Capacitance & Dielectrics
Capacitance & Dielectrics
DIELECTRICS
CHAPTER 3.1
Deduce the effects of
simple capacitors.
CAPACITORS
Is a component which has the
ability or “capacity” to store
energy in the form of an electric
charge producing a potential
difference (static voltage).
A capacitor consists of two or
more parallel conductive
(metal) plates, which are not
connected to each other, but
are electrically separated either
by air or insulating material.
INSULATING MATERIALS SUCH AS;
C = Q/V
Can be re-arranged to give the more familiar
formula for the quantity of charge on the
plates as:
Q= C x V
CAPACITANCE
The property of a capacitor to
store charge on its plates in
the form of an electrostatic
field.
FARAD
Unit for capacitance named
after the British Physicist,
Michael Faraday.
MICHAEL FARADAY
Capacitance is defined as being that a capacitor
has the capacitance of One Farad when a charge
of One Coulomb is stored on plates by a voltage
of One Volt.
The capacitance of a parallel
plate capacitor is proportional
to the area (A) in m² of the
smallest of the two plates &
inversely to the distance or
separation (d).
Generalized equation for the
capacitance of a parallel plate
capacitor:
C=ɛ(A/d)
ɛ represents the absolute permittivity of the dielectric material
being used.
ɛ=8.84 x 10^-12
FIG. 3 PARALLEL
PLATE
CAPACITOR
DIAGRAM
CHAPTER 3.2
Calculate the equivalent capacitance
of a network of capacitors connected
in series/parallel.
FIG 4. CAPACITORS IN SERIES
Then by applying Kirchoff ’s Voltage Law
(KVL) to the above circuit, we get:
Qt = Q1 = Q2 = Q3 = … =
Qn
When the voltage is first
applied across the block, the
same current flows through all
the capacitors and as a result,
charge shift occurs.
Voltage across each capacitor are
not equal, and are calculated for
each capacitors by using the known
formula:
Vn = Qn / Cn
However, the amount of charge
stored at each capacitor is not the
same.
Qn = (Cn)(Vn)
Qn = amount of charge in
every capacitor in the series
connection.
Cn = capacitance of the
capacitor
Qt = Q1 + Q2 + Q3 + … +
Qn
All the capacitors in the parallel
connection have the same voltage
across them, meaning that:
Vt = V1 = V2 = V3 = … = Vn
CHAPTER 3.6-3.7
Energy density and effects of
inserting dielectric materials.
The energy stored on a capacitor can be
calculated from the equivalent expressions:
W = U = (1/2)(Q²/C) = (1/2)(Q)(V)
= (1/2) CV²
U = energy stored
Q = charge
C = capacitance
V = voltage
FIG 8.
Energy Density
Energy density is defined
as the total amount of
energy in a system per
unit volume.
In case of electric field or capacitor,
the energy density formula is given
by:
U = (1/2)ɛoE²
ɛ=8.84 x 10^-12 the permittivity at vacuum
E = electric field strength
Parallel Plate Capacitor
The capacitance of a set of
charged parallel plates is increased
by the insertion of dielectric
material.
The capacitance is inversely
proportional to the electric field
between the plates.
Parallel Plate Capacitor
The presence of dielectric reduces
the effective electric field.