NAME- HRISHI BANERJEE

CLASS- XII

SECTION- A2

ROLL NO.-
CAPACITORS
SERIES AND PARALLEL
Contents
Certificate ________________________________ 1
Acknowledgment __________________________ 2
Capacitors _______________________________ 3
Amount of Charge Q A Capacitor Can Store ______ 4
Self-Capacitance __________________________ 6
Charging & Discharging of a Capacitor __________ 7
Energy in a Capacitor _______________________ 8
Type of Capacitors _________________________ 9
Capacitors in Series ________________________10
Capacitors in Parallel ______________________ 12
Uses of Capacitors ________________________ 14
Bibliography _____________________________ 17
Pg. 01 2024-25

Certificate
This is to certify that I, Hrishi Banerjee of class XII of
Beachwood School, Durgapur has successfully completed
the Investigatory Project as prescribed by the All India
Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (AISSCE) for the
academic year 2024-2025. Date:06.06.2024

Signature of Internal Examiner

Signature of External Examinar

Pg. 02 2024-25

Acknowledgement
I would like to sincerely and profusely thank my Physics
teacher for his able guidance and support in completing my
project. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the
principal for providing mw with all the facility that was
required. Last but not the least, I would extend my
gratitude towards all teaching and all the non-teaching
staff of Beachwood School and towards my parents and
friends who has supported me to complete this project.
Pg. 03 2024-25

Capacitors
Introduction
A capacitor is a device used to store electric charge.
Capacitors have applications ranging from filtering static
out of radio reception to energy storage in heart
defibrillators. Typically, commercial capacitors have two
conducting parts close to one another, but not touching.
When battery terminals are connected to an initially
uncharged capacitors, equal amount of positive and
negative charge, +Q and –Q, are separated into its two
plates. The capacitor remains neutral overall, but we
refer to it as storing a charge Q in this circumstance.
FIG. Both capacitors
shown here were
initially uncharged
before being connected
to a battery. They now
have separated charges
of +Q and –Q on their
two halves.

A) A parallel plate
capacitor
B) A rolled
capacitor with
an insulating
material
between the
charged plates
Pg. 04 2024-25

Amount of charge Q A capacitor can store

The amount of charge Q a capacitor can store depends on

two major factors- the voltage applied and the
capacitor’s physical characteristics, such as its size. In
Figure given below each electric field line starts on an
individual positive and ends on a negative one, so that
there will be more field lines if there is more charge. The
electric field strength is, thus, directly proportional to Q.

The field is proportional to the

charge: EαQ

We know that,

V = Ed

So, VαE

Hence, V α Q
FIG. Electric field lines
in the parallel plate Removing sign of proportionality
capacitor, as always, we get,
start on positive and end
on negative charges.
Q = CV

Where C = capacitance of the

parallel plate capacitor.
Pg. 05 2024-25

The unit of capacitance is the farad (F), named for

Michael Faraday (1791-1867), an English scientist
who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and
electrochemistry. Since capacitance is charge per
unit voltage, we see that a farad is a coulomb per volt.

1𝐶
= 1f
1𝑉
A 1-farad capacitor would be able to store 1 coulomb
with the application of only 1 volt. One farad is, thus a
very large capacitance. Typical capacitors range from
fractions of a picofarad to millifarads.

FIG. Some common

capacitors. Capacitors
are primarily made of
ceramic, glass, or plastic,
depending upon purpose
and size
Pg. 06 2024-25

Self-Capacitance
Self-capacitance property is related to capacitors
especially to the isolated conductor to raise its potential
difference to one volt. Generally normal conductors will
have mutual capacitance. This is also measured in the S.I
units i.e. Farads.
The Self-capacitance of a conducting sphere which has the
radius ‘R’ is given by.

C=4πεoR

Self-capacitance values of some standard devices are given

below.

For the top plate of a van de Graff generator which is

having radius of 20 cm self-capacitance is 22.24pF.
For the planet EARTH self-capacitance is 710 µF.
Pg. 07 2024-25

Charging & Discharging of a Capacitor

Let us assume that the capacitor, which is shown in the Figure below
in the circuit, is completely discharged. In this circuit the capacitor
value is 100 μF and the supply voltage applied to this circuit is 12V.

A B

Now the switch which is connected to the capacitor in the circuit is moved to
the point A. Then the capacitor starts charging with the charging current I.
The charging voltage across the capacitor is equal to the supply voltage when
the capacitor is fully charged i.e. VS = VC = 12V.
In the case of ideal capacitors the charge remains constant on the capacitor
but in the case of general capacitors the fully charged capacitors is slowly
discharged because of its leakage current.
When the switch is moved to the position B, then the capacitor slowly
discharges by switching on the lamp which is connected in the circuit.
Pg. 08 2024-25

Energy in a Capacitor
Energy is the amount of some work against the electro-
static field to charge the capacitor fully. In the capacitor at
initial stage of charging, the charge Q transferred between
the plates from one plate to another plate. This charge
either +Q or –Q is interchanged between two plates of a
capacitor. After transformation of some charge an electric
field is formed between the plates, in that case we need
some extra work to charge the capacitor fully. This extra
work is called as the energy stored in a capacitor, the
energy is measured in the units of Joules (J). Now we see
the equations for this energy and work.

dW = V dQ
dW = (Q/C) dQ
After integration of the above equation is
W = Q2 / 2C
W = (CV)2 / 2C
W = CV2 / 2 Joules
Finally we get the energy stored in a capacitor is
Energy (W) = CV2 / 2 Joules
Now we calculate the energy stored in a capacitor of
capacitance 200 µF which operate with voltage of 12V
W = (200 x 10-6 x 122) / 2 = 14.4 mJ
Pg. 09 2024-25

Type of Capacitors
Film Capacitors

Ceramic Capacitor

Electrolytic Capacitor
Pg. 10 2024-25
Pg. 11 2024-25
Pg. 12 2024-25
Pg. 13 2024-25
Pg. 14 2024-25

Uses of Capacitors
Capacitors are devices which store electrical charge. They
are a basic component of electronics and have a host of
various applications. The most common use for
capacitors
is energy storage. Additional uses include
power conditioning, signal coupling or decoupling,
electronic noise its varied filtering, and remote sensing.

Capacitors for
Energy Storage
Capacitors have been
used to store electrical
energy since the late 18th
century. Benjamin
Franklin was the first to coin the phrase “battery” for a
series of capacitors in an energy store application.
Individual capacitors generally do not hold a great deal
of energy, providing only enough power for electronic
devices to use during temporary power outages or
when they need additional power. For example, large
capacitors are included in car audio systems to provide
extra power to amplifiers when needed.
Pg. 15 2024-25

Capacitors for Power Conditioning

One inportant applicaltion of capacitors the conditioning of
power supplies. Capacitoriss allow AC signals to pass but block
DC signals when they are charged. They can effectively split
these two signal types, cleaning the supply of power. This effect
has been exploited to separate or decouple different parts of
electrical circuits to reduce noise which could lead
to reduction of efficiency. Capacitors are also used inutility
substations to counteract inductive loading introduced by
transmission lines.

Capacitors as Sensors
Capacitors are used as sensors to measure a variety
of things, including air humidity, fuel levels and
mechanical strain. The capacitance of a device is
dependent on its structure. Changes in the structure
can be measured as a loss or gain of capacitance. Two
aspects of a capacitor are used in sensing applications:
the distance between parallel plates and the
material between them. The former is used to detect
mechanical changes such as acceleration and
pressure. Even minute changes in the material
between the plates can be enough to alter the
Pg. 16 2024-25

capacitance of the device, an effect exploited when

sensing air humidity.

Capacitors for Signal Processing

Capacitors have found increasingly advanced
applications in information technology. Dynamic
Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices use
capacitors to represent binary information as bits. The
device reads one value when
the capacitor is charged and
another when discharged.
Charge Coupled Devices
(CCDs) use capacitors in an
analogue form. Capacitors are
also used in conjunction with
inductors to tune circuits to
particular frequencies, an effect
exploited by radio receivers, speakers and analog
equalizers.
Pg. 17 2024-25

Bibliography
www.openstacks.com
www.slideshare.com
www.googleimages.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.scribd.org
www.techwalla.com