Charge and Discharge of Capacitors A2 Unit 4

Charging a Capacitor
If a potential difference,
, is applied across a capacitor, the capacitor charges until it has
this same potential difference across it.
However, as the capacitor charges, it
will harder for the supply to “push”
the charge onto (or “pull” it from) the
plates. This means that the current
flowing in the circuit will drop
exponentially.

The potential difference across the

capacitor increases and levels off in a
similar way.

A capacitor is first charged by

connecting the switch, S, to the
‘1’ position. It will charge until
the potential difference across
it is
.

Note that the charge on the capacitor plates follows a

similar pattern to the potential difference, as

 = 

Discharging a Capacitor
We can then take this capacitor and discharge it
through a resistor. Initially there will be a larger
current, which will decrease gradually. This is because
It can then be discharged the potential difference across the capacitor will
through the resistor by putting decrease as it loses charge.
the switch in the ‘2’ position.
The charge stored on the capacitor, and the current
flowing through the circuit, will also both follow exponential decays.
 Charge and Discharge of Capacitors A2 Unit 4
Why exponentials?
How do we know that these rates of charging and
discharging follow exponential patterns?

We can observe this experimentally, and also derive

it mathematically.

Imagine at some time during discharge, when the

capacitor has a charge Q still stored on the plates. A
small time, Δ, later, the charge will be  − Δ.

The current flowing in the circuit is then

−Δ
=
Δ
It is also

 
= = 
= 
  

So

Δ 
=−
Δ 
This type of result is known as a differential
 = charge stored on capacitor (C)
equation. The rate of change of Q is

= potential difference across capacitor (V)
dependent on the value of Q itself. The
 = current in circuit
solution to this equation is

 = initial charge (when discharging); final
 =  
(You do not need to know how to solve this
equation).
The quantity  is known as the time
constant, as is the time taken for the charge
on the capacitor (or the potential difference
across it, or the current in the circuit) to reach
1⁄ ≈ 0.37 of its original value of  (or
,
or  ).
charge (when charging)

 = initial supply voltage (when charging);
initial voltage across capacitor (when
discharging).
 = initial current flow (when charging or
discharging)
 = capacitance of capacitor (F)
 = resistance of circuit (Ω)
 = time (s)
 = time constant (s)
= exponential constant ≈ 2.718