Energy Stored by Capacitor Video Lessons

Concept

Problem: You have two identical capacitors and an external potential source.Compare the total energy stored in the capacitors when they are connected to the applied potential in series and in parallel.U(parallel)/U(series) =?

FREE Expert Solution

Energy Stored in a capacitor:

$\overline{){\mathbf{U}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{1}}{\mathbf{2}}{\mathbf{C}}{{\mathbf{V}}}^{{\mathbf{2}}}}$

Equivalent capacitance in series:

$\overline{)\frac{\mathbf{1}}{{\mathbf{C}}_{\mathbf{e}\mathbf{q}}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{1}}{{\mathbf{C}}_{\mathbf{1}}}{\mathbf{+}}\frac{\mathbf{1}}{{\mathbf{C}}_{\mathbf{2}}}}$

Equivalent capacitance in parallel:

$\overline{){{\mathbf{C}}}_{\mathbf{e}\mathbf{q}}{\mathbf{=}}{{\mathbf{C}}}_{{\mathbf{1}}}{\mathbf{+}}{{\mathbf{C}}}_{{\mathbf{2}}}}$

Connecting two identical capacitors in series will halve the capacitance.

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Problem Details

You have two identical capacitors and an external potential source.

Compare the total energy stored in the capacitors when they are connected to the applied potential in series and in parallel.
U(parallel)/U(series) =?