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SANJAY PANDEY
spphysicsworld@gmail.com
09415416895, 09453763058, 09721573337
3. Capacitors

1. Capacitor
A system of two conductors separated by ai r or any insulati ng material forms a capaci tor as shown
below:

One of the conductors is given a positive charge and the other a negative charge. Capacitors are used to
store electric charge or electrical energy.

WE CANNOT STORE ELECTRIC CHARGE ON A SINGLE CONDUCTOR

The size of a conductor requi red to store large amount of electric charge becomes very inconvenient
because as the charge i ncreases potential of pl ate also increas es. Electric charge generated by a machine
cannot be s tored on a conductor beyond a certain limit as i ts potential rises to breaking
value and the charge starts leaking to atmosphere.
PRINCIPLE OF CAPACITOR
The principle of capacitor is based on the fact that the potenti al of a conductor is greatly reduced
and its capacity is increas ed without affecting the electric charge in it by placing another earth connected
conductor or an oppositely charged conductor in its neighborhood. This arrangement is therefore able to
store electric charge. Capacitors are designed to hav e large capaci ty of s toring electric charge without having
large dimensions.
2. Capacitance - A measure of the capacity of an object to s tore charge for a given potenti al difference.
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For a given capacitor, the charge 𝑄𝑄 on the capacitor is proportional to the potential difference 𝑉𝑉 between
the two plates

So 𝑄𝑄 ∝ 𝑉𝑉

Or 𝑄𝑄 = 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶

𝐶𝐶 is called the capaci tance of the capacitor.

SI unit of capacitance is 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 /𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣𝑣 which is written as farad. The symbol F is used for i t.

To put equal and opposite charges on the two conductors they may be connected to the terminals of a battery.

You cannot change the capacitance of a capacitor by changing the charge or voltage that you apply to it.
You can only change the capaci tance by changing the geometry or the materials of the capacitor.
To find the capacitance of a system:

1. Assume a charge q on the plates

2. Calculate the E-fi eld with this charge using Gauss’ Law
qin
∫ E.dS = εο
3. Knowing E, calculate the magnitude of V between the plates. To always ensure getting a positive
potenti al difference (i.e. the magnitude of V), integrate E with respect to r from the positive plate to
the negative plate. (you will no longer need the negative sign)
−
V = ∫ E.dr
+

Note that here you are only finding the magni tude of V. If you are interested in findi ng V, you need to go
back to the origi nal equation:

b
V = − ∫ E.dr
a

Q
4. Calculate C from C= . You should get Q to cancel out.
V
3. Calculation of Capacitance

For parallel plate capacitor

A parallel plate capacitor consists of two conducting plates of s ame dimensions. These plates are
placed parallel to each other. Space between the plates is filled with air or any insulati ng materi al (diel ectric).
One plate is connected to positive terminal and other is connected to negative termi nal of power supply. The
plate connected to positive terminal acquires positive charge and the other pl ate connected to negative
terminal acquires equal negative charge .The charges are stored between the pl ates of capacitor due to
attraction.
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𝜀𝜀 0 𝐴𝐴
𝐶𝐶 =
𝑑𝑑

𝐴𝐴 = area of the flat plates (each us ed in the capacitor)

𝑑𝑑 = distance between the plate

 To make the field between the plates uniform, the dimensions of plates should be large as
compared to distance between the plates.
Spherical capacitor

It consists of a solid or hollow spherical conductor surrounded by another concentric hollow spherical
conductor.

If inner sphere radius is 𝑎𝑎 and Outer sphere radius is 𝑏𝑏

Inner sphere is given positive charge and outer sphere negative charge.

𝐶𝐶 = 4𝜋𝜋𝜀𝜀0 𝑎𝑎𝑏𝑏/ [ 𝑏𝑏 − 𝑎𝑎]

If the capacitor is an isolated sphere (outer sphere is assumed to be at infi nity, hence 𝑅𝑅2 is infinity and

𝐶𝐶 = 4𝜋𝜋𝜀𝜀0 𝑎𝑎
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𝑉𝑉 becomes 𝑄𝑄/𝐶𝐶 = 𝑄𝑄/4𝜋𝜋𝜀𝜀0 𝑎𝑎

V = potenti al

Parallel limit: if both 𝑅𝑅1 and 𝑅𝑅2 are made large but 𝑏𝑏 − 𝑎𝑎 = 𝑑𝑑 is kept fixed, then we can write
4𝜋𝜋𝑎𝑎𝑏𝑏 = 4𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋² = 𝐴𝐴; where 𝑅𝑅 is approximately the radius of each sphere, and 𝐴𝐴 is the surface area of the
sphere.

𝐶𝐶 = 𝜀𝜀0 𝐴𝐴/𝑑𝑑; where 𝐴𝐴 = 4𝜋𝜋𝑎𝑎𝑏𝑏 = 4𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋²

4. Cylindrical Capacitor

It consists of a solid or hollow cylindrical conductor surrounded by another concentric hollow cylindrical
conductor.

If inner cylinder radius is 𝑎𝑎 and Outer cylinder radius is 𝑏𝑏 and length is 𝑙𝑙, Inner cylinder is given positive
charge and outer cylinder negative charge

𝐶𝐶 = 2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋₀𝑙𝑙/𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙(𝑏𝑏/𝑎𝑎)
5. Combination of capacitors
• Series combination

1/𝐶𝐶 = 1/𝐶𝐶₁ + 1/𝐶𝐶₂ + 1/𝐶𝐶₃ . ..

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• All the capacitors hav e the same charge.

• The voltage drop over each capacitor can be found using V = Q/C. The sum of all the voltage drops
should be the same as the voltage drop over the equivalent capacitor.

• Parallel combination

𝐶𝐶 = 𝐶𝐶₁ + 𝐶𝐶₂ + 𝐶𝐶₃

• All the capacitors hav e the same voltage drop
• The charges on each capacitor can be found using Q = VC. The sum of all the charges should be the
same as the charge on the equivalent capacitor.
Force between plates of a capacitor

Plates on a parallel capacitor attract each other with a force

𝐹𝐹 = 𝑄𝑄²/2𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴₀
6. Energy stored in a capacitor

Capacitor of capacitance C has a stored energy

𝑈𝑈 = 𝑄𝑄²/2𝐶𝐶 = 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶²/2 = 𝑄𝑄𝑄𝑄/2

where 𝑄𝑄 is the charge given to it.

7. Dielectric material

In di electric materials, there are no free electrons. El ectrons are bound to the nucleus in atoms. Basically
they are insulators. But when a charge is applied, in these materials also atoms or molecules are oriented i n a
such way that there is an induced. For exampl e, in the cas e of rectangular slab of a dielectric, if an electric
field is applied from left to ri ght, the left surface of the slab gets a negative charge, and the right surface gets
positive charge.
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A dielectric is any polarizable material. All materials are polarizable, so all materials are diel ectrics, even
air.
𝐶𝐶 with a dielectric = 𝜅𝜅𝐶𝐶0. 𝐸𝐸 with a di electric = 𝐸𝐸0 /
𝜅𝜅

Here 𝜅𝜅 (Greek kappa) denotes the dielectric constant.

ε 0κ A
So, the capacitance of a parallel plate with a di electric is C=
d
8. Change in capacitance of a capacitor with dielectric in it.

The surface charge density of the induced charge can be related to a measure called Polarization 𝑃𝑃
(which is dipole moment induced per unit volume - where is the dipole? in the dielectric slab as the two sides
have opposite charges)

If 𝜎𝜎𝑝𝑝 is the magnitude of the i nduced charge per uni t area on the faces.

The dipole moment of the slab

= 𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 × (𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓)

= (𝜎𝜎𝑝𝑝 𝐴𝐴)𝑙𝑙 = 𝜎𝜎𝑝𝑝 (𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴) .

Where, 𝐴𝐴 is area of cross section of the dielectric slab

As polarization is defi ned as dipole moment induced per unit volume,

𝜎𝜎𝑝𝑝 (𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 )
𝑃𝑃 = = 𝜎𝜎𝑝𝑝 (𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 = volume of slab)
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴

Thus the induced surface charge density is equal in magni tude to the polarization P.

9. Dielectric constant

The di electric constant is the ratio of the permittivity of a substance to the permittivity of free space. It is
an expression of the extent to which a material concentrates electric flux.
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Becaus e of induced charge, electric field is produced in the slab which is agai nst the field applied on the
slab.

𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 = 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 − 𝑖𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓

𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 = 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 /𝜅𝜅

𝜅𝜅 is greater than 1 and is a constant for given materials. 𝜅𝜅 (Greek Kappa) is called the dielectric constant or
relative permittivity of the dielectric.
10. Dielectric strength

If a very high electric field is created in a dielectric, electrons in valence shell may get detached from
thei r parent atoms and mov e freely like in a conductor. This phenomenon is called is dielectric breakdown.
The electric field at which breakdown occurs is called the dielectric strength of the material.
11. Capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor wi th dielectric

𝐶𝐶 = 𝜅𝜅𝐶𝐶₀

where 𝐶𝐶₀ is capacitance of a similar capacitor without dielectric.

Becaus e 𝜅𝜅 > 1, the capacitance of a capaci tor is increas ed by a factor of 𝐾𝐾 when the s pace between the
parallel plates is filled with a di electric.
12. Magnitude of induced charge in term of 𝑲𝑲

𝑄𝑄𝑝𝑝 = 𝑄𝑄[1 − (1/𝜅𝜅)]

𝑄𝑄𝑝𝑝 = induced charge in the dielectric

𝑄𝑄 = Applied charge

𝜅𝜅 = dielectric constant
13. Gauss's law when dielectric materials are involved

∮ 𝜅𝜅𝑬𝑬. 𝒅𝒅𝒅𝒅 = 𝑄𝑄𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 /𝜀𝜀0 … (1)

Where integration is over the surface, 𝑬𝑬 and 𝒅𝒅𝒅𝒅 are vectors, 𝑄𝑄𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 is the free charge given (charge due to
polarisation is not considered) and 𝜅𝜅 is dielectric constant.

• The law can also be written as

∮ 𝑫𝑫. 𝒅𝒅𝒅𝒅 = 𝑄𝑄𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 ... (2)

where 𝑫𝑫 = 𝑬𝑬𝜀𝜀0 + 𝑷𝑷; 𝑬𝑬 and 𝑷𝑷 are vectors.

𝑬𝑬 = electric field and 𝑷𝑷 is polarisation

14. Electric field due to a point charge placed inside a dielectric

𝐸𝐸 = 𝑞𝑞/4𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋₀𝜅𝜅𝑟𝑟²

15. Energy in the electric field in a dielectric

1
𝑢𝑢 = 𝜅𝜅𝜀𝜀₀𝐸𝐸²
2

16. Corona discharge

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If a conductor has a pointed shape like a needle and a charge given to it, the charge density at the pointed
end will be very hi gh. Correspondingly, the electric field near thes e pointed ends will be very high which may
cause dielectric breakdown in air. The charge may jump from the conductor to the ai r. Often this discharge of
charge inot air is accompanied by a visible glow surrounding the pointed end and this phenomenon is called
corona discharge.
17. High voltage generator – Van de Graaff Generator

The apparatus transfers positive charge to a sphere continuously till the potential reaches to around
3 × 106 𝑉𝑉 at which point corona discharge takes place and hence no further charge can be transferred. The
charge of course can be increas ed by enclosing the sphere in a highly evacuated chamber.