REPORTER:

CZARINA E. PAJA BTLED 1B (HE)

( Capacitor )

What is Capacitor
A capacitor is a two-terminal electrical device that can store energy in the form of
an electric charge. It consists of two electrical conductors that are separated by a distance.
The space between the conductors may be filled by vacuum or with an insulating material
known as a dielectric. The ability of the capacitor to store charges is known as
capacitance. Capacitors store energy by holding apart pairs of opposite charges. The
simplest design for a capacitor is a parallel plate, which consists of two metal plates with
a gap between them. But, different types of capacitors are manufactured in many forms,
styles, lengths, girths, and materials.

ORIGIN
A capacitor is a device for temporarily storing electric charge. What is considered to be
the very first capacitor was called the Leyden jar, which was invented by Pieter van
Musschenbroek in 1746 at the University of Leyden (or Leiden) in Holland. It was a glass
jar wrapped inside and out by a thin metal foil. The outer foil was connected to the
ground, and the inner foil was connected to a source of electricity such as an electrostatic
generator. Although how it works was not understood at the time, experimenters
discovered that the Leyden jar seemed to store an electric charge even after it was
disconnected from the generator. Like many early electrical devices, there was no
particular use for the Leyden jar at first, other than to allow scientists to do a greater
variety of electrical experiments. Benjamin Franklin, for example, used a Leyden jar to
store electricity from lightning in his famous kite flying experiment in 1752. By doing so
he proved that lightning was really electricity.
 Capacitors such as a Leyden jar consist of layers made of an electrically
conducting material (such as metal foil) separated by layers of a nonconducting material
(glass in the case of the Leyden jar, but it can also be wax, mica, oil, paper, tantalum,
plastic, ceramic material, or even air). If an electrical voltage is applied to the layers of a
capacitor, the plates will become charged, one positively and one negatively. If the
externally applied voltage is then removed, the plates of the capacitor remain charged,
and the presence of the electric charge induces an electrical potential between the plates.
Today’s capacitors are used for a wide variety of purposes in electric power systems,
radio receivers, computers, and nearly every other electrical device. They range in size
from the size of a refrigerator to the microscopic capacitors built into integrated circuits.
The capacity of the device for storing electric charge (called its capacitance) can be
changed by changing the area of the plates, by increasing or decreasing their separation,
or by using different kinds of materials for the non-conducting layers.

How Does Capacitor Work?

For demonstration, let us consider the most basic structure of a capacitor – the parallel
plate capacitor. It consists of two parallel plates separated by a dielectric. When we
connect a DC voltage source across the capacitor, one plate is connected to the positive
end (plate I) and the other to the negative end (plate II). When the potential of the battery
is applied across the capacitor, plate I become positive with respect to plate II. The
current tries to flow through the capacitor at the steady-state condition from its positive
plate to its negative plate. But it cannot flow due to the separation of the plates with an
insulating material.
An electric field appears across the capacitor. The positive plate (plate I) accumulates
positive charges from the battery, and the negative plate (plate II) accumulates negative
charges from the battery. After a point, the capacitor holds the maximum amount of
charge as per its capacitance with respect to this voltage. This time span is called the
charging time of the capacitor.
When the battery is removed from the capacitor, the two plates hold a negative and
positive charge for a certain time. Thus, the capacitor acts as a source of electrical energy.
If these plates are connected to a load, the current flows to the load from Plate I to Plate II
until all the charges are dissipated from both plates. This time span is known as the
discharging time of the capacitor.
Types of Capacitor

Paper Capacitor
Used in electronic and electrical applications. Useful for high voltage and high current
applications. Used in automobile audio equipment systems to provide extra power to
amplifiers when needed. Used in power conditioning systems to signals and allow AC
signals to pass.

Electrolytic Capacitors
- Commonly used in power supply circuits.
- Found in audio amplifiers and coupling applications.
- Used for smoothing and filtering in electronic devices.

Ceramic Capacitors
- Widely employed in high-frequency applications, like RF circuits.
- Used in timing circuits and oscillators.
- Suitable for bypass and decoupling applications.

Bipolar Capacitors
If they are bipolar they are used where the polarity gets reversed, most often in speaker
systems for crossover when a paper or plastic capacitor is too large or expensive.
Mylar Capacitor
They act as filters, oscillations, power supply decoupling, bypassing and coupling of
ripple signals in the circuit. The simplest structure of a mylar capacitor can be composed
of a layer of insulating medium sandwiched between two metal plates.
Silver Mica Capacitor
Silver mica capacitors are used in applications which call for low capacitance values and
high stability, while exhibiting low losses. Their main use is in power RF circuits where
stability is of utmost importance. Silver mica capacitors are used in high frequency tuned
circuits, such as filters and oscillators.

Feed Through Capacitor

Feedthrough capacitors are commonly used in today’s AC/DC supply lines to
suppress harmful interference. They are also widely used in electronic circuits for base
stations, telephone exchanges, shielded rooms, power supplies, and so on.

Trimmer
Trimmer capacitors are used to initially set oscillator frequency values, latencies,
rise and fall times and other variables in a circuit. Should the values drift over time, these
trimmer capacitors allow repairmen to re-calibrate equipment when needed.
Polycarbonate
The polycarbonate capacitor was a very useful form of capacitor. The polycarbonate
dielectric was very stable, having a high tolerance and it could operate over a temperature
of range of typically -55°C to +125°C without de-rating.

Polyester Capacitor

Polystyrene capacitors are often used as replacements for ceramic and mica
capacitors in audio circuits. However this type of capacitor is not limited to only audio
applications, it’s perfect for any application that requires a through hole high tolerance
capacitor.

Tantalum Capacitors
- Found in compact electronic devices like smartphones and laptops.
- Used in low-profile applications due to their small size.
- Suitable for applications requiring stable capacitance over a wide temperature
range.
Variable Capacitors
- Employed in tuning circuits for radios and communication equipment.
- Used in analog tuners for television sets.
- Applied in some types of electronic filters for frequency adjustments.

Capacitance
The unit of capacitance is explained in Chapter 2 and is designated by F. A
capacitor thus has a capacitance of one farad when one coulomb delivered to it will raise
its potential one volt. The farad is a very large unit of measurement, so we usually talk in
terms of microfarads (uF) or one one-millionth of a farad (10-6 farad).
Let Q be the charge of a capacitor in coulombs, E the applied potential difference
in volts, and C the capacitance of a capacitor in farads. Then
Capacitance = Charge
Potential Difference or C = Q
E
As previously stated, the capacitance of a capacitor is affected by the material and
dimensions of the dielectric. The capacitance is directly proportional to the effective area
of the dielectric and inversely proportional to the thickness of the dielectric. Capacitance
is also proportional to the dielectric constant (examples were given in Table 6-1) of the
material between the plates.
Table 6-1 Dielectric Constants

Air 1 Mica 5. 7 – 7
Glass, crown 5–7 Paper, dry 2 – 2.5
Glass, flint 7 – 10 Paraffin Wax 2 – 2.3
India rubber 2.1 – 2.3 Water pure 81

Let A be the total area of dielectric between the plates, in square inches, s the
thickness of dielectric in inches, K the dielectric constant, and C the capacitance of the
capacitor in microfarad Then C= 2.24x k x A
s X 10⁷
 Is the capacitance. Now, using the dielectric constant (from Table 6-1) and
measurements of the dielectric, we may find the capacitance of a capacitor. We have just
stated that the capacitance is directly proportional to the effective area of the dielectric. It
stands to rea son that the total area of the dielectric will be larger than the plate area, for
insulating purposes, so effective area of the dielectric is also the plate area.

Problem
A capacitor is composed of 31 tinfoil sheets measuring 6.5 inches by 6 inches, separated
by mica 0.004 inch thick (4 mils) with a dielectric constant of 6.5. What is the
capacitance of this capacitor? There are 30 sheets of mica between the plates. The plates
are 6.5 inches by 6 inches, so there are 39.0 square inches of effective dielectric per sheet
and 30 sheets.
Thus
C = 2.24xk XA = 2.24 x 6.5 x 39 x 30 = 0.43 µF
s x 10⁷. 0.004 x 10, 000,000

Capacitance in the series of Parallel

When we put capacitors in series in a circuit, as in Figure 6-12, we may have to find the
total capacitance of the circuit, and this is more complicated. When capacitors are in
series in a circuit, the total capacitance will be less than that of any individual capacitor in
the circuit.

Solution:
C1 = 0.50 µF
C2 = 0.25 µF
C3 = 0.10 µF
C4 = 0.30 µF
C = 1.15 µF

The total capacitance will always be larger than that of any one capacitor in the
circuit.
We find the total capacitance by taking the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of the
individual capacitors. You may ask, “What is a reciprocal?” Here are some examples:
The reciprocal of 2 is ½.
The reciprocal of ½ is 2.
So what we do is invert the capacitance of the individual capacitors, as in Figure 6-12,
into reciprocals or fractions and add them:
C₁=0.50 µF: Reciprocal = 1/0.5 µF
C2=0.25 µF: Reciprocal = 1/0.25 µF
C3=0.10 µF: Reciprocal = 1/0.1 µF
C4=0.30 µF: Reciprocal = 1/0.3 µF

Now,

This is the sum of the reciprocals. Now the reciprocal of the sum of the
reciprocals will be 1.50/29.0 = 0.051 µF, which is the answer and it is, as stated, less than
the capacitance of the smallest capacitor in the circuit.
REFERENCES:
Rosenberg 2004. Electrical Cause for Apprentices & Journeymen What is Capacitor?
Audel An Imprint of Wiley. Retrieved January 15, 2024 from
https://www.audelbooks.com.
Vicus 2021. Different types of Capacitor. EETech Media, LLC. North Charleston.
Retrieved January 23, 2024 from https://www.teds.com
Xuan 2012. What is Capacitor? No. 9 Hongye North Road, Changan town, Donguan City
Guangdong Province, China. Retrieved January 23, 2024 from
https://www.xuanxcapacitor.com.