Introduction to Capacitors A2 Unit 4

Capacitors are devices designed to store electrical charge.

Circuit symbol for a
Capacitance, C, is the ability of a body to hold charge. It is capacitor:
defined as being the charge stored per unit potential
difference across it.

Measuring Capacitance
If we assemble the circuit shown, the capacitor will charge due
to the power supply. However, the more the capacitor charges, the harder it is to store
charge on it (as the supply is working to put electrons where there are already many).

This means that the current will decrease.

To keep the current constant we can
reduce the resistance. Provided the current
(I) has been kept constant, the amount of
charge (Q) stored on the capacitor after
time (t) is:

ܳ = ‫ݐܫ‬

The potential difference (V) across the capacitor can be measured by using the voltmeter.
Therefore, we can plot Q against V. As C is defined as being the charge stored per unit of
potential difference, this is given by the gradient of the graph.

The units of capacitance

are the Farad (F).
ܳ
‫=ܥ‬ 1‫ = ܨ‬1‫ି ܸܥ‬ଵ
ܸ
1ߤ‫ = ܨ‬1 × 10ି଺ ‫ܨ‬

Parallel-Plate Capacitor
So the capacitance of a parallel-
plate capacitor can be shown to
be
ܳ
‫=ܥ‬
ܸ
Recall also that the electric field
between two charged plates can
be found by the uniform Electric field equation,
 Introduction to Capacitors A2 Unit 4

ܸ
‫=ܧ‬
݀
where V is the potential difference between them and d is their separation.

This means that we can also find the capacitance between two parallel plates by:

ܳ
‫=ܥ‬
‫݀ܧ‬