CAPACITOR

SERIES AND PARALLEL

COMBINATION
 CONTENTS
 Certificate
 Acknowledgement
 Objective
 Capacitor and capacitance
 Principle of capacitor
 Capacitor in series
 Capacitor in parallel
 Mathematical comparison
 Material required
 The circuit and how to operate
 Observation and Conclusion
OBJECTIVE:

To study and compare the

behavior of capacitors parallel
and series combination.
CAPACITOR AND CAPACITANCE:

Capacitor is an electrical device that can store energy

in the electric field between a pair of closely spaced
conductor, electric charges of equal magnitude, but
opposite polarity, build up on each plate. Capacitors
are used in electrical circuits as energy-storage devices.

Capacitance is ability of a conductor to store electric

charge or energy is known as electrical capacitance of
the conductor. When a charge is given to a conductor,
it is raised to certain potential. More the charge on the
conductor, higher is it’s potential.

QαV
Where Q is the charge given to the conductor and V
is it’s electric potential

Q = CV
Where C is the constant of proportionality called
capacitance

C = Q/V
Unit: Farad
PRINCIPLE OF CAPACITOR:

When a charged conductor is placed near an

uncharged conductor, the potential of the charged
conductor falls. To raise the conductor to the initial
potential, more charges can be added.
CAPACITORS IN SERIES:

Electrons move from -ve to

+ve terminal of battery.
Electrons start collecting on
the right side on the right side
of capacitor c3, the right plate
gets negatively charged. This negatively charge plate
includes +ve charge on the opposite plate (left plate).
Hence the right plate of C2 gets same charge as the
same amount of electrons have moved from C2 right
plate to the C3 left plate.
Hence same amount of charge in each capacitor.
Potential across each capacitor is different:
This can be explained by a simple analogy:
Suppose there is a stationary source charge and few
charges near it, the charge closer to source would be at
higher potential than the one away from source. If you
draw a line from the source, at each point there will be
a different potential. See the illustration below for
better understanding.
V = Q/C
Q/C = Q/C1 + Q/C2 + Q/C3 => 1/CS = 1/C1 + 1/C2 + 1/C3
CAPACITORS IN PARALLEL:

Contrary to series potential is same across each

capacitance in case of parallel.
As current flows, the charge is being distributed in the
three wires connected to parallel capacitors.
Hence charge in each capacitor is different in parallel
combination.

Q1 = VC1 , Q2 = VC2 , Q3 = VC3

Q = Q1 + Q2 + Q3 = CPV
CPV = VC1 + VC2 + VC3
C P = C1 + C2 + C3
MATHEMATICAL COMPARISON:

CP = C 1 + C 2 + C 3
1/CS = 1/C1 + 1/C2 + 1/C3
CS = ( C 1 + C 2 + C 3 ) / ( C 1 C2 C3 )

Hence, it is explanatory that CP > CS.

Capacitances diminish in series.

Capacitances add in parallel.

MATERIAL REQUIRED:
THE CIRCUIT:

The circuit is simply a two transistor direct coupled

amplifier. The key provides the base voltage to T1
through R1 resistor. The collector gives voltage to LED
through its collector. The using of two transistor is to
draw lesser current and to increase on time of LED at
the output. The resistor R2 provides excess charge
current at T1 base. The probes senses the combination
of capacitors, either it is parallel or series and provides
charge on time to the T1 base and finally for the on
time LED.

To operate circuit for any one of the combination,

connect wiring sequence as given and also connect
capacitor in either series or parallel combination. Now
connect the probe to the combination terminals and
charge the capacitor by pressing the key for few
seconds. Release the key and take reading (in seconds)
the total time to discharge these through circuit. The
output is displayed in form of LED’s light.
OBSERVATION :

Time taken in parallel combination :

Time taken in series combination :

CONCLUSION :

It is clear from our experiment that the parallel

combination will take more time to discharge in
comparison to series combination for two equal value
capacitors.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Fundamentals of physics
By Haliday Resnick Walker
2. Class 12 physics textbook (NCERT)
3. Youtube.com/rimstar.org