CAPACITORS

For practical purposes we need to supply a large

amount of charge in a very short amount of time, for example
in pacemakers. Capacitor is a device that serves this purpose. It
is also a basic electrical component that is used in all kinds of
electrical circuits as it blocks DC currents and allows the
passage of AC currents. It is also used widely in the construction
of filters in the electrical world.

1) CAPACITOR AND CAPACITANCE:

If we just need to discharge a large amount of
charge in a small amount of time we can just use a single
conductor charged with a charge say Q, w.r.t. infinity it has a
voltage V. So when we connect it to a lower potential or say
ground all the charge flows out fast. But the problem is
charging a conductor to Q is hard. Also such a state is unstable
as it must be isolated from lower potentials until we decide to
use it. Also the charge might leak out. This is solved by using
two conductors which are neutral.
Charges from one conductor are placed on the
other. These charges will be equal and opposite and will end up
attracting each other and an electric field will be set up
between the two thus developing a potential difference
between them. The charges will be held to the surface by the
electric field so it is a stable configuration; to discharge we just
connect the two conductors.

Capacitance is a value characteristic to a

capacitor. It is the ability of a system to store an electric charge.
Now when we have to conductors having charge Q and Q (We
started with neutral conductors so net charge = 0), when we
discharge we get Q so this means a Q amount of charge is
stored in this capacitor. This is proportional to the Voltage
difference between the two conductors as if the potential
difference V increases that means the electric field E is
increasing so Q must increase as it is the only source of field
here.

Q = CV where C is the constant of proportionality.

C is called the Capacitance of the system. Its unit is
Coulomb/Volt which is denoted by Farad (F).
We will find out that the capacitance is a characteristic of the
dimensions of the capacitor as it is a measure of charge it can
hold for a given V.

2) PARALLEL PLATE CAPACITOR:

Consider two parallel metal plates each one

having a charge density and separated by a small distance
d and let the area of the plates be A. Now since the plates are
so close to each other the field due to a plate can be viewed to
be in the region between the plates as up close they appear
to be infinite sheets. So the field in between the plates turns
out to be pointing from the positive to the negative charge
density. Everywhere outside the field is approximately zero.

Now the potential difference between the two plates is d.

We know Q = CV where Q is charge on positive plate and V is
the potential difference between them.
We also know that Q = so plugging them in the above
equation we get as we can see the Capacitance
depends on the dimensions of the capacitor only. Also it is
apparent that since A and d are small C is also small.

3) CALCULATING CAPACITANCE OF ANY

SYSTEM:
To calculate the capacitances of any given
system do the following. If there are two conductors assume a
charge Q and Q on them and find the potential difference
between them.
If there is only one conductor then assume the
second conductor to be a shell of infinite radius. So the V of this
second conductor is zero. Assume a charge Q on it and
calculate the V of the single conductor w.r.t. to infinity and
there we have C.
If there are multiple conductors then use any of
the following methods. Understand that any two conductors
are capable of forming a capacitor. For example, two spherical
conducting shells concentric but of different radii forms a
capacitor.
Similarly there are cylindrical capacitors too.
 4) ENERGY OF A CAPACITOR:
The capacitor while being charged ends up
having energy stored in it. As some external agent (a battery)
must transfer charges from one plate to another until the
charge becomes Q = CV. This work done in transferring charge
from one of the plates to the other is the energy of the
capacitor. Consider a parallel plate capacitor in the process of
being charged let the charge on the plates be q and q
respectively. Now to transfer a small amount of charge dq from
the negative plate to the positive plate an external agent must
do work given by Vdq (positive as we are moving against the
field). This is stored as energy so the increase in energy is

Using q = CV,

Integrating from 0 to Q, the total energy stored is,

To find the energy of any given capacitor, we can use the

following relation
The last term is Energy per unit volume in an electric field. This
concept is too advanced for now but just understand this as
electric field has an energy in it whose density is given above.
 5) CHARGING A CAPACITOR:

To charge a capacitor we just connect it to a

battery with a resistor to limit the current through the
capacitor. Say the emf of the battery is E. Initially when the
Capacitor is uncharged it acts as if its a conducting wire. As the
current flows the plate near the positive terminal gets
positively charged and this in turn charges the opposite plate
with an equal and opposite charge. So the charges that leave
the negative plate find their way back to the negative terminal
of the battery thereby completing the circuit. Slowly the
potential difference across the capacitor increases until it I
equal to the emf V of the battery. Now, the flow of current
stops. So in any circuit with a capacitor being charged finally it
ends with the current through the capacitor being zero.
However if there is a free loop through which the capacitor can
discharge it will.
 Now in this circuit
after some time
current will flow
only through the
first loop i.e.
through the
resistors R0 and R1.
The potential drop
across the resistor R1 is the potential difference across the
capacitor ( current through the capacitor and R2 is zero )
thereby satisfying Kirchhoffs second law.

6) CAPACITORS IN:
a) SERIES:
 Consider the circuit above the total potential
difference between the two capacitors is equal to the batterys
potential. Also when capacitors are in series the charge on each
capacitor is equal as the same current flows through them
both. Now the potential difference across the two capacitors
are given by,

There sum must be equal to the batterys emf,

So . If this combination is replaced by a single
capacitor of capacitance whose charge will be Q and
potential difference will be V.

Combining the three equations we get,

b) PARALLEL:
 When connected in parallel the potential
difference across each capacitor is same as the emf of the
battery that charges them V. The charge on the capacitors
however will be different as different currents flow through
them. We know that, , , .
If this combination is replaced by a single capacitor of
capacitance whose charge will be Q and potential
difference will be V. Also as the entire
current flows through the single capacitor.

Using the three equations we get,

 7) INSERTING A METAL PLATE IN BETWEEN A
CAPACITOR:

A metal plate of thickness w is inserted at a

distance x from the positive plate. The end facing +Q ends up
developing a charge Q and the opposite face develops a
charge of +Q thereby maintaining neutrality. The electric field
in the free spaces between the plates is while the field inside
the plate is zero. The potential difference is now
 The net capacitance

now becomes

If the plate is thin i.e. w is almost 0 then capacitance is

unchanged.

8) INSERTING A DIELECTRIC IN A CAPACITOR:

A dielectric of thickness w and

dielectric constant k is inserted at a distance x from the positive
plate. The end facing +Q ends up developing a charge q and
the opposite face develops a charge of +q thereby maintaining
neutrality. The electric field in the free spaces between the
plates is while the field inside the dielectric is . The
potential difference is now

The net capacitance,

Becomes

If the dielectrics width is d i.e. fully filled with a dielectric then

the capacitance becomes where C is the
capacitance of the capacitor with no dielectric. Thus inserting a
dielectric in between a capacitor increases the capacitance by
decreasing the potential difference between the plates.
There are two ways of looking at this say the capacitor was
isolated with charge Q and voltage V and then the dielectric is
inserted here the charge is bound to the capacitor so it cant go
anywhere.
whereas so that .

Energy is reduced by a factor of k.

This is because when we insert the dielectric there is actually a

force acting on it due to the charges that tends to suck it in. So
we have to do work against this force this decreases the energy
of the system.
Now say that the capacitor is connected to a battery of emf V
and then we insert the dielectric. In this case the potential
difference remains the same as V while Q changes to kQ.
Battery pumps more charge in to maintain V constant as it tries
to decrease. Thus the new energy is . Here the
energy has increased by a factor of k. This is because the
battery does positive work by pumping charges into the
capacitor.

9) USES:
The dielectric constant k is quite high so the
usually small capacitance can be boosted up by a quite a good
amount thereby facilitating the storage of more charge for the
same voltage applied.