Capacitance

Understandings:

• Capacitance

• Dielectric materials

• Capacitors in series and parallel

• Resistor-capacitor (RC) series circuits

• Time constant

Applications and skills:

• Describing the effect of different dielectric materials on capacitance

• Solving problems involving parallel-plate capacitors

• Investigating combinations of capacitors in series or parallel circuits

• Determining the energy stored in a charged capacitor

• Describing the nature of the exponential discharge of a capacitor

• Solving problems involving the discharge of a capacitor through a fixed resistor

• Solving problems involving the time constant of an RC circuit for charge, voltage and current

Guidance:

• Only single parallel-plate capacitors providing a uniform electric field, in series with a load, need to be considered (edge effect will be neglected)

• Problems involving the discharge of capacitors through fixed resistors need to be treated both graphically and algebraically

• Problems involving the charging of a capacitor will only be treated graphically

• Derivation of the charge, voltage and current equations as a function of time is not required