A capacitor is an electric machine that can store electrical energy in the form of charges, resulting in a potential difference and a static voltage, similar to a small rechargeable battery. The most basic design of a capacitor is two parallel conductors separated by a dielectric substance. When a voltage source is connected across the capacitor plate, it charges up. The metallic plate connected to the positive terminal will be positively charged, while the plate connected to the negative terminal will be negatively charged.

As with resistance, there are two ways to connect the capacitors: In series and In parallel. In this post, we will learn more about parallel plate capacitors.

What is a capacitor?

A capacitor is an electrical machine that has two ends that stores the energy in the form of an electric charge. It consists of two electrical wires that are distinct by a certain distance. Capacitors store energy by separating opposing charge pairs. The parallel plate capacitor is the most basic form, consisting of two metal plates separated by a gap. However, capacitors come in a variety of shapes, sizes, lengths, girths and a variety of materials.

A capacitor is an electrical device that retains energy by storing charge. There are two terminals on a capacitor. It is an electrical component that is not active. The capacitor was previously called as condenser. A capacitor has two foils: anode foil (+) and cathode foil (-). The SI unit of the capacitor is the farad(F).

C=Q/V

What do you mean by parallel plate capacitor?

Parallel Plate Capacitors are  made up of electrodes & dielectric or insulating elements. Before dielectric breakdown occurs, the parallel plate capacitor could only contain a finite source of power. It is defined as follows:

“When two parallel plates are joined across a power supply (battery), the formulation of the charge takes place between the plates & the electric field; this phenomenon is called the parallel plate capacitor”.

What do you mean by Parallel Plate Capacitor Formula?

Direction of electric fields are determined by the direction for which positive(+) test charge might flow. The ability of an object to store an electric charge is called Capacitance. Every capacitor has a capacitance. A parallel-plate capacitor comprises 2 metallic plates of area A divided by distance d.

C=kϵ0 (A/D)  gives parallel Plate Capacitor Formula

Here, 

ϵo denoted space’s permittivity which have a numerical value 8.854 × 10−12 F/m

d represents  separation distance of plates

A represents an area of plates

k denotes relative permittivity of a dielectric substance

Parallel Plate Capacitor Derivation

The steps to derive the Parallel Plate Capacitor Derivation are as follows:-

It is the most commonly used capacitor and it consists of two parallel plates with the cross-section area A and separation d between them. Plate A has +q charge and plate B has -q charge. 

Now, the electric field set up by these +q and -q charges between the plates is given by,

E= -dV/dR

E=V/D

V=ED………(a)

If < is the surface charge density, the electric field is also given by, 

E=σ/E0

E=σ/E0 ………….(b)

v=σ/E * d……….(c)

σ=q/A………….(d)

v=q/EA* d…………(e)

c=q/v

From above equation

c=EA/d

Vacuum or air between parallel plates

Parallel plates have dielectric between them

E=σ/Em

E=σ/EoEr

Capacitors in parallel

There are 2 ways to connect capacitors: in series and parallel. When the capacitors are connected between two common locations,  then they are said to be connected in parallel. The capacitance is doubled when plates are connected in parallel because the size of the plates is doubled. As a result, we can enhance the capacitance by connecting capacitors in series.

Benefits of the parallel plate capacitor

When compared to a system with series capacitors, adding parallel capacitors allows the circuit to store more energy. Because the total capacitance of the system is equal to the sum of the individual capacitances of all capacitors connected in parallel.

When complex capacitor banks with high capacitance values are connected in parallel, greater voltage balance is observed across capacitor bundles, reducing the number of regulating resistors required in the system.

It is much less expensive than connecting capacitors in series, which necessitates additional balancing resistors. Higher energy loss is observed as the system’s structure becomes more complex with balancing resistors due to additional current channels.

Conclusion

We have read about the parallel plate capacitor definition, formula, properties and examples in the above notes. We have learnt and derived the formula for the Capacitors in parallel and parallel plate capacitor formulas. The capacitor is a type of electrical component whose main function is to store energy in the form of an electrical charge and to generate a potential difference across its two plates, much like a mini rechargeable battery. Capacitors come in a variety of sizes, from very small to very large, but their function is the same: to store electric charge. A capacitor is made up of two metal plates that are electrically separated by air or a good insulating material such as plastic, ceramic, mica and so on. A dielectric is a type of insulating material. This article provides an overview of parallel plate capacitors and how they work.