CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Arun Verma of class

12th (L) has successfully completed the
project on the topic “CAPACITORS” under
the guidance of Mr. Santosh in session 2024-
25.

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Principal
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank the CBSE for providing me the
opportunity to carry out the investigatory project. I also
take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to
my physics teacher, Mr. Santosh for guiding me and
improving a sound base of technology pertaining to this
project, which ensures the successful completion of this
project.

I wish to express my great thanks to my principal, Mrs.

Mamta Chhawri who helped me to accomplish this project
by providing me all necessary facilities and support.
 INDEX

1. Introduction
2. Amount of Charge Q a Capacitor can Store
3. Self-Capacitance
4. Charging and Discharging of a Capacitor
5. Energy in a Capacitor
6. Type of Capacitors
7. Uses of a Capacitor
8. Bibliography
 INTRODUCTION
CAPACITORS:

A capacitor is a device used to store electric charge.

Capacitors have applications ranging from filtering
static out of radio reception to energy storage in
heart defibrillators. Typically, commercial capacitors
have two conducting parts close to one another, but
not touching. When battery terminals are connected
to an initially uncharged capacitors, equal amount of
positive and negative charge, +Q and -Q, are
separated into its two plates. The capacitor remains
neutral overall, but we refer to it as storing a charge Q
in this circumstance.
AMOUNT OF CHARGE ‘Q’ A CAPACITOR
CAN STORE
The amount of charge Q a capacitor can store depends on
two major factors- the voltage applied and the capacitor's
physical characteristics, such as its size. In Figure given
below each electric field line starts on an individual
positive and ends on a negative one, so that there will be
more field lines if there is more charge. The electric field
strength is, thus, directly proportional to Q.
The field is proportional to the charge:
Eα Q
We know that,
V= Ed

So, Vα E

Hence, Vα Q

Removing sign of proportionality we get,

Q=CV

Where C = capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor.

The unit of capacitance is the farad (F), named for

Michael Faraday (1791-1867), an English scientist
who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism
and electrochemistry. Since capacitance is charge per
unit voltage, we see that a farad is a coulomb per
volt.

A 1-farad capacitor would be able to store 1 coulomb

with the application of only 1 volt. One farad is, thus a
very large capacitance. Typical capacitors range from
fractions of a picofarad to millifarads.
SELF-CAPACITANCE
Self-capacitance property is related to the capacitors
especially to the isolated conductor to raise its
potential difference to one volt. Generally normal
conductors will have mutual capacitance. This is also
measured in the S. I units i.e. Farads.

The Self-capacitance of a conducting sphere which

has the radius 'R' is given by,
C=4πϵ0R
Self-capacitance values of some standard devices are
given below.

• For the top plate of a van de Graff generator

which is having radius of 20 cm self-capacitance
is 22.24 pF.
• For the planet EARTH self-capacitance is 710 pF.
 CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF A
CAPACITOR
Let us assume that the capacitor, which is shown in the
Figure below in the circuit, is completely discharged. In
this circuit the capacitor value is 100 µF and the supply
voltage applied to this circuit is 12V.

Now the switch which is connected to the capacitor in

the circuit is moved to the point A. Then the capacitor
starts charging with the charging current I. The
charging voltage across the capacitor is equal to the
supply voltage when the capacitor Is fully charged i.e.
VS= VC = 12V.
In the case of ideal capacitors the charge remains
constant on the capacitor but in the case of general
capacitors the fully charged capacitors is slowly
discharged because of its leakage current. When the
switch is moved to the position B, then the capacitor
slowly discharges by switching on the lamp which is
connected in the circuit.
 ENERGY IN A CAPACITOR
Energy is the amount of some work against the electro-
static field to charge the capacitor fully. In the capacitor at
initial stage of charging, the charge Q transferred between
the plates from one plate to another plate. This charge
either +Q or -Q is interchanged between two plates of a
capacitor. After transformation of some charge an electric
field is formed between the plates, in that case we need
some extra work to charge the capacitor fully. This extra
work is called as the energy stored in a capacitor, the
energy is measured in the units of Joules (J). Now we see
the equations for this energy and work.
dW = V dQ
dW = (Q/C) dQ
After intergration of the above equation is,
W = Q2 I 2C
W = (CV)2 / 2C
w = CV2 I 2 Joules
Finally we get the energy stored in a capacitor is
Energy (W) = CV2 / 2 Joules
Now we calculate the energy stored in a capacitor of
capacitance 200 µF which operate with voltage of 12V
W = (200 X 10 - 6 X 122) / 2 = 14.4 mJ
TYPE OF CAPACITORS
▪ Film Capacitors
▪ Film Capacitors comprising of a generally
expansive group of capacitors with the
distinction being in their dielectric properties.
▪ Film Capacitors are available in almost any value
and voltages as high as 1500 volts.
▪ They come in tolerance from 10% to 0.01%.
▪ There are two types of film capacitors i.e. Radial
lead type & Axial lead type.
▪ The electrodes of film capacitors may be
metalized aluminium or zinc.
▪ It use polystyrene, polycarbonate or Teflon as
their dielectrics.
▪ It can be used in AC voltage applications, and
they have much more stable electrical
parameters.
▪ Ceramic Capacitors
• Ceramic capacitors are used in high frequency
circuits such as audio to RF.
• Ceramic Capacitors are the vest choice for high
frequency compensation in audio circuits.
• These capacitors are also called as disc
Ceramic capacitors are made by coating two
sides of a small porcelain or ceramic disc with
silver and are then stacked together to make a
capacitors.
• One can make both capacitance in ceramic
capacitors.
• They come in values from a few Pico farads to
1 microfarad.
• The voltage range is from a few volts up to
many thousands of volts.
• Ceramics are inexpensive to manufacture and
they come with several dielectrics types.
▪ Electrolytic Capacitors
• It is most prevalently used capacitors which
have a wide tolerance capacity.
• Electrolytic capacitors are available with
working voltages up to about 500V.
• There are two types of electrolytic capacitor,
Tantalum and Aluminum.
• Tantalums capacitors have ordinarily better
exhibition, higher value.
• The dielectric properties of tantalum oxide is
much superior to those of aluminum oxide.
• It has an easier leakage current and better
capacitance strength which makes them
suitable for obstructing, decoupling, filtering
applications.
• The thickness of the aluminum oxide film and
heightened breakdown voltage gives the
capacitor exceptionally elevated capacitance
values for their size.
 USES OF CAPACITORS

Capacitors are devices which store electrical charge.

They are a basic component of electronics and have a
host of various applications. The most common use
for capacitors is energy storage. Additional uses
include power conditioning, signal coupling or
decoupling, electronic noise filtering, and remote
sensing. Because of its varied applications, capacitors
are used in a wide range of industries and have
become a vital part of everyday life.

• Capacitors for Energy Storage

Capacitors have been used to store electrical
energy since the late 18th century. Benjamin
Franklin was the first to coin the phrase "battery"
for a series of capacitors in an energy store
 application. Individual capacitors generally do not
hold a great deal of energy, providing only
enough power for electronic devices to use
during temporary power outages or when they
need additional power. For example, large
capacitors are included in car audio systems to
provide extra power to amplifiers when needed.

• Capacitors for Power Conditioning

One important application of capacitors is the
conditioning of power supplies. Capacitors allow
AC signals to pass but block DC signals when they
are charged. They can effectively split these two
signal types, cleaning the supply of power. This
effect has been exploited to separate or decouple
different parts of electrical circuits to reduce
noise which could lead to reduction of efficiency.
Capacitors are also used inutility substations to
counteract inductive loading introduced by
transmission lines.

• Capacitors as Sensors
Capacitors are used as sensors to measure a
variety of things, including air humidity, fuel
levels and mechanical strain. The capacitance of a
device is dependent on its structure. Changes in
 the structure can be measured as a loss or gain of
capacitance. Two aspects of a capacitor are used
in sensing applications: the distance between
parallel plates and the material between them.
The former is used to detect mechanical changes
such as acceleration and pressure. Even minute
changes in the material between the plates can
be enough to alter the capacitance of the device,
an effect exploited when sensing air humidity.

• Capacitors for Signal Processing

Capacitors have found increasingly advanced
applications in information technology. Dynamic
Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices use
capacitors to represent binary information as
bits. The device reads one value when the
capacitor is charged and another when
discharged. Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) use
capacitors in an analogue form. Capacitors are
also used in conjunction with inductors to tune
circuits to particular frequencies, an effect
exploited by radio receivers, speakers and analog
equalizers.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
➢ Physics textbook for class XII, Part-1,
NCERT.
➢ Physics Laboratory Manual for class XII,
NCERT.
➢ www.google.com
➢ www.googleimages.com
➢ www.wikipedia.com

THANK YOU!