Capacitance relates stored charge magnitude to the voltage magnitude across a capacitor.
Difficulty
Beginner
Read time
5 min
Prerequisites
Basic algebra and consistent SI units
Source
OpenStax, College Physics 2e, §19.5 (Paul Peter Urone and Roger Hinrichs)Textbook reference retained from the OpenFormulaGraph dataset; adaptation credits and license are provided below.
Adapted from OpenFormulaGraph, under CC BY 4.0.
FormuLab adapted the notation, explanations, assumptions, and topic placement, and expanded the numerical check into a worked example.
Capacitance relates stored charge magnitude to the voltage magnitude across a capacitor. For a linear capacitor, greater capacitance stores more charge at the same voltage. The plates carry equal and opposite charges.
| Symbol | Meaning | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Capacitance | ||
| Charge magnitude on either plate | ||
| Voltage magnitude across the capacitor |
Relate charge storage to an operating voltage.
Find charge from a known capacitance and voltage.
A capacitor stores charge magnitude 0.00200 C on either plate at 100 V. Find its capacitance.
Textbook reference retained from the OpenFormulaGraph dataset; adaptation credits and license are provided below.
Adapted from OpenFormulaGraph, under CC BY 4.0.
FormuLab adapted the notation, explanations, assumptions, and topic placement, and expanded the numerical check into a worked example.
Assumptions
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