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Announcements
y Physics 24 spreadsheets for all sections, with Exam 1 scores, are now posted on the Physics 24 web site. You need your PIN to find your grade. y Preliminary exam average is about 76.3%. Quite reasonable! Scores ranged from a low of 41 to a high of 200 (seven students). y Physics 24 Exam 1 will be returned in recitation Thursday. When you get the exam back, please check that points were added correctly. Review the course handbook and be sure to follow proper procedures before requesting a regrade. Get your regrade requests in on time! (They are due by next Tuesday s recitation.)

Today s agenda: Energy Storage in Capacitors.

You must be able to calculate the energy stored in a capacitor, and apply the energy storage equations to situations where capacitor configurations are altered.

Dielectrics.
You must understand why dielectrics are used, and be able include dielectric constants in capacitor calculations.

Energy Storage in Capacitors

Let s calculate how much work it takes to charge a capacitor. The work required for an external force to move a charge dq through a potential difference (V is dW = dq (V. From Q=C(V ( (V = q/C): +
(V

q dW ! dq C

q is the amount of charge on the capacitor at the time the charge dq is being moved.

dq +

We start with zero charge on the capacitor, and end up with Q, so

+q

-q

W ! dW !
0

q q Q2 dq ! ! . C 2C 0 2C

2 Q

The work required to charge the capacitor is the amount of energy you get back when you discharge the capacitor (because the electric force is conservative). Thus, the work required to charge the capacitor is equal to the potential energy stored in the capacitor.

Q2 U! . 2C
Because C, Q, and V are related through Q=CV, there are three equivalent ways to write the potential energy.

Q 2 CV 2 QV U! ! ! . 2C 2 2

Q 2 CV 2 QV U! ! ! . 2C 2 2
All three equations are valid; use the one most convenient for the problem at hand. It is no accident that we use the symbol U for the energy stored in a capacitor. It is just another version of electrical potential energy. You can use it in your energy conservation equations just like any other form of potential energy!

Example: a camera flash unit stores energy in a 150 QF capacitor at 200 V. How much electric energy can be stored?

CV 2 U! 2 U! 150 v 106 2002  2

U!3J

If you keep everything in SI (mks) units, the result is automatically in SI units.

Example: compare the amount of energy stored in a capacitor with the amount of energy stored in a battery. A 12 V car battery rated at 100 ampere-hours stores 3.6x105 C of charge and can deliver at least 4.3x106 joules of energy (we ll learn how to calculate that later in the course). A 100 QF capacitor that stores 3.6x105 C at 12 V stores an amount of energy U=CV2/2=7.2x10-3 joules. If you want your capacitor
to store lots of energy, store it at a high voltage.

If a battery stores so much more energy, why use capacitors? Application #1: short pulse magnets at the National Magnet Laboratory, plus a little movie of a short pulse magnet at work. 106 joules of energy are stored at high voltage in capacitor banks, and released during a period of a few milliseconds. The enormous current produces incredibly high magnetic fields.

Application #2: quarter shrinker.

Application #3: can crusher.

Energy Stored in Electric Fields

Energy is stored in the capacitor:

1 U ! C(V 2 2 1 I0 A 2 U! Ed 2 d 1 2 U ! I0 Ad E 2

(V E

+Q

-Q

area A

The volume of the capacitor is Volume=Ad

Energy stored per unit volume (u):

1 I 0 Ad E 2  1 2 u! ! I0 E 2 Ad 2
The energy is stored in the electric field! We ve gone from the concrete (electric charges experience forces) to the abstract (electric charges create electric fields) to an application of the abstraction (electric field contains energy). +Q +
(V E

-Q

area A

The energy in electromagnetic phenomena is the same as mechanical energy. The only question is, Where does it reside? In the old theories, it resides in electrified bodies. In our theory, it resides in the electromagnetic field, in the space surrounding the electrified bodies. James Maxwell

1 u ! I0E 2 2

This is on your OSE sheet. Do not use until later! (Unless you really know what you are doing.)

(V E

This is not a new kind of energy. It s the electric potential energy resulting from the coulomb force between charged particles. +Q Or you can think of it as the electric energy due to the field created by the charges. Same thing.

-Q

area A

Today s agenda: Energy Storage in Capacitors.

You must be able to calculate the energy stored in a capacitor, and apply the energy storage equations to situations where capacitor configurations are altered.

Dielectrics.
You must understand why dielectrics are used, and be able include dielectric constants in capacitor calculations.

Dielectrics
If an insulating sheet ( dielectric ) is placed between the plates of a capacitor, the capacitance increases by a factor O, which depends on the material in the sheet. O is the dielectric constant of the material. In general, C = OI0A / d. O is 1 for a vacuum, and } 1 for air. (You can also define I = OI0 and write C = I A / d).

dielectric

OI  A C= . d

The dielectric is the thin insulating sheet in between the plates of a capacitor.

dielectric

Any reasons to use a dielectric in a capacitor? yMakes your life as a physics student more complicated. yLets you apply higher voltages (so more charge). yLets you place the plates closer together (make d smaller). yIncreases the value of C because O>1.

Q = CV OI  A C= d
Gives you a bigger kick when Gives you a bigger kick when Gives you a bigger kick when you discharge thethe capacitor you discharge capacitor you discharge the capacitor through your your tongue! tongue! throughthrough your tongue!

Homework hint: what if the dielectric fills only half the space between the plates?

dielectric

This is equivalent to two capacitors in parallel. Each of the two has half the plate area. The two share the total charge, and have the same potential difference
Q1 C1 Q C Q2 C2

Homework hint: if you charge a capacitor and then remove the battery and manipulate the capacitor, Q must stay the same but C, V, and U may change. (What about E?)

Homework hint: if you charge a capacitor, keep the battery connected, and manipulate the capacitor, V must stay the same but C, Q, and U may change. (What about E?)

Homework hint: if exactly two capacitors are connected such that they have the same voltage across them, they are probably in parallel (but check the circuit diagram).

Homework hint: if you charge two capacitors, then remove the battery and reconnect the capacitors with oppositelycharged plates connected together draw a circuit diagram before and after, and use conservation of charge to determine the total charge on each plate before and after.

Example: a parallel plate capacitor has an area of 10 cm2 and plate separation 5 mm. 300 V is applied between its plates. If neoprene is inserted between its plates, how much charge does the capacitor hold.

OI A C= d
C=

A=10 cm2

6.7 8.8510-12 1010-4

510-3 O=6.7

C =1.19 v10-11 F Q = CV
(V=300 V d=5 mm

Q= 1.19 v10-11 300 ! 3.56 v10-9 C = 3.56 nC

Example: how much charge would the capacitor on the previous slide hold if the dielectric were air? A=10 cm2

The calculation is the same, except replace 6.7 by 1. Or just divide the charge on the previous page by 6.7 to get.

O=1

Q = 0.53 nC

(V=300 V d=5 mm

Visit howstuffworks to read about capacitors and learn their advantages/disadvantages compared to batteries! Conceptual Example A capacitor connected as shown acquires a charge Q. While the capacitor is still connected to the battery, a dielectric material is inserted. V Will Q increase, decrease, or stay the same? Why? V=0

Example: find the energy stored in the capacitor in slide 20.

C =1.19 v10-11 F 1 2 U = C (V 2 1 2 -11 U=  1.19 v10 300 2 U = 5.36 v10-7 J

A=10 cm2

O=6.7

(V=300 V d=5 mm

Example: the battery is now disconnected. What are the charge, capacitance, and energy stored in the capacitor? The charge and capacitance are unchanged, so the voltage drop and energy stored are unchanged. A=10 cm2

Q = 3.56 nC C =1.19 v10-11 F

O=6.7

U = 5.36 v10-7 J

(V=300 V d=5 mm

Example: the dielectric is removed without changing the plate separation. What are the capacitance, charge, potential difference, and energy stored in the capacitor?

I A C= d

A=10 cm2

8.8510 1010 C=
-12 -4

O=6.7

510-3
-12

C =1.78 v10 F

(V=? (V=300 V d=5 mm

Example: the dielectric is removed without changing the plate separation. What are the capacitance, charge, potential difference, and energy stored in the capacitor? The charge remains unchanged, because there is nowhere for it to go. A=10 cm2

Q = 3.56 nC

(V=? d=5 mm

Example: the dielectric is removed without changing the plate separation. What are the capacitance, charge, potential difference, and energy stored in the capacitor? Knowing C and Q we can calculate the new potential difference. A=10 cm2

Q (V = = C  1.78 v10-12
(V = 2020 V (V=? d=5 mm

3.56 v10-9 

Example: the dielectric is removed without changing the plate separation. What are the capacitance, charge, potential difference, and energy stored in the capacitor?

1 2 U = C (V 2 1 2 -12 U = 1.78 v10 2020 2

A=10 cm2

U = 3.63 v10-6 J

(V=2020 V d=5 mm

Ubefore = 5.36 v 10-7 J Uafter = 3.63 v10-6 J Uafter = 6.7 Ubefore

Huh?? The energy stored increases by a factor of O?? Sure. It took work to remove the dielectric. The stored energy increased by the amount of work done.

(U = Wexternal

A toy to play with http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/capacitor-lab (You might even learn something.)