CAPACITORS A capacitor is a device that is used to store electric charge. This stored charge can then be used when a relatively large burst of charge is required e .g. to start a motor., to activate a camera flash, or to switch on a fluorescent tube. The stored charge can also be allowed to be released slowly through a resistor in a smoothing Circuit, and this has practical applications in converting a rectified alternating current into an almost constant direct current. Capacitors consist of two metal sheets separated by an insulator. The insulator is called the DIELECTRIC. ‘The whole arrangement of the metal sheets with the dielectric in between , is then rolled into a small tight cylinder and sealed in a case with two terminals extending out. The CAPACITANCE ofa apacitoris given bythe equation C = 2 Where Qis the charge storéd and Vis the potential difference between the plates, Capacitance is defined as the charge required to cause unit change in potential between the plates. The unit of capacitance is the Farad (F) ‘The Farad is defined as the capacitance of a capacitor if a charge of 1C causes a change of 1V between the plates, The farad is an extremely large capacitance, and typical capacitors in household appliances are rated in milli-farads (mF) or micro-farads(iF). FACTORS AFFECTING CAPACITANCE: For two parallel plates having an area of overlap A and separated by a distance d the fA capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor is given by: C = Where € is the permitivity of the medium, OR dielectric constant of the medium. If the space between the plates is a vacuum then we write: C = A The capacitance increases significantly when the space between the plates is filled with insulating material such as polystyrene or glass or polythene. Hence the maghitude of the Capacitance is determined by 3 factors i.e (i)The dielectric constant of the material between the plates, (ii)The Area of overlap of the plates and (ii)The distance of separation of the plates.DIELECTRICS Relative Permitivi This is the ratio of the capacitance with and without the dielectric between the plates. The relative permittivity is denoted by the symbol €, and is given by the equation: Capacitance with dielectric Ele eee Capacitance with vacuum Or Dielectrics can also be classified according to their DIELECTRIC STRENGTHS. ‘The DIELECTRIC STRENGTH of any material is the electric field strength or potential gradient at which its insulation breaks down and it begins to conduct by allowing sparks to travel through it, The following table gives Some typical dielectrics together with their corresponding relative permitivities and dielectric strengths , which you MUST LEARN. MATERIAL | RELATIVE PERMITIVITY | DIELECTRIC STRENGTH | : : | | {no units) (Kilovolts per mm) [air 1,005 = Paraffin Wax is—s0 | ‘Glass 30—150 [Mica { 80-200 | Water | = Ice isImportance of the Dielectric The DIELECTRIC has three very important functions. They are! (1) It serves to keep the plates at a small constant fixed distance apart. (2) Itallows the capacitor to acquire a much higher voltage whilst reducing the possibility of sparking. If there was no dielectric present, the air between the plates would become onized when a sufficiently high voltage is applied, and sparks would be produced as, electrons migrate from the air molecules to the positively charged plates and positive ions migrate to the negatively charged plate. At this point, the air is said to be ‘experiencing breakdown and the voltage at which this occurs, is called the breakdown, voltage Dielectrics can withstand much higher electric fields than air before any conduction can take place between the plates. Le. the dielectrics have a much higher breakdown voltage than that of air. (3) The dielectric increases the capacitance of the capacitor. Any air filled capacitor will have a capacitance that is many times lower than another one of similar dimensions and materials that has a dielectric between the plates. The molecules in the dielectric material acquire induced charges due to the charges on the plates. Since the dielectric molecules acquire a positive charge on ‘one end and a negative charge on the other eng, itis said to be polarized, ‘The charges on the surface of the dielectric, adjacent to the plates are of opposite sign to those on the plates, and as a result they REDUCE the potential difference between the plates. From the formula (since the total charge Qis conserved)Capacitors in Series: vi Va Va fale fp |a_fa fa iro Ei GQ Q G —i _—". vy A charge of -Q leaves the negative terminal of the battery and a charge of +Q leaves the positive terminal. Hence mathematically the net charge leaving the battery is zero, and since ‘the charges on the plates of the capacitor are +Q and ~Q,, the net charge on each capacitor is zero. This indicates that charge'is conserved since TOTAL CHARGE leaving the battery = TOTAL CHARGE acquired by the capacitors. ‘The action of the capacitor is then really to separate the negative charges from the positive ones. For convenience in calculations, the charge on one plate is considered. i.e. Ifa charge of + accumulates on the positive plate and a charge of -Q accumulates on the negative plate, then in the calculation a charge of Qis used. The sign of the charge is not important. Hence for the series circuit above, the charge on each capacitor is Q and the total charge leaving the battery is also Q. IFVz, Vo, and V3 represent the voltages across C: C, and C; respectively, then by the CONSERVATION OF ENERGY, r= Vy + V2 + V3 Bi as ueV= Hence V; if we divide the iat:er equation by Q then we getCapacitors in Parallel: v a —t—_ a & a > > a «G By the conservation of charge, the total charge Q leaving the battery, is equal to the sum of the charges accumulating on the capacitors. Therefore, Qr = Qi +Q) +03! By Kirchoff’s loop rule which is a statement of the conservation of energy, the voltages across ‘each capacitor is the same and is equal to the battery voltage. Since Q= CV, then Q; = C:V; Qo =C:V and Qs=C3V Q: =GV=GV+CV+GV When 3 capacitors are connected in Parallel, the total capacitance is given by Cr=Cy + C2 + CsENERGY STORED IN A CAPACITOR Energy can be stored in a capacitor via a battery in the following circuit: v In the graph of V versus Q, the area under the graph ‘represents the energy stored in the capacitor When the capacitor has initially zero charge on it, the potential difference between points A and Bis V. i.e. the p.d. between the positive pole of the battery and the uncharged left plate is v. Hence the charges INITIALLY pass through a potential difference of V volts, ‘As the capacitor acquires charge, the potential on the left plate rises from 0 Vr® V.—> V3 ete. ‘The potential difference that the charge passes through will therefore DECREASE from V+ (V-Vi}—+ (V-V,), © ——-0 etc. until the point where the battery voltage is” ‘equal to the capacitor voltage, which causes the p.d. between the battery and capacitor to be zero. During the entire charging process, the potential difference that the charge passes through, would have changed from V to zero. Hence the AVERAGE potential difference that the total charge Q passes through, is “2 = ¥ The work done in moving a charge Q through an average potential ference of is ven by The work done in moving the charge is equal to the energy stored in the capacitor Substituting C = © gives three useful equations for energy stored in the capacitor; qv _@_ cv? 2267 2 You must learn these equations!(2) Find the equivalent capacitance in each case: Capacitor Questions IEE aut sco, sour soo (ii) } A 108 25uF i | i 1 er BOE 2048 (iii) IL 4 tT L . soouF 80uF {iv} our Ans 20054 A Our (2) The terminals at A and 8 are now connected to 2 20V source in each case. Redraw each circuit to inc: 4e the power supply, and find (a) The p.d. across EACH capacitor (b) The charge stored in EACH capacitor and (c) The energy stored in EACH capacitor.2ov Voy = 324V; Yugo = LS2ViVig = 15.24 | r= 00 = ae = 152% 10-40 Bqy = 245% 10-4) I-44 uy = 135% 10-Y ATF 100uF 104F ann = 115 x 10-4) 12004 I @ Vioo = 20V Vig = 16.5V;Vay = 350 ron = 2 10°C {| | ' My Gey = Qo = 1.65 x 10-4 10uF au Ejoo = 0.02) : 9x 10-4 av B, = 1.36 x 10-4) @) BOF 20uF 100uF 2ov V0 = AV; Vay = 16V; Vio = 20V Qo = Geo = 32x 10-46 io = 2x 10-8 Foo = 64x 10-4 Bag = 2.56 1073) Ergo = 2.0 x 10-2CHARGING AND DISCHARGING A CAPACITOR. A capacitor is normally discharged by connecting it across a resistor as shown: c Ko R ‘As the capacitor discharges across R ,its stored charge decreases with time, and hence the magnitude of the current in the circuit will also decrease with time, ‘The rate of decrease of current depends on the magnitude of the product of resistance and capacitance, Le on the value of RC. ‘The quantity RC is called the TIME CONSTANT and has units of seconds. Hence 10 x 1F = isecond During the discharge, the current has the maximum value Ioat time = 0. ‘The magnitude of the current at any time tis given by I = lye” /ke Similarly for charge Q.at any time t; = Que ‘Mac The voltage at anytime t during discharge is given by: V = Voe tac ‘The graphs of either voltage v.s time;, current v.s. time or charge v.s. time have the following shape for DISCHARGE - (V,1,0rQ) T= he Vee Q= Qe ‘Ire V=Vye VeeCHARGING OF A CAPACITOR When a capacitor is being CHARGED the VOLTAGE and CHARGE increase with time until they reach a maximum value, The current however, decreases with time and has the same shape for discharging, Voltage charge time current time T= ge ‘Vac Q = Q(t —e acy V=Vy(1—e Vee) Note the differences in equations for charging and discharging. The Vo , Qs and lp values represent the maximum oy values in this case.COMPARISON OF CHARGING AND DISCHARGING Consider two separate cases (1) A capacitor having a capacitance of 25uF is charged to a voltage of 20V and then made to discharge through a 5Ok.2 resistor. Determine the time taken for the p.d. across the capacitor to fallto SV, (2) A capacitor having a capacitance of 25uF is partially charged and the p.d. across it is SV. Itis then charged through a SOkM resistor to a p.d. of 20V. Determine the time taken for this charging process. In the first case - ye 'lke, 1.738 5 (50000 x 25 x 10-8) (in In the second case, V=Y(1—e ‘/ec) v ty, Vv 7 —= (1-e‘/ec) ; hence (1-;)=¢ Re ; in(1- Vo ‘0 5 in( - x) * 50000 % 25 x 106 * ¢ = 50000 x 25 x 10° x In(0.75) = 0.36s The results indicate that the time required for discharging from 20V to 5V is totally different from that for charging through the same potential difference.Significance of the Time Constant Recall that for DISCHARGING, the Voltage at any instant is given by: V = Vge “nc, where RCis the Time Constant If we consider a time t where t=RC, then the equation becomes: 1 V= Mer! orV = Uy This equation tells us that the Time Constant is the time for which the potential difference across the capacitor falls to * of its initial value during a discharge. 1 1 Saag = 0368 e valu =27 The value of ¢ = 2.718, hence == 75 + Hence when t = CR, V = 0.368Vy After approximately 3 time constants, the capacitor is almost completely discharged, This can be demonstrated as follows when t=3CR, v Ven 0.05%) which is close to zero, Similarly for the charging process V=Vo(l—e /Rc);whent =3RC, V=Vol— 3); V =0.95V) Hence after 3 time constants the capacitor is almost fully charged.CAPACITOR DISCHARGE TUTORIAL SHEET (1) A SOuF capacitor is charged to 6V and then made to discharge across a 120kM resistor. Calculate {i) The time constant of the discharge circuit (ii) The times that would have elapsed for the p.d. across the capacitor to fall to 3V and 1V (iii) The charge that would have flowed through the resistor after 5 seconds iv) The energy dissipated by the resistor after 2 seconds.(Hint ; find the initial energy and then the energy after 2 seconds, then find the difference) (Ans: 65; 4.165; 10.755; 1.7 x 10°C ; 4.4.x 10°.) (2) A 1000pF capacitor is charged to 12V and then made to discharge across a 1.5MQ. resistor. Calculate (i) The time constant of the discharge circuit (ii) The times that would have elapsed for the p.d. across the capacitor to fall to 9V, 6V and 1V . (ii) The charge that would have flowed through the resistor after 875 seconds (iv) The energy dissipated by the resistor after 200 seconds and the current in the circuit at that instant (v)__ The pd. across the capacitor after 300s (ans: 1500s; 432s;1040s; 37275; 5.3x 10%5;1.7x 1071; 7 x 10°A; 9.82V) (3) A2500HF capacitor is charged to 8V and then made to discharge across a 300k resistor. Calculate (i) The time constant of the discharge circuit, (ii) The times that would have elapsed for the p.d. across the capacitor to fall to 6V and a (iil) The charge that would have flowed through the resistor after 500 seconds {iv) The energy dissipated by the resistor after 500 seconds (750s; 2165; 520s; 0.01C;0.06))(4) A 1500uF capacitor is charged to 6V and then made to discharge across a 800k resistor. Calculate (i) The time constant of the discharge circuit (ii) The time that would have elapsed for the energy of the capacitor to fall to 50% of its initial value (iii) The time that would have elapsed for the energy of the capacitor to fall to 20% of its initial value and the current in the circuit at that instant. {iv) The energy stored in the capacitor after its initial charge falls to 30% of its initial value (v) The p.d. across the capacitor when its energy stored is 45% of the initial value. (Ans: 1200s; 417s; 967s; 3.35x10°A; 2.43x10°J;4.02V) (5) A 20uF capacitor is charged to a p.d. of 6V by a battery. It is then disconnected from the battery and connected across an initially uncharged 40uF capacitor. (i) Determine she p.d. across the combination and the energy stored. (ii) The combination of the two capacitors (connected in parallel) is then connected across a 450kM resistor in order to discharge it. Determine the time that must elapse for the energy stored in the combination to fall to one quarter of its initial value and the current through the resistor at that instant. (Ans: 2V; 1.210); 18,75; 2.22x10°A)