ELECTRICAL CAPACITOR

An electrical capacitor or electrical condenser is an electrical

device which serves to store up electricity or electrical
energy. The action of storing up this electrical energy is
somewhat similar to that of a gas tank used for the storage
of gas.

Any electrical capacitor has three essential parts two of

which are usually metal plates separated and insulated by the
third part called the dielectric.

The amount of electricity which a capacitor will hold depends

on the electrical pressure or voltage applied to the capacitor
just as the amount of gas a tank will hold depends upon the
pressure.

If the pressure is doubled on the gas tank, twice the amount

of gas is forced into the tank, and if the electrical pressure
or voltage applied to a capacitor is doubled, twice the amount
of electricity will be forced into the capacitor.

Capacitors, regardless of type or kind, are all designated by

their electrical size. Obviously, when it is desired to
designate the size of some object, some unit of measurement
must be employed. In capacitors, this electrical size is
designated as
The capacity of an electrical capacitor is the ratio of the
quantity of electricity and the electrical pressure or voltage.
In other words the capacity of a capacitor depends on the
amount of electricity it will hold at a certain electrical
pressure or voltage.

This ratio may be expressed as follows:

Q = CV

Q = quantity of electricity
C = capacity of the capacitor
V = electrical pressure or voltage
By the same token the capacity may be expressed as follows:

C = Q / V
Where the capacity is equal to the quantity of electricity
divided by the electrical pressure or voltage.

The capacity of a capacitor is dependent upon the size and

spacing of the conducting plates and the type of insulating or
dielectric medium between the plates.

The dielectric of a capacitor is one of three essential parts.

It may be found in solid, liquid or gaseous form or even in
combinations of these forms in a given capacitor.

The simplest form of capacitor consists of two electrodes ot

conducting plates separated by air. This represents a
capacitor
having a gaseous dielectric.

Other dielectrics in common use are mica, paper, glass,

sulphur, mineral and vegetable oils, waxes and synthetic
insulating compounds such as the chlorinated groups.

It is common practice to divide or identify capacitors in

accordance with the type of dielectric employed in their
structures. For example, there are mica capacitors, air
capacitors, oil capacitors and paper capacitors.

There is also another type of capacitor and that is the

electrochemical type or electrolytic capacitor. It is to this
type that this publication will be almost entirely devoted.

As was previously mentioned, the simplest form of capacitor

consists of two metal plates separated by air. The air, of
course, in this case, is the dielectric.

Also, as previously mentioned, the capacity of a capacitor is

dependent on the size of the plates and the space between
them as well as the kind of dielectric medium employed.
Knowing these facts, it becomes apparent that there must
exist some fixed relationship which would allow for the
predetermination of any desired capacity. The most
fundamental of such a relationship is expressed as follows:

C = 0.0885 KS / t

Where C = Capacity in micro-microfarads

K = dielectric constant
S = area of one plate in square centimeters
t = distance between plates in centimeters
In other words, the capacity is proportional to the product of
the area of one plate multiplied by the dielectric constant,
divided by the thickness of the dielectric.

It is important that this fundamental fact be remembered,

that doubling the area of the plates of a capacitor doubles
the capacity and reducing the thickness of the dielectric by
one-half also doubles the capacity of a capacitor.

If, in the simplest form of capacitor, the air space between

the plates, be replaced with mica it would be found that the
capacity will have increased in value.

Due to this increase in capacity, it is said that mica has a

higher dielectric constant than air. Also in order that the
mica dielectric can be said to have a certain definite
dielectric constant, it has been established that air has a
dielectric constant of one.

As has been mentioned, capacitors are designated by their

electrical size or capacity and the unit of capacity is the
farad.

The farad, unfortunately, represents a capacity so enormous

that such a capacitor is rarely if ever produced or used. For
practical purposes therefore, a small multiple of the farad is
used. This is called the microfarad and is one millionth of a
farad. A still smaller multiple is also in common use and this is
the micro-microfarad or one millionth of one millionth of a
farad. The microfarad is generally designated as MFD or MF
and the micro-microfarad is MMFD or MMF.

There is still another designation which is applied to

capacitors and that is the voltage rating. In relation to this
designation the gas tank analogy will again serve for
illustrative purposes.

The pressure upon the gas in a tank cannot be increased

indefinitely, for the tank will ultimately yield and break.
Similarly there is a limit to the electrical pressure which can
be applied to a capacitor, for the dielectric will be broken
down or punctured if the limit is exceeded.

The voltage or electrical pressure at which a spark will pass

and the dielectric be punctured is called the dielectric
strength.

The dielectric strength of a given dielectric is determined by

the thickness of the dielectric. In other words, the dielectric
strength of a dielectric is determined by the thickness and
kind of material.
 Electrolytic Capacitors

Basically, an electrolytic capacitor is similar to any other type

of electrical capacitor in that it consists of two conducting
surfaces separated by an insulating or factors which apply to
any other electrical capacitor. That is, the capacity varies
directly in proportion to the area of the conducting surfaces
and inversely in proportion to the thickness of the dielectric.

The electrolytic capacitor, however, departs from the more

conventional types of electrical capacitors in that only one of
its conducting surfaces is a metallic plate, the other
conducting surface being a chemical compound or electrolyte.
The dielectric employed is a very thin film of oxide of the
metal which constitutes the one metallic plate used in the
structure.

This oxide, which constitutes the dielectric, possesses

remarkable characteristics as an insulator under certain
conditions. Under these conditions it is quite common practice
to employ field strengths in the dielectric of the order ten
million volts per centimeter of thickness. Although this is
almost unbelievable, it is due to this fact that electrolytic
capacitors can be fabricated which possess high capacity and
small physical size.

Electrolytic capacitors are divided into two general types;

namely, the wet electrolytic capacitor and the dry
electrolytic capacitor. Fundamentally, there is no difference
between these two types but physically there is sufficient
difference to warrant their being treated separately in this

publication.
 Types of capacitor
(1).Parallel plate capacitor :

It is most commonly used capacitor; it consists of

two conducting plates placed parallel to each other.
The separation between two plates d is very small as
compared to the area of the plates. Due to small
separation between the plates, the fringing of
electric field at the boundaries is negligible.
The charge +q is given to plate A, then charge –q is
generated on the left face of plate Band charge +Q
on its right face. When plate B is earthed, the
charge +q on its right face flows to earth. Due to
charge +q on plate A –q on plate B, electric field is
set up between the plates.
The electric field between the two
fields is given by:

E = dV/dr (in magnitude)

 Between the plates, the electric field is uniform and
perpendicular to plates. Therefore, if V is the
potential difference between the two plates then:

E = V/d

Or V = Ed
If s is the surface charge density of the plates,
then the two electric field between the plates is
given by:
E = s/eo,

If c is the capacitance of parallel plate capacitor,

then:

C= eo A/d

(2). Spherical capacitor :

A spherical capacitor consists of two connecting

spherical shells, such as one shell is earthed and
one is used to store charge on it. The two spherical
shells have a very small
 spacing between them, which will be filled some di-
electric medium; such as wax paper etc. as such a
spherical capacitor possesses a very large
electrical capacitance.

A spherical capacitor consists of two spherical

shells A and B. let a and b be there respective
radii. The outer spherical shell B is connected to
earth. When charge =q is given to inner spherical
shell A , then it induces charge –q on the inner
surface of the shell b and +q on its outer surface.
As shell B is earthed, the charge on its outer
surface flows to earth. If v is the potential
difference between the spherical shells A and b ,
then capacitance of spherical shell is given by:

C =
q/V

But E = dV/dr
i.e. dv =
[Link]

Hence capacitance of spherical capacitor is given

by:
 C = 4peo .( a.b/a-b)

(3).Cylindrical capacitor :

A cylindrical capacitor consists of two coaxial

cylindrical shells with inner radius a and b
respectively, such that one shell is earthed and one
is used to store charge on it. The two cylindrical
shells have a very small spacing between them ,
which is filled with some dielectric medium.
A cylindrical capacitor consists of two cylindrical
shells A and B. When charge +q is given to the inner
cylindrical shell A the charge –q is induced on the
surface of cylindrical shell B and charge +q on its
outer surface. As the shell B is earthed , the
induced charge +q on the outer surface flows to
earth.
If V is the potential difference between the two
cylindrical shells A and B , then capacitance of
cylindrical capacitor is given by :

C = q/V
 Thus the capacitance of cylindrical capacitor per
unit length is given by

C = 2peo / 2.303 log10 ( b/a).

Grouping of capacitor
Capacitor are grouped in two ways i.e. in series and
in parallel. When the capacitors are connected in
series the capacitance decreases while connected in
parallel it increases.

a)In Series:
When charged +q is given to the plate A of the
capacitor C1, it induces charge –q or left face and +q
on right face of the plate B. Thus, plate C of the
capacitor C2 also gets charge +q on it . Then , it
induces charge –q on the left face of plate D and
charge +q on plate E of the capacitor C3 . The charge
+q on plate E induces charge –q on left face of plate
F, while the charge +q induced on its right face
flows to earth. Thus , the three capacitors get
charged with same amount of charge +q , when
charge +q is given to the first capacitor.
Let V1, V2 and V3 be potential differences across the
plates of the three capacitors. If V is the potential
difference across the series combination, then

V = V 1 + V2 + V3

From the definition of capacitance,

V1 = q / C1; V2 = q / C2 and V3 = q / C3
V = q / C1 +q /C2 +q / C3
= q [ 1/C1 +1/C2+1/C3]

Let C be the equivalent capacitance of the series

combination . Therefore, when a potential
difference V is applied across a capacitor of
capacitance C , it will also store the same amount of
charge.

Hence , V = q / C

From the above equations we get

Q/C = q 1/C1 +1/C2 +1/C3

Or 1/C = 1/C1 + 1/C2 +1/C3

 Thus,the reciprocal of the resultant(equivalent)
capacitance of the series combination of a number of
capacitors is equal to the sum of the reciprocals of the
capacitances of individual capacitors.

b)Capacitors in Parallel :

The adjacent figure shows the method of

connecting three capacitors of capacitances C1, C2
and C3 in parallel. One plate of the each capacitor is
connected to the source of e.m.f and the other to
the earth. In this manner, all the capacitors are
directly connected between the source of e.m.f. and
the earth and thus causes the same potential
difference across their plates. As the capacitance
have different capacitances, they will draw
different amounts of charge from the source of
e.m.f. I f V is potential difference across the
parallel combination and q1 , q2 and q3 are the values
of the charges on the capacitors C1,C2 and C3
respectively, then

Q1 = C1V ; q2 = C2 V and q3 = C3V

Total charge on the parallel combination of the
capacitors,
Q = q1+q2+q3 = C1V+C2V+C3V
Or q = ( C 1 + C2 + C3 ) V
If C is the capacitance of the parallel combination,
then

Q = CV
From the above two equations , we have

C V = ( C 1 + C2 + C3 ) V
Or C = C 1 + C2 + C3

Thus the resultant (equivalent) capacitance of the

parallel combination of a number of

capacitors is equal to the sum of the capacitances

of the individual capacitors.
ENERGY STORED IN A
CHARGED CAPACITOR
If we connect a battery across the two plates of
the capacitor, the work is done ( or energy is
supplied ) by the battery in charging the capacitor.
As the capacitor charges., potential difference
across its plates increases. More and more work has
to be done by the battery in delivering the same
amount of charge to the capacitor due to
continuously increasing potential difference across
its plates.
The work done in charging a capacitoris stored in
the capacitor in the form of electric energy.
Consider a capacitor of capacitance C. Suppose that
the capacitor does not possess any charge, initially.
On being connected to a battery , suppose that it
charges to a potential V after some time. If q is
charge on the plate of the capacitor at that time,
then

q = CV

Suppose battery supplies an infinitesimally small

amount of charge dq to the capacitor at constant
potential V. Then , according to the definition of
petential difference, the small amount of work done
by the battery is given by
dW = V dq = q/C dq

Therefore, amount of work done in delivering charge

q to the capacitor is given by

W = ò q/Cdq = 1/Cò qdq = 1/C | q2/2 |

= 1/2 q2/C

This work done is stored inside the capacitor in the

form of the electric potential energy. Therefore,
energy stored in the capacitor,

U = 1/2 q2/C

U = 1/2 ( CV)2 / C
U = 1/2 CV2
 U = 1/2 q/V (V2)

U = 1/2 qV

Therefore , energy stored in the capacitor is given

by

U = 1/2 q2/C

U =1/2 cv2

U = 1/2 q.V
 Electrolytic
Capacitors
Basically, an electrolytic capacitor is similar to any other
type of electrical capacitor in that it consists of two
conducting surfaces separated by an insulating or
dielectric medium.

The capacity of an electrolytic capacitor is determined

by the same factors which apply to any other electrical
capacitor. That is, the capacity varies directly in
proportion to the area of the conducting surfaces and
inversely in proportion to the thickness of the dielectric.

The electrolytic capacitor, however, departs from the

more conventional types of electrical capacitors in that
only one of its conducting surfaces is a metallic plate,
the other conducting surface being a chemical compound
or electrolyte. The dielectric employed is a very thin film
of oxide of the metal which constitutes the one metallic
plate used in the structure.

This oxide, which constitutes the dielectric, possesses

remarkable characteristics as an insulator under certain
conditions. Under these conditions it is quite common
practice to employ field strengths in the dielectric of
the order ten million volts per centimeter of thickness.
Although this is almost unbelievable, it is due to this fact
that electrolytic capacitors can be fabricated which
possess high capacity and small physical size.

Electrolytic capacitors are divided into two general

types; namely, the wet electrolytic capacitor and the dry
electrolytic capacitor. Fundamentally, there is no
difference between these two types but physically there
is sufficient difference to warrant their being treated
separately in this publication.