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Capacitance and Dielectric

Capacitors store electric charge and potential energy. A capacitor consists of two conductors separated by an insulator. The amount of charge stored in a capacitor (Q) is directly proportional to the applied voltage (V) and the capacitance (C) of the capacitor. Capacitance depends on the physical characteristics of the capacitor and represents the maximum amount of charge stored per applied volt. Dielectrics are non-conducting materials placed between capacitor plates that increase the capacitance by reducing the electric field between the plates, allowing more charge to be stored at a given voltage.

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Kazuki Kazehaya
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104 views

Capacitance and Dielectric

Capacitors store electric charge and potential energy. A capacitor consists of two conductors separated by an insulator. The amount of charge stored in a capacitor (Q) is directly proportional to the applied voltage (V) and the capacitance (C) of the capacitor. Capacitance depends on the physical characteristics of the capacitor and represents the maximum amount of charge stored per applied volt. Dielectrics are non-conducting materials placed between capacitor plates that increase the capacitance by reducing the electric field between the plates, allowing more charge to be stored at a given voltage.

Uploaded by

Kazuki Kazehaya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Capacitance and Dielectric

Capacitors and capacitance


Capacitors in series and parallel. Energy storage in capacitors and electric field energy.
It is a device that stores electric potential energy and electric charge. - Two conductors
separated by an insulator form a capacitor. The net charge on a capacitor is zero. To charge a
capacitor -| |-, wires are connected to the opposite sides of a battery. The battery is
disconnected once the charges Q and –Q are established on the conductors. This gives a fixed
potential difference Vab = voltage of battery.
A system composed of two identical, parallel conducting plates separated by a distance
is called a parallel plate capacitor. It is easy to see the relationship between the voltage and the
stored charge for a parallel plate capacitor, as shown in Figure 2. Each electric field line starts
on an individual positive charge and ends on a negative one, so that there will be more field
lines if there is more charge. (Drawing a single field line per charge is a convenience, only. We
can draw many field lines for each charge, but the total number is proportional to the number of
charges.) The electric field strength is, thus, directly proportional to Q.

The field is proportional to the charge:

E∝Q,

Where the symbol ∝ means “proportional to.” From the discussion in Electric Potential in a
Uniform Electric Field, we know that the voltage across parallel plates is

V = Ed.
Thus, V∝E. It follows, then, that V∝Q, and conversely,
Q∝V.

This is true in general: The greater the voltage applied to any capacitor, the greater the charge
stored in it. Different capacitors will store different amounts of charge for the same applied
voltage, depending on their physical characteristics. We define their capacitance C to be such
that the charge Q stored in a capacitor is proportional to C. The charge stored in a capacitor is
given by

Q = CV.
This equation expresses the two major factors affecting the amount of charge stored. Those
factors are the physical characteristics of the capacitor, C, and the voltage, V. Rearranging the
equation, we see that capacitance C is the amount of charge stored per volt, or
Q
C=
V
On the other hand, capacitance is constant equal to the ratio of the charge on each
conductor to the potential difference between them. Capacitance is a measurement of the ability
of capacitor to store energy (V = U / q). Capacitance C is the amount of charge stored per volt,
or
Q
C=
V
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, or

1C
1 F=
1V

Dielectrics
Non-conducting materials between the plates of a capacitor. They change the potential
difference between the plates of the capacitor. The dielectric layer increases the maximum
potential difference between the plates of a capacitor and allows to store more Q. Dielectric
breakdown is the partial ionization of an insulating material subjected to a large electric field.
C
Dielectric constant: K =
C0
C = capacitance with the dielectric inside the plates of the capacitor
C0 = capacitance with vacuum between the plates
Dielectrics are insulators, plain and simple. The two words refer to the same class of
materials, but are of different origin and are used preferentially in different contexts. Since
charges tend not to move easily in nonmetallic solids it's possible to have "islands" of charge in
glass, ceramics, and plastics. The latin word for island is insula, which is the origin of the word
insulator. In contrast, charges in metallic solids tend to move easily — as if someone or
something was leading them. The Latin prefix con or com means "with". A person you have
bread with is a companion. To take something with you on the road is to convey it. (The Latin
word for road is via.) The person you travel with who leads the way or provides safe passage is
a conductor. (The Latin word for leader is ductor.) A material that provides safe passage for
electric charges is a conductor.
Inserting a layer of nonmetallic solid between the plates of a capacitor increases its
capacitance. A line across the angles of a rectangle is a diagonal. The measurement across a
circle is a diameter. The material placed across the plates of a capacitor like a little non-
conducting bridge is a dielectric.
If a material contains polar molecules, they will generally be in random orientations when
no electric field is applied. An applied electric field will polarize the material by orienting the
dipole moments of polar molecules. This decreases the effective electric field between the
plates and will increase the capacitance of the parallel plate structure. The dielectric must be a
good electric insulator so as to minimize any DC leakage current through a capacitor. The
presence of the dielectric decreases the electric field produced by a given charge density.
σ
Eeffective =E−E polarization=
kE
The factor k by which the effective field is decreased by the polarization of the dielectric
is called the dielectric constant of the material.

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