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Chapter 26

The document discusses capacitors and dielectrics. [1] Capacitance is defined as the ratio of charge on a capacitor plate to the potential difference between the plates. [2] The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is directly proportional to the plate area and inversely proportional to the distance between plates. [3] Capacitors connected in parallel have the same potential difference, and their total charge and equivalent capacitance are the sums of the individual values; capacitors in series have the same charge, and their equivalent capacitance is calculated by taking the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of individual capacitances.

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12 views

Chapter 26

The document discusses capacitors and dielectrics. [1] Capacitance is defined as the ratio of charge on a capacitor plate to the potential difference between the plates. [2] The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is directly proportional to the plate area and inversely proportional to the distance between plates. [3] Capacitors connected in parallel have the same potential difference, and their total charge and equivalent capacitance are the sums of the individual values; capacitors in series have the same charge, and their equivalent capacitance is calculated by taking the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of individual capacitances.

Uploaded by

francis soliven
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 26

CAPACITANCE AND
DIELECTRICS

CHAPTER OUTLINE
26.1 Definition of Capacitance
26.2 Calculating Capacitance
26.3 Combinations of Capacitors
26.4 Energy Stored in a Charged
Capacitor
26.5 Capacitors with Dielectrics
26.1 Definition of Capacitance
The capacitance C of a capacitor is defined as the ratio of the magnitude of the charge
on either conductor to the magnitude of the potential difference between the
conductors:

Note that by definition capacitance is always a positive quantity. Furthermore, the


charge Q and the potential difference ΔV are positive quantities. Because the potential
difference increases linearly with the stored charge, the ratio Q / Δ V is constant for a
given capacitor.

The SI unit of capacitance is the farad (F),


CAPACITANCE
 The charge, Q, on a capacitor is directly proportional to the potential difference, V,
across the capacitor. That is,
QαV

 Introducing a constant, C, known as the capacitance of the capacitor, we have


Q = CV
 Capacitance of a capacitor is defined as the ratio of charge on one of the capacitor
plates to the potential difference between the plates.

 Charge Q is measured in coulombs, C.


 Potential difference, V, is measured in volts, V.
 Capacitance, C, is measured in farads, F.
 1 farad is 1 coulomb per volt: 1 F = 1 C V-1

 1 farad is a very large unit. It is much more common to use the following:
mF = 10-3 F
μF = 10-6 F
nF = 10-9 F
pF = 10-12 F
26.2 Calculating Capacitance

The capacitance of an isolated charged sphere

This expression shows that the capacitance of an isolated charged sphere is


proportional to its radius and is independent of both the charge on the sphere and the
potential difference.
Parallel-Plate Capacitors

Two parallel metallic plates of equal area A are separated by a distance d, One
plate carries a charge Q , and the other carries a charge -Q .

That is, the capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor


is proportional to the area of its plates and inversely
proportional to the plate separation
Example 26.1 Parallel-Plate Capacitor
26.3 Combinations of Capacitors

Parallel Combination

• The individual potential differences across capacitors connected


in parallel are the same and are equal to the potential difference
applied across the combination.

• The total charge on capacitors connected in parallel is the sum of the


charges on the individual capacitors

for the equivalent capacitor


If we extend this treatment to three or more capacitors connected in parallel,
we find the equivalent capacitance to be

Thus, the equivalent capacitance of


a parallel combination of
capacitors is the algebraic sum of
the individual capacitances and is
greater than any of the individual
capacitances.
Series Combination

• The charges on capacitors connected in series are the same.

• The total potential difference across any number of capacitors connected


in series is the sum of the potential differences across the individual capacitors.
When this analysis is applied to three or more capacitors connected in series, the
relationship for the equivalent capacitance is

the inverse of the equivalent


capacitance is the algebraic
sum of the inverses of the
individual capacitances and
the equivalent capacitance
of a series
combination is always less
than any individual
capacitance in the
combination.
Question: A and a capacitor are connected in parallel, and this pair of capacitors is then connected
in series with a capacitor, as shown in the diagram. What is the equivalent capacitance of the whole
combination? What is the charge on the capacitor if the whole
combination is connected across the terminals of a V battery? Likewise, what are the charges
on the and capacitors?

Solution:
The equivalent capacitance of the and capacitors
connected in parallel is

When a capacitor is combined in series with a capacitor, the


equivalent capacitance of the whole combination is given by
and so

The charge delivered by the V battery is

This is the charge on the capacitor, since one of the terminals of the battery is connected directly to one of
the plates of this capacitor.

The voltage drop across the capacitor is


Example 26.4 Equivalent Capacitance

Find the equivalent capacitance between a and b for the


combination of capacitors shown in Figure 26.11a. All
capacitances are in microfarads.
ENERGY STORED IN AN ELECTRIC FIELD
The potential energy of a charged capacitor may be viewed
as being stored in the electric field between its plates.
Suppose that, at a given instant, a charge q′ has been
transferred from one plate of a capacitor to the other.
The potential difference V′ between the plates at that
instant will be q′/C. If an extra increment of charge
dq′ is then transferred, the increment of work
required will be,

The work required to bring the total capacitor charge up to a final value q
is

This work is stored as potential energy U in the capacitor, so


that
or
ENERGY DENSITY

The potential energy per unit volume between parallel-


plate capacitor is

V/d equals the electric field magnitude E due to


Example:
A 10 000μF capacitor is described as having a maximum
working voltage of 25 V. Calculate the energy stored by the
capacitor.
E = ½ CV2 = ½ x 10,000 x 10-6 x 252 = 3.125 J
CAPACITOR WITH A DIELECTRIC

THE DIELECTRIC CONSTANT


The surface charges on the dielectric reduce the electric field inside
the dielectric. This reduction in the electric field is described by the
dielectric constant k, which is the ratio of the field magnitude E0
without the dielectric to the field magnitude E inside the dielectric:

Every dielectric material has a characteristic dielectric strength,


which is the maximum value of the electric field that it can
tolerate without breakdown
SOME PROPERTIES OF DIELECTRICS
Material Dielectric Constant Dielectric Strength (kV/mm)

Air (1 atm) 1.00054 3


Polystyrene 2.6 24
Paper 3.5 16
Transformer
oil 4.5
Pyrex 4.7 14
Ruby mica 5.4
Porcelain 6.5
Silicon 12
Germanium 16
Ethanol 25
Water (20°C) 80.4

Water (25°C) 78.5

Titania
ceramic 130
Strontium
titanate 310 8
For a vacuum, .
CAPACITANCE WITH A DIELECTRIC

q q
Cair  
V E0 d

q q
Cair     E0 / E
V E0 d

Cair 
q

q 1 q
 ( )
C
C   Cair
E0 d  Ed  Ed 
The capacitance with the dielectric present is increased
by a factor of k over the capacitance without the
dielectric.
Energy Stored Before the dielectric is inserted:

Energy Stored After the dielectric is inserted:


Example 26.6 A Paper-Filled Capacitor

A parallel-plate capacitor has plates of dimensions 2.0 cm by


3.0 cm separated by a 1.0-mm thickness of paper.
Find its capacitance.
CAPACITOR WITH DIELECTRIC
 Question 1:
 Consider a parallel plate capacitor with
capacitance C = 2.00 F connected to a battery
with voltage V = 12.0 V as shown. What is the
charge stored in the capacitor?

 
q  CV  2.00 10 6 F 12.0 V  2.40 10 5 C

 Question 2:
 Now insert a dielectric with dielectric constant  = 2.5
between the plates of the capacitor. What is the charge
on the capacitor?
C   Cair The capacitance of the capacitor is increased

q  CV  2.50  2.0  106 F  12.0 V  6.0  105 C


The additional charge is provided by the battery.

1/31/07 184 Lecture 14 24


CAPACITOR WITH DIELECTRIC (2)
 Question 3:
 We isolate the charged capacitor with a dielectric by disconnecting it
from the battery. We remove the dielectric, keeping the capacitor
isolated.
 What happens to the charge and voltage on the capacitor?

 The charge on the isolated capacitor cannot change because there is


nowhere for the charge to flow. Q remains constant.
 The voltage on the capacitor will be
q 6.00 10 5 C
V  6
 30.0 V V increases
C 2.00 10 F

 The voltage went up because removing the dielectric increased the electric
field and the resulting potential difference between the plates.
CAPACITOR WITH DIELECTRIC (3)
 Question 4:
 Does removing the dielectric from the isolated capacitor
change the energy stored in the capacitor?

 The energy stored in the capacitor before the dielectric was


removed was
1 1 1
U
2 2 2
 
CV 2   CairV 2  2.50  2.00 10 6 F 12 V  3.60 10 4 J
2

 After the dielectric is removed, the energy is


1 1
2 2
 
U  CairV 2  2.00 10 6 F 30 V  9.00 10 4 J
2

 The energy increases --- we must add energy to pull out the
dielectric. [Or, the polarized dielectric is sucked into the E.]
EXAMPLE
 Given a 7.4 pF air-filled capacitor. You are asked to convert it
to a capacitor that can store up to 7.4 J with a maximum
voltage of 652 V. What dielectric constant should the material
have that you insert to achieve these requirements?

 Key Idea: The capacitance with the dielectric in place is given


by C=Cair

and the energy stored is given by

So,
CLICKER QUESTION - PART 1
 A parallel-plate air-filled capacitor has a capacitance of

1/31/07
50 pF.
 (a) If each of the plates has an area of A=0.35 m 2, what

28
is the separation?
0=8.85 10-12 C2/Nm2

A) 12.5 10-1 m
B) 6.2 10-2 m
C) 1.3 m
CLICKER QUESTION - PART 1
 A parallel-plate air-filled capacitor has a capacitance of

1/31/07
50 pF.
 (a) If each of the plates has an area of A=0.35 m 2, what

29
is the separation?

B) 6.2 10-2 m

Use to solve for d:


CLICKER QUESTION - PART 2
 An air-filled parallel plate capacitor has a capacitance of
50pF.
 (b) If the region between the plates is now filled with
material having a dielectric constant of =2, what is the
capacitance?

A) the same
B) 25 pF
C) 100 pF

184
Lect
ure
14
CLICKER QUESTION - PART 2
 A air-filled parallel plate capacitor has a capacitance of
50 pF.
 (b) If the region between the plates is now filled with
material having a dielectric constant of =2, what is the
capacitance?

C) 100 pF

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