 110
mm2 and the separation distance of 3.4 mm, the capacitance of the capacitor is 0.29 pF.
And the capacitance of a capacitor 6 is 0.53 pF, the given area is 180 mm 2 and the
separation distance is 3 mm. The obtained value of capacitance of a capacitor depends
on the area of the plates and separation distance between the two capacitor plates. It is
also observable from obtained value of capacitance of a capacitor, that as the area of the
plate increases the capacitance of a capacitor increases, while as the separation distance
between the two capacitor plates increases, the capacitance of a capacitor decreases.
Therefore, the relationship of area of the plates and capacitance of a capacitor is directly
proportional to each other, whereas, the relationship of separation distance between the
two capacitor plates and capacitance of a capacitor is inversely proportional to each other.