CAPACITANCE

A Capacitor is a device which stores electric charge. It is formed with two or more conductors
(called the PLATES). The plates are separated from each other by a layer of an insulating
medium known as the DIELECTRIC. The conducting surfaces may be in the form of either
circular (or rectangular) plates or be of spherical or cylindrical shape as shown in Fig. 1 below.
For a “charged” capacitor, one plate is positively charged (+Q) and the other is negatively
charged (-Q), therefore net charge is always zero.

In the uncharged state, the charge on either one of the conductors in the capacitor is zero.
During the charging process, a charge Q is moved from one conductor to the other one, giving
one conductor a charge Q+, and the other one a charge -Q. A potential difference ∆V is created,
with the positively charged conductor at a higher potential than the negatively charged
conductor. Note that whether charged or uncharged, the net charge on the capacitor as a
whole is zero.

Fig.1: (a) A parallel-plate capacitor (b) A cylindrical capacitor (c) spherical capacitor with two
concentric spherical shells of radii a and b.

Figure 2(a) below shows the symbol which is used to represent capacitors in circuits. For a
polarized fixed capacitor which has a definite polarity, Figure 2 (b) is sometimes used.

Fig. 2: Capacitor symbols.

The Units of capacitance, Coulomb/Volts or Farads, after Michael Faraday. 1 F = 1 farad = 1

coulomb/volt = 1 CV.

Other smaller units include

−12
1 pico farad=1 pF=10 F
−9
1 nano farad=1 nF=10 F
−6
1 micro farad=1 μF=10 F
 −3
1 milli farad=1mF =10 F
Capacitance of a Capacitor
The capacitance of a capacitor describes how much charge a capacitor can hold per capacitor
voltage and it is defined as is the charge (Q) stored per unit potential difference (V) i.e.
Q
C=
V
Note: Capacitance does not depend on voltage or charge. It depends on the geometry of the
two conductors (size, shape, separation) and the DIELECTRICS in which the plates are
embedded.

Calculation of Capacitance
1 (a) Parallel-Plate Capacitor (with single dielectric medium)
Consider two metallic plates of equal area A separated by a distance d , as shown in Figure
3 below. The left plate carries a charge +Q while the one on by right carries a charge – Q .
Let ε represent the absolute permittivity of the dielectric material used. Assuming charging
of the plates is accomplished by means of a battery which produces a potential difference V.

If a charge of +Q is given to plate A, then the flux density D in the medium is

Q
D= (1)
A
But D=εE (2)
where E is the electric field intensity. From equations (1) and (2), we have
Q
E= (3)
εA
V Q V
= since E=
d εA d
Q εA
C= =
V d
 εo ε r A
C= For any medium with rel. permittivity of ε r
d
εo A
C= With air as the medium
d
From the expression, we notice that the capacitance C depends only on the geometric factors A
and d. That is, the capacitance increases linearly with the area A since for a given potential
difference, a bigger plate can hold more charge. On the other hand, C is inversely proportional
to d (the distance of separation) because the smaller the value of d, the greater the
capacitance.

(b) Parallel-Plate Capacitor (with multiple dielectrics)

If the space between parallel plates is occupied by compound dielectrics of permittivities ε r , ε r
1 2

and ε r and thickness d 1 , d 2and d 3 respectively. Let a + Q coulomb of charge is given to plate A,
3

by induction a charge of –Q coulomb wil be induced on the inner surface of B as shown in the
figure below
A B
+Q -Q

Therefore, the capacitance of the capacitor is given as

A εo
C=
d 1 d 2 d3
+ +
εr ε r ε r
1 2 3

2. Spherical Capacitor (When the outer sphere is earthed)

Consider a spherical capacitor which consists of two concentric spherical shells of radii a and b ,
as shown in Figure below. The inner shell has a charge +Q uniformly distributed over its
surface, and the outer shell an equal but opposite charge – Q . The capacitance of the capacitor
is given as

a
ε
 4 π ε o ε r ab
C= For any medium with rel. permittivity of ε r
b−a
4 π ε o ab
C= With air as the medium
b−a
Again, the capacitance C depends only on the physical dimensions, a and b.
An “isolated” conductor (with the second conductor placed at infinity) also has a capacitance. In
the limit where b → ∞ , the above equation becomes
ab a
lim C=lim 4 πε =lim 4 πε =4 πεa
b→∞ b→∞ b−a b → ∞ a
1−
b
Thus, for a single isolated spherical conductor of radius R, the capacitance is
C=4 πεR

3. Cylindrical Capacitor
Consider a solid cylindrical conductor of radius a surrounded by a coaxial cylindrical shell of
inner radius b, as shown in Figure 4 below. If the length of both cylinders is L and assuming that
this length is much larger than b−a, the separation of the cylinders, so that edge effects can be
neglected. The capacitor is charged so that the inner cylinder has charge +Q while the outer
shell has a charge –Q.
 ε

The capacitance C of the cylindrical capacitor is given as

2 π ε o εr L
C=
ln ⁡ ( ba ) For any medium with rel. permittivity of ε r

2π εoL
C=
( ba )
ln ⁡
With air as the medium

Once again, we see that the capacitance C depends only on the geometrical factors, L, a and b.

Capacitors in series and parallel

Capacitors in Parallel
Suppose we have two capacitors C1 with charge Q1 and C2 with charge Q2 are connected in
parallel as shown below.
The left plates of both capacitors C1 and C2 are connected to the positive terminal of the battery
and have the same electric potential as the positive terminal. Similarly, both right plates are
negatively charged and have the same potential as the negative terminal. Thus, the potential
difference V is the same across each capacitor. The total charge is
Q=Q 1+Q2 (1)
Snice Q=CV we have
Q1=C 1 V and Q2=C 2 V (since the potential across each capacitor is the same)
After substitution, equation (1) becomes
CV =C 1 V +C 2 V
C=C 1+C 2
Thus the total capacitance of the combination of a number of capacitors connected in parallel
equals to the algebraic sum of the capacitances of the individual capacitors.

In general, the equivalent capacitance to any number of capacitors connected in parallel is

N
C T =C 1 +C2 +…+ C N =∑ Ci
i=1

Capacitors in Series
If two capacitors C1 and C2 are connected as shown in the figure below, then they are said to be
connected in series.

Let a potential difference of V volts be applied across the combination and let V1 and V2 be the
potential difference across the capacitors C 1 and C2 respectively. Let C be the equivalent
capacitance of the combination
Now
V =V 1+V 2 (2)
Q Q Q
V= ,V 1= and V 2=
C C1 C2

After substitution, equation (2) becomes

Q Q Q
= +
C C 1 C2

1 1 1
= +
C C1 C 2

OR
C1C2
C=
C2 +C 1

In general, the equivalent capacitance to any number of capacitors connected in series is

N
1 1 1 1 1
= + +…+ =∑
CT C 1 C2 C N i=1 C i

Energy of a Charged Capacitor

Many of the most important applications of capacitors depend on their ability to store energy.
The electric potential stored in a charged capacitor is just equal to the amount of work required
to charge it, that is, to separate opposite charges and place them on different conductors. In
charging a capacitor, some work is done and this work done is stored by the capacitor as the
energy of the charged capacitor. Therefore, the energy stored in a capacitor, which is equal to
the work done in bringing one coulomb of charge from one plate to another, is given as
1 2
W= CV
2
Or
2 2
1Q Q 2 Q
W= since V = → V =
2 C C C
2

Or
1 Q
W = QV since C=
2 V
In the expression W is in joule, Q is in coulomb, V in volts and C in farad. When the capacitor is
discharged this energy is released as heat energy.

The Dielectric
The conductive plates of a capacitor are generally made of a metal foil or a metal film allowing
for the flow of charge, but the dielectric material used is always an insulator. Dielectric material
are used to maintain a physical separation of the plates. Placing a solid dielectric between the
plates of a capacitor serves three functions:

 Provides mechanical support for two large metal sheets at a very small separation without
actual contact.
 Using a dielectric increases the maximum possible potential difference between the
capacitor plates. When an insulating material is subjected to large electric field, it
experiences a dielectric breakdown: a partial ionization that permits conduction through it.
Many dielectric materials can tolerate stronger electric fields without breakdown than air.
Thus, using a dielectric allows a capacitor to sustain a higher potential difference V and so
store greater amount of charge and energy.
 The capacitance of a capacitor of given dimensions is greater when there is a dielectric
material between the plates than when there is a vacuum.
Experimentally it was found that capacitance C increases when the space between the
conductors is filled with dielectrics. To see how this happens, suppose a capacitor has a
capacitance C o when there is no material between the plates. When a dielectric material is
inserted to completely fill the space between the plates, the capacitance increases to
 C=ε r C o

Also, the potential difference for a given charge Q is reduced by a factor ε

Vo
V=
εr

where ε is the “Permittivity” of the dielectric material used and is called the dielectric constant.
Dielectric material with a high dielectric constant is a better insulator than a dielectric material
with a lower dielectric constant. Dielectric constant is a dimensionless quantity since it is relative
to free space.
The absolute permittivity or actual permittivity or complex permittivity of a dielectric material
between the plates is the product of the permittivity of free space (ε o) and the relative
permittivity (ε r ) of the material being used as the dielectric and is given as
ε =ε o ε r
The various insulating materials used as the dielectric in a capacitor differ in their ability to
block or pass an electrical charge. This dielectric material can be made from a number of
insulating materials or combinations of these materials with the most common types used
being: air, paper, polyester, polypropylene, Mylar, ceramic, glass, oil, or a variety of other
materials as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Values of Dielectric constant at 20oC

Multi-plate Capacitor
One method used to increase the overall capacitance of a capacitor while keeping its size small
is to “interleave” more plates together within a single capacitor body. Instead of just one set of
parallel plates, a capacitor can have many individual plates connected together thereby
increasing the surface area, A of the plates. For a standard parallel plate capacitor, the
capacitor has two plates. Therefore as the number of capacitor plates is two, we can say that
n = 2, where “n” represents the number of plates. Then our equation for a single parallel plate
capacitor should really be:
ε ε ( n−1 ) A
C= o r
d
Suppose we have five plates connected to one lead (A) and four plates to the other lead (B) as
shown in Fig. 1 below. Then both sides of the four plates connected to lead B are in contact
with the dielectric, whereas only one side of each of the outer plates connected to A is in
contact with the dielectric.

Then, the useful surface area of each set of plates is only eight and its capacitance is therefore given as:
ε o ε r ( n−1 ) A ε o ε r ( 9−1 ) A ε o ε r 8 A
C= = =
d d d

Example
A capacitor has a capacitance of 6.17 μF . How much charge must be removed to lower the
potential difference between its plates by 50.0 V ?

Solution
The amount of charge that must be removed to lower the p.d. between its plates by 50.0V is
−16 −4
Q=CV =6.17 ×10 ×50=3.09 ×10 C

Example
A spherical capacitor is formed from two concentric spherical conducting shells separated by
vacuum. The inner sphere has radius 12.0cm, and the outer sphere has radius 15.0cm. A
potential difference of 140 V is applied to the capacitor:
 (a) What is the capacitance of the capacitor?
(b) What is the magnitude of ⃗E at r =12.1cm , just outside the inner sphere?
(c) What is the magnitude of ⃗E at r =14.9 cm, just inside the outer sphere?

Solution
(a) The capacitance of the spherical capacitor can be obtained as
4 π ε o ab 4 π × 8.85 ×10−12 ×0.12 ×.15 −12
C= = =66.8× 10 F=66.8 pF
b−a 0.15−0.12
(b) The Charge Q is
−12 −9
Q=CV =66.8 ×10 × 140=9.35× 10 C
⃗
The electric field E at a distance r =12.1cm is
Q 9 −9 1 3 −1
E= 2
=9.0 ×10 × 9.35× 10 × 2
=5.74 ×10 V m
4 π εo r 0.121
Alternatively,
4 π ε o ab
Q=CV = .V
b−a
The electric field ⃗
E at a distance r is
Q 4 π ε o abV 1 Vab 140 ×0.12 ×0.15
E= 2
= . 2
= 2
= 2
4 π εo r b−a 4 π ε o r ( b−a ) r ( 0.15−0.12 ) × 0.121
3 −1
¿ 5.74 ×10 V m
(c) The electric field ⃗
E at a distance r =14.9 cm is
Vab 140 × 0.12× 0.15 3 −1
E= 2
= 2
=3.78 ×10 V m
( b−a ) r ( 0.15−0.12 ) × 0.149
Example
A cylindrical capacitor has an inner conductor of radius of radius 2.5 mm and outer conductor
of radius 4.0 mm. the entire capacitor is 3.5 m long. The potential of the outer conductor is 350
mV higher than that of the inner conductor.
(a) Find the charges on the inner and outer conductors.
(b) What is the capacitance per unit length?

Solution
(a) The capacitance of the cylindrical capacitor can be obtained as
2π εoL
C=
ln ⁡
b
a ()
The charge Q on the inner and outer conductorcan be obtained as
2 π ε o LV
Q=CV =
ln ⁡
b
a ()
 22 −12 −3
2× ×8.85 × 10 × 3.5× 350 ×10
7
Q=

( )
−3
4.0 ×10
ln −3
2.5 ×10
−10
¿ 1.5 ×10 C
(b) The capacitance per unit length can be obtained as
−10
C Q 1.5 ×10 −10 −1
= = −3
=1.22× 10 F m
L VL 350 ×10 × 3.5

Example
A capacitor consists of two parallel plates each has an area of 200 cm2and are 1.00 cm apart.
The capacitor is connected to a power supply and charged to a potential difference
V o =3000V . It is then disconnected from the power supply and a sheet of insulating plastic
material is inserted between the plates, completely filling the space between them. The
potential difference between the plates was found to decrease to 1000V while the charge on
each plate remains constant. Find
(a) the original capacitance C o .
(b) the magnitude of charge Q on each plate.
(c) the capacitance C after the dielectric is inserted.
(d) the dielectric constant of the dielectric
(e) the absolute permittivity of the dielectric.

Solution
(a) The capacitance of the capacitor with air as the dielectric medium is
ϵ o A 8.85× 10−12 × 200 ×10−4 −10
C o= = −2
=1.77 ×10 F=177 pF
d 1× 10
(b) The magnitude of the charge is
−10 −7
Q=C o V o=1.77 × 10 ×3000=5.31×10 C=0.531 μC
(c) the capacitance C after the dielectric is inserted is
−7
Q 5.31 ×10 −10
C= = =5.31× 10 F=531 pF
V 1000
(d) the dielectric constant ϵ r can be obtained from these expression:
C=ϵ r C o
−10
C 5.31× 10
ϵr= = =3
C o 1.77 ×10−10
Alternatively, the dielectric constant ϵ r can be obtained from
Vo
V=
ϵr
 V o 3000
ϵr= = =3
V 1000
(e) The absolute permittivity of the dielectric can be obtained as
−12 −11 2 2
ϵ=ϵ r ϵ o=3 × 8.85× 10 =2.66 ×10 C / N m

Exercises
1 In the Figure below, each capacitor has C=2.00 μF and V ab=+ 40.4 V . Calculate
(a) The charge on each capacitor.
(b) The potential difference across each capacitor.
(c) The potential difference between point a and d .

2 An air capacitor consisting of two closely spaced parallel plates has a capacitance of
1000 pF . The charge on each plate is 4.36 μC .
(a) What is the potential difference between the plates?
(b) If the charge is kept constant, what will be the potential difference between the
plates if the separation is doubled?
(c) How much work is required to double the separation?

3 The dielectric to be used in a parallel-plate capacitor is a variety of rubber with a

dielectric constant of 3.40 and a dielectric strength of 2.00 ×107 V /m . The capacitor is
to have a capacitance of 1.37 nF and must be able to withstand a maximum potential
difference of 6000 V. What minimum area may the capacitor plates have?