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Figure 12    Discharging a Capacitor
Types of Capacitors

Electrical Science Volume 2 of 4
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DC Circuits CAPACITANCE Capacitance Capacitance is the ability to store an electrical charge.   Capacitance is equal to the amount of charge that can be stored divided by the applied voltage, as shown in Equation (3-7). C    = (3-7) Q V where C    =    capacitance (F) Q   =    amount of charge (C) V   =    voltage (V) The unit of capacitance is the farad (F).   A farad is the capacitance that will store one coulomb of charge when one volt is applied across the plates of the capacitor. The dielectric constant (K) describes the ability of the dielectric to store electrical energy.   Air is used as a reference and is given a dielectric constant of 1.   Therefore, the dielectric constant is unitless.   Some other dielectric materials are paper, teflon, bakelite, mica, and ceramic. The capacitance of a capacitor depends on three things. 1. Area of conductor plates 2. Separation between the plates 3. Dielectric constant of insulation material Equation  (3-8)  illustrates  the  formula  to  find  the  capacitance  of  a  capacitor  with  two  parallel plates. C    = (3-8) KA d (8.85  x  1012) where C = capacitance K = dielectric constant A = area d = distance between the plates 8.85 x 10-12 = constant of proportionality Rev. 0 Page 11 ES-03







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