Part-I: Electro-Static

Lecture 9
Dr. Ahmed Said Eltrass
Electrical Engineering Department
Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
Fall 2015
Office hours: Sunday (10:00 to 12:00 a.m )
4th floor, Electrical Engineering Building

Chapter 5 (Continue)
Capacitance
Two conductors embedded in a
homogeneous dielectric.
Conductor A carries a positive charge Q,
and B carries -Q .
The charge is carried on the surface as a
surface charge density.
Each conductor is an equipotential surface.
The electric flux is directed from A to B, and
VAB is positive
The potential difference= VAB

 The capacitor is a device that is mainly formed of 2 conductors

have the same charge but with opposite polarity and separated by
dielectric material.

Q
C
VAB

Farad (F) or C/v

Steps to find the capacitance (C ) :

1 - Find E between the plates (Using Gauss) : Q D ds
S

E dl
A

2 - find VAB

Q
3-C
VAB

1- parallel plate capacitor

The spacing between the two
plates (d) is very small as
compared to the sides of the plate
(d<<side). Then, we can consider
the plates to be infinite.

d
b

Steps :
x
s

1- E
(a z )
(a z ) s (a z )
0 zd
2
2

a
a

2 - Vab E dl
( a z ) dxa x dya y dza z

b
b
d

Vab

s
sd
dz

s A A
Q
3- C

d
Vab
d
s

A
d

The capacitance is a function only of the physical dimensions and r

Find the energy density stored in the parallel plate capacitor?

WE

1
2

E
dv

2 vol

s V

1
1

WE s dv s
2 vol
2
2

dv
vol

1 V
1
A 1
WE Ad V 2
CV 2
2 d
2
d 2
In general, for any capacitor, the stored energy is given by:
2

1
1
1 Q2
2
WE CV QV
2
2
2 C

Multiple Capacitors (Series)

Series connection (V is not constant, Q is constant) :
A

Vt V1 V2

V2
b

Q
Q
Q

Ct
C1 C2

1
1
1

Ct
C1 C2
where C1

1 A
d1

1
d1
d2

Ct 1 A 2 A

1 2 A
Ct
2 d1 1d 2

and C2

2A
d2

V1

Vt

Multiple Capacitors (Parallel)

Parallel connection (V is constant, Q is not constant) :
A2

A1

Qt Q1 Q2
CtVt C1V1 C2V2
Ct C1 C2
Ct

1 A1

2 A2

d
d
1 A1 2 A2
Ct
d

V1=V2=Vt

2- Spherical Capacitors
Steps : C

Q
and V AB
V AB

E dl
A

1 - Using Gauss Law to get E for a r b :

D dS Qenc

2
D 4r Q D
2 - V AB
V AB

Q
Q
a

ar
r
2
2
4r
4r
A
A

Q
E dl
ar drar rda r sin da
2
4r

B
B

Q
1
b r 2 dr 4
a

1 1
a b

Q
Q
4ab
3- C

Q
(
b

a
)
V AB
(b a )
4ab

Examples:
6- Find the capacitance for the shown capacitor.

1
2

7- Find the capacitance for the shown capacitor.

-Q

2- Cylindrical Capacitors
A

Q
Steps : C
and VAB E dl
VAB
B

1 - Using Gauss Law to get E for a b :

D dS Qenc

l
D 2L l L D
a
2

l
E
a
2
A
A

2 - VAB E dl l a da da dza z
2
B
B

l
2

1
l b

VAB
d

ln
b
2 a
3 - The capacitance per unit length C/L
C/L

l
VAB

l b
ln
2 a

2
ln b / a

Examples:
8- Find the capacitance/m for the shown capacitor.
b

1
2

9- Find the capacitance/m for the shown capacitor.

2 1

c
a