Capacitors - Advanced Study the effect of combining capacitors in series or in parallel

Make your own parallel plate capacitor

Schematic

  • Stick a square piece of aluminium tape on either side of a piece of butter paper. Ensure that the two plates do not touch each other along the edges, and are separated by the butter paper.

  • Connect one plate to IN1, and the other to GND, and measure the capacitance.

  • Now cut this capacitor along the center, such that the area is reduced by half, and measure capacitance again.

Study how capacitors behave in combination

  • Measure the values of the capacitors by individually connecting them between CAP and GND, and note these. ##Schematic

In Parallel

Schematic

  • Connect the two capacitors in parallel as shown below, and observe the combined capacitance. Ctotal = C1+C2.

In Series

Schematic

  • Now connect them in series, and measure the net capacitance

Screenshot

Calculate net capacitance of capacitors connected in series.

Capacitor 1 F
Capacitor 2 F
Result: F