Conversely, the greater the value of d, the greater the distance is between teh two plates. However, the previous equation cannot be applied to most capacitors, as there is usually an insulating sheet between the two plates, rather than free space, as the insulating materials are able to withstand more voltage than air without allowing the charge to pass across the gap. Also, the plates may be placed closer together without touching, again increasing the capacity, according to the equation in the above paragraph. When calculating the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor, this increase must be taken into account for. The increase in capacitance is represented by a factor K, which is known as the dielectric constant.
Capacitors are useful because of their ability to store electric energy.
A capacitor is charged by reomoving the charge from one plate and added to the other plate, which is what happens when a battery is attached to the capacitor. In this lab, we will be examining the behavior of capacitors in several circuits, and taking measurements in order to formulate equations as to how to calculate the total capacitance. There are four circuits which must be constructed for this lab. For the first two, the objective is to formulate an equation to determine total capacitance. For the third circuit, the objective is to formulate an equation to solve for Vs.