Learning outcome

Understand
electrostatics
 Electromagnetics
• Electromagnetics is the study of the
effect of charges at rest and charges in
motion.
• Some special cases of electromagnetics:
– Electrostatics: charges at rest
– Magnetostatics: charges in steady motion
(DC)
– Electromagnetic waves: waves excited by
charges in time-varying motion
 field
• When an event in one place has an
effect on something at a different
location, we talk about the events as
being connected by a “field”.
• A field is a spatial distribution of a
quantity in general, it can be either
scalar or vector in nature.
 Electrostatics
• Electrostatics is the branch of
electromagnetics dealing with
the effects of electric charges at
rest.
• The fundamental law of
electrostatics is Coulomb’s law.
Terms associated with electrostatics
• Electric field- Electric field is defined as the
electric force per unit charge. The direction of
the field is taken to be the direction of the
force it would exert on a positive test charge.
The electric field is radially outward from a
positive charge and radially in toward a
negative point charge
 Terms associated with electrostatics
• Electric Flux is a measure of the Electric Field due
to some charge, experienced over a hypothetical
surface area of any magnitude.

Electric Flux Density is a measure of the Electric

Field due to some charge, experienced over a
hypothetical Unit surface area i.e. 1 square units.
• The Electric Flux Density (D) is related to the
Electric Field (E) by:
Terms associated with electrostatics
• Electric field strength is a quantitative
expression of the intensity of an electric field
at a particular location. The standard unit is
the volt per meter (v/m or v · m -1).
• A field strength of 1 v/m represents a potential
difference of one volt between points
separated by one meter.

• For a uniform field

Terms associated with electrostatics
The permittivity is a measure of how much the
molecules oppose the external E-field. If you
recall the E-field due to a single point charge of
value q[C] at a distance R:
 Relative permittivity
• is the permittivity of Free Space, which is measured in
Farads/meter. This is the permittivity of a vacuum (no atoms
present). In general, the Electric Field due to a point charge will
be reduced due to the molecules within a material. The effect on
the Electric Field is written in

• The dielectric constant is always greater than or equal to 1.0. This means the E-
field in the Equation is always reduced relative to what the E-field would be in free
space. The permittivity is a measure of this reduction.

• A material that has low conductivity but a relative permittivity greater

than 1 is known as a dielectric
 CAPACITORS
Capacitors are some of the widely used
components in electrical engineering particularly in
the electronic aspect of electrical Engineering.

A capacitor is simply a device, which stores

electrical energy or charges. Essentially, a capacitor is
made up of two sets of metal plates separated by an
insulator called dielectric.
Capacitors derive their names from the
kind of dielectric employed in making them
e.g.
• Electrolytic capacitor has electrolysis as
dielectric
• Air capacitor has air as dielectric
• Mica capacitor has mica as dielectric
• Paper capacitor has paper as dielectric
Making a capacitor
-Capacitor by construction consists
of two parallel metal plate
separated by a dielectric material
 Charging of a Capacitor
• When a capacitor having its metal plates labeled x and y is
connected to a battery A, the result is that the two pole (terminal)
of the battery attracts electrons from plate x which are then moved
round the circuit on to the second plate y. as a result, plate x has a
positive charge and plate y have equal negative charge. At this
point the capacitor is said to be charged and the electron on y repel
other electrons and prevent them from reaching plate y.
• This process of charging a capacitor takes a very short time to
accomplished (except when a large resistance is placed in the
circuit, then the charging takes longer time to complete)
 Discharging a of a Capacitor
When the plates of a charged capacitor are joined
current will flow for a while ( a short time) As a result
Electrons from the negatively charged plate y move
round the circuit to the positively charged plate x and
the charges neutralize each other. In effect the
capacitor is said to be discharged. If a wire is used to
connect the charged capacitor plates together a spark
may result. 
 Capacitance
• This is the measure of the capacitor ability to store
charge.
Hence for a given capacitor the magnitude of the
charge Q to any of the plates is directly proportional to
the p.d. V across the capacitor. That is
QαV
Q=CV
where C is a constant of proportionality known as
capacitance and
Q = the charge stored
V = the p.d. applied
 unit of capacitance
• The unit of capacitance is the Farad with
a symbol F and it is defined as the
capacitance of the capacitor when 1V
p.d. gives it a charge of 1C.
 Types of capacitors

There are however two major types of capacitors which

are:
The fixed capacitors have values that cannot be altered
or varied.
Variable capacitors have values that can be altered or
varied (Trimmer and Preset).
They are usually classified according to the kind of
insulator (dielectric) used, and they come in various
shapes and sizes ranging from the small button shaped
to disc ceramic capacitors (usually used in power
stations and industries
 Coding

• Values written in full

• Numeric
• Colour
 Color Coding of Capacitor

• To understand about capacitor color code,

primarily we must know various parameters of
capacitors
• capacitor value,
• tolerance of capacitor,
• working voltage of the capacitor,
• leakage current of the capacitor.
Colour coding
Working Voltage Chart
Capacitor Voltage
Reference
•Type J  –  Dipped
Tantalum
Capacitors.
•Type K  –  Mica
Capacitors.
•Type
L  –  Polyester/Poly
styrene Capacitors.
•Type
M  –  Electrolytic 4
Band Capacitors.
•Type
N  –  Electrolytic 3
Band Capacitors.
Examples
• Capacitor Voltage Reference
• Type J  –  Dipped Tantalum Capacitors.
• Type K  –  Mica Capacitors.
• Type L  –  Polyester/Polystyrene Capacitors.
• Type M  –  Electrolytic 4 Band Capacitors.
• Type N  –  Electrolytic 3 Band Capacitors.
 Digit and letter coding
• Consider another type of capacitor on which
capacitor value is represented as shown in the figure
below. Thus, the capacitor value can be found as,
the first digit is 3, second digit is 3, third digit ‘3’ is
multiplier in picofarads, and ‘J’ represents the
tolerance value of the capacitor. Hence, capacitor
value is 33pF multiplied by 1000 (multiplier is 3 =
three zeros) and is equal to 33nF or 0.033uF.
 Capacitor connection
• Capacitors in parallel
• Capacitors in series
• Combination of series and parallel
Parallel (shunt) connection
Series connection
 capacitors Polarity
•
Some capacitors are manufactured so they can only tolerate applied
voltage in one polarity but not the other. This is due to their
construction: the dielectric is a microscopically thin layer of insulation
deposited on one of the plates by a DC voltage during manufacture.
These are called electrolytic capacitors, and their polarity is clearly
marked
• Reversing voltage polarity to an electrolytic capacitor may result in the
destruction of that super-thin dielectric layer, thus ruining the device.
• However, the thinness of that dielectric permits extremely high values
of capacitance in a relatively small package size. For the same
reason, electrolytic capacitors tend to be low in voltage rating as
compared with other types of capacitor construction.
Capacitors limitations and proper
circuit operation.
Working voltage: Since capacitors are nothing
more than two conductors separated by an
insulator (the dielectric), you must pay attention
to the maximum voltage allowed across it. If too
much voltage is applied, the “breakdown” rating
of the dielectric material may be exceeded,
resulting in the capacitor internally
 Tasks
List at least nine types of capacitors, state the
characteristics that make them up and their
applications