STORED ENERGY

IN CAPACITORS
CAPACITANCE AND CAPACITORS
If batteries store so much more
energy,
why use capacitors?
• capacitor stores charge
physically, battery stores charge
chemically
• capacitor can release stored
charge and energy much faster
 Capacitors store
electrical energy,
and that energy
is the same as
the work required
to move charge
onto the plates.
The electric potential
energy stored in the
capacitor is equal to the
■  
If a capacitor is initially uncharged (both
plates are neutral) so that the plates are at
the same potential, very little work is
required to transfer a small amount of
 
charge from one plate to the other.
Once this charge has been
transferred, however, a
small potential difference
appears between the plates,
so work must be done to
transfer additional charge
against this potential
■  
If the potential
difference at any
instant during the
charging process is
, the work required
to move more
charge through
this potential
difference is given
by
∆ 𝑾 =∆ 𝑽 ∆ 𝑸
 
 Finding the total
work is the same
as finding the area
of a triangle, so,

To calculated the
total work required
to charge the
capacitor to a final
 
𝟏
charge,
∆𝑾= ∆𝑽 ∆𝑸
𝟐
 WORK is also ENERGY
the stored in a
Henc
 
𝟏 capacitor
Energy
 

∆𝑾= ∆𝑽 ∆𝑸
e, 𝟐 stored

𝑸=𝑪 (∆ 𝑽 )
 
Sinc
e,  

Therefo Energy
stored
re,
Energy Stored in a Capacitor
■The work done in charging the capacitor is
stored as electric potential
2
energy U :
Q 1 1
U  Q V  C (  V ) 2

2C 2 2
■This applies to a capacitor of any geometry.
■The energy stored increases as the charge
increases and as the potential difference
increases.
■At a certain maximum voltage, corona
EXAMPLE
What is the amount of energy stored in
a 5.0-µF capacitor when it is connected
across
  a 120-V battery?
Energy stored
 

U
 Where does the stored
energy reside?
Energy is stored 1
U  C  V 
2

in the capacitor: 2
1  0 A 
0 A   Ed 
2
U 
C and V  Ed 2 d 
d
1
U    0 Ad  E 2
2

The “volume of the capacitor” is

energy density u (energy per
unit volume):
1
U 2   0 Ad  E 2
1
u   0 E 2

Ad Ad 2

energy resides in the electric

field between the plates
1
u  0 E 2

2
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Most practical applications of capacitors
take advantage of their ability to store
and release energy.
Electronic
flash unit
Energy stored in capacitor is
released by depressing the
camera’s shutter button. The
stored energy is rapidly
converted into a brief but
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Defibrill
ator Large capacitors can store
enough electrical energy to
cause severe burns or even
death if they are discharged so
that the flow of charge can pass
However,through thebe
they can heart.
used to
sustain life by
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Defibrill
ator
When fibrillation occurs, the
heart produces a rapid, irregular
pattern of beats.
A fast discharge of electrical
energy through the heart can
return the organ to its normal
ACTIV
ITY
■  
1.A camera flash unit stores energy in
a 150 F capacitor at 200 V. How
much electric energy can be stored?
2.Find the energy contained in a
parallel-plate capacitor if it holds C
of charge. What’s the voltage
between the plates?
STORED
ENERGY
IN
CAPACITO
REVIEW Storing Energy in a
Capacitor
■The amount of energy stored is equal to
the work done to charge it.
■During the charging process, the battery
does work to remove charges from one
plate and deposit them onto the other.
REVIEW Storing Energy in a
Capacitor

Work is done by an external agent in

bringing +dq from the negative plate and
depositing the charge on the positive
REVIEW Storing Energy in a
Capacitor

When the capacitor is initially uncharged, in each

plate of the capacitor, there are many negative
and positive charges, but the number of negative
charges balances the number of positive charges,
so that there is no net charge, and therefore no
electric field between the plates.
REVIEW Storing Energy in a
We have a magic
Capacitor
bucket and a set of
stairs from the
bottom plate to the
top plate.
We start out at the bottom plate, fill our
magic bucket with a charge +dq , carry the
bucket up the stairs and dump the contents of
the bucket on the top plate, charging it up
positive to charge +dq.
However, in doing so, the bottom plate is now
REVIEW Storing Energy in a
Capacitor

Having emptied the bucket of charge, we now

descend the stairs, get another bucketful of
charge +dq, go back up the stairs and dump
that charge on the top plate.
We then repeat this process over and over. In
this way we build up charge on the capacitor,
REVIEW Storing Energy in a
Capacitor
 
Suppose the amount of
charge on the top plate at
some instant is +q , and
the potential difference
between the two plates is
To dump another bucket of charge on the
 

top plate, the amount of work done to

overcome electrical repulsion is . If at the
end of the charging process, the charge on
the top plate is +Q , Qthen
2
1
the total
1
amount
U  
of work done in this process Q V 
is 2 C ( V ) 2

2C 2
ACTIV
ITY
■  
1.A camera flash unit stores energy in
a 150 F capacitor at 200 V. How
much electric energy can be stored?
2.Find the energy contained in a
parallel-plate capacitor if it holds C
of charge. What’s the voltage
between the plates?
CHALLE
A NGE
heart defibrillator delivers
4.00 × 10  J of energy by
2

discharging a capacitor initially

at 1.00 × 10  V.
4

What is its capacitance?

ASSIGN
AMENT
heart defibrillator delivers
4.00 × 10  J of energy by
2

discharging a capacitor initially

at 1.00 × 10  V.
4

What is its capacitance?