Capacitors

Demo
• Capacitors in every day use – Keynote
[ lab power supply, ac/dc voltage converter/radio/tv/computer/VCR/
throwaway flash camera]

A capacitor may be used with a resistor to produce a timer. Sometimes

capacitors are used to smooth a current in a circuit as they can prevent
false triggering of other components such as relays.

• Super Capacitor - Keynote

 Capacitors
• In its simplest form, a capacitor consists of two metal plates, separated from
each other by an insulator (air, mica, paper etc.)
• A charged capacitor is shown below.

+Q -Q
+ -
+ -
+ -
+ -
+ -
+ -
+ -

• The capacitor plates have an equal but opposite charge of magnitude Q.

• The net charge on the two plates is zero.
The conductor-
insulator-
conductor
sandwich can be
rolled into a
cylinder or left flat
 Experiment
• Determining the relationship between
charge, Q, on the capacitor and the pd, V,
across the capacitor

(Philip Allan – 172)

 Capacitance
• The charge, Q, on a capacitor is directly proportional to the potential
difference, V, across the capacitor. That is,
QαV

• Introducing a constant, C, known as the capacitance of the capacitor, we

have
Q = CV

• Capacitance of a capacitor is defined as the ratio of charge on one of the

capacitor plates to the potential difference between the plates.

• Charge Q is measured in coulombs, C.

• Potential difference, V, is measured in volts, V.
• Capacitance, C, is measured in farads, F.
• 1 farad is 1 coulomb per volt: 1 F = 1 C V-1

• 1 farad is a very large unit. It is much more common to use the following:
mF = 10-3 F
μF = 10-6 F
nF = 10-9 F
pF = 10-12 F
 Worked Example
A capacitor of capacitance 250 μF is connected to a battery of emf 6.0
V. Calculate:

a) the charge on one plate of the capacitor

Q = CV = 6 x 250 x 10-6 = 1.5 x 10-3 C

b) the number of excess electrons on the negative plate of the

capacitor.
q = 1.6 x 10-19 C

no. of electrons = Q / e = 1.5 x 10-3 / 1.6 x 10-19 = 9.4 x 1015 electrons

 Charge Storage
V Vcapacitor = Vsupply

+q -q +Q -Q

Electron Fully
flow charged
– no
current

• The current flows for a short time.

• Initially the current is large, then it decreases.

 Parallel Combination
• The p.d. across each capacitor is the same.
• QT= Q1 + Q2

• Apply Q = CV to each capacitor to find CT.

QT= C1V + C2V

QT= V (C1+ C2)
QT / V = C 1+ C 2

CT = C1 + C2
 Series Combination
• VT = V1 + V2
• The charge, Q, on each capacitor
is the same.

• Apply Q = CV to each capacitor.

VT = Q/C1 + Q/C2
VT / Q = 1/C1 + 1/C2

1/CT = 1/C1 + 1/C2

 Worked Example
Calculate:

a) the capacitance between points B and C

CT = C1 + C2 = 100 + 250 = 350 μF 100 μF

b) the capacitance between points A and C 500 μF

C
1/CT = 1/C1 + 1/C2 = 1/500 + 1/350 250 μF

CT = 206 μF A B

c) the charge on the 500 μF capacitor

Q = CV = 6 x 206 x 10-6 = 1.24 x 10-3 C 6V

d) the p.d across A and B

V = Q/C = 1.24 x 10-3 / 500 x 10-6 = 2.48 V

 Energy stored in a Capacitor
• When the capacitor is connected across
a battery, the pd across it increases
from zero to a pd equal to the emf of
the battery. When a small amount of Potential
charge ΔQ, is transferred from one difference
plate of the capacitor and removed from
the other, the battery does work, equal
to the area of the shaded strip in the
diagram.

• ΔE = VoΔQ = the area of the shaded

strip in the diagram.

• The total energy transferred to a

capacitor, E = total area under graph.

E = ½ QV

• As Q = CV, we also have

E = ½ CV2 and E = ½ Q2 / C
 Worked Example
A 100 000μF capacitor is connected to a 6 V battery.

a) Calculate the energy stored by the capacitor.

E = ½ CV2 = ½ x 0.1 x 6.02 = 1.8 J

b) The capacitor is discharged through a filament lamp. The lamp

produces a flash of light lasting 12 ms. Calculate the average
power dissipated by the lamp.

Power = energy / time = 1.80 / 12 x 10-3 = 150 W

 Worked Example
A 10 000μF capacitor is described as having a maximum
working voltage of 25 V.

a) Calculate the energy stored by the capacitor.

E = ½ CV2 = ½ x 10,000 x 10-6 x 252 = 3.125 J

b) If this capacitor were connected to a motor so that it

could lift a mass of 100 g. What is the maximum height
to which this could be raised?

3.125 J = mg Δh = 0.1 x 9.8 x Δh

Δh = 3.2 m
 To do
• Capacitors 1 – Exam Questions
• Capacitors Worksheet(Philip Allan – 184)
 Experiment
• Discharging a capacitor

(Philip Allan – 186)

 Discharge of a Capacitor
• This circuit opposite can be used to
show the discharge of a capacitor.
• It is charged by connecting the
switch to A. It discharges through
the resistor when the switch is at B.
μA
• Io is approx 80 μA.
• Discharge time is approx 4 mins.
• Plot graphs of I, V and Q Against t.
V

t/s I / μA V/V Q/C

 Discharge of a Capacitor
• The graphs below show the variation with
time, t.
• All graphs have a similar shape and all
decrease with time.

Vmax
• ∆Q = I ∆t
= area of shaded
section

• Qo = Area under graph

 Are these graphs of the type x α 1/t ?

• No!
• If I α 1/t, then when t = 0, the p.d across
the capacitor would be infinite!
• The p.d decays exponentially with
respect to time.
 A Quick Test for Exponential Decay
• If a particular quantity decays exponentially
with respect to time, then, for equal time
intervals, the ratio of the quantity will be the
same. Q0

• E.g. A charge-time graph has a constant-

ratio property. For any constant interval of
time, Δt:
Q1
• Q1/Qo = Q2/Q1 = Q3/Q2 = Qn/Qn-1 = constant Q2
Q3
0 t 2t 3t
Testing Exponential Decay
t/s Q / nC Ratio Qn/Qn-1
0 100
2 80
4 64
6 51
8 41
10 33
12 26
Testing Exponential Decay
t/s Q / nC Ratio Qn/Qn-1
0 100 /
2 80 0.8
4 64 0.8
6 51 0.8
8 41 0.8
10 33 0.8
12 26 0.8
• Does the constant-ratio rule apply for other
intervals of time?
• Yes!
• Try for time intervals of 4 secs.
 Exponential Decay
• The charge Q remaining on the capacitor after a time t is given by
Q = Qo e-t/CR

• Where e is the base of natural logarithms (~2.718), Qo is the initial

charge on the capacitor, C is the capacitance of the capacitor and R
is the resistance of the resistor in the discharge circuit.

By subs: Q = CV

V = Vo e-t/CR V0 = initial pd across the capacitor

By subs: V = IR

I = Io e-t/CR Io = initial current in the resistor

 Time Constant, τ
• The product CR is known as the time
I 
constant of the capacitor-resistor 50
circuit. The time constant is
measured in seconds (s). Qo
40

• The charge, Q, on the capacitor is

given by
30

Qo/e
Q = Qo e -t/CR
20

Qo/e2
• After a time equal to CR, the
charge left on the capacitor is Qo/e3 10

Qo/e4
Q = Qo e-1 0
0 50 100 15 0 200 25 0 300
Q = Qo/e ~ 0.37 Qo
t/s

• The time constant for a τ 2τ 3τ 4τ

capacitor-resistor circuit is
defined as the time for the
charge (or current or pd) to
decrease to 1/e (~0.37) of its
initial value.
 Worked Example
• A 5.0 μF capacitor is charged to a pd of 10 V. It is discharged
through a resistor of resistance 1.0 MΩ. Calculate:

a) the initial charge on the capacitor

Q = CV = 10 x 5.0 x 10-6 = 5.0 x 10-5 C

b) the time constant of the circuit

time constant = CR = 5.0 x 10-6 x 1.0 x 106 = 5.0 s

c) the charge left on the capacitor after 28 s

Q = Qo e-t/CR = 5.0 x 10-5 x e-(28/5.0) = 1.8 x 10-7 C

 Using logarithms to show that the pd across a
capacitor decays exponentially
Logarithm rules
• V = Vo e-t/CR
Log AB = log A + log B
• ln V = ln V0 - t/CR Log A/B = log A – log B
Ln (ex) = x
= - t/CR + ln V0
Log Ax = x log A
= - (1/CR) t + ln V0
y = mx + c

• A graph of ln (V) against t

should be a straight line with a
gradient equal to –(1/CR).
 To do
• Capacitors 2 – Exam Questions
• Discharge Curves Worksheet (Philip Allan – 184)