The voltage between the plates and the charge held by the plates are related by a term known as the capacitance of the capacitor. Capacitance is defined as: The larger the potential across the capacitor, the larger the magnitude of the charge held by the plates.
The capacitance C C of a capacitor is defined as the ratio of the maximum charge Q Q that can be stored in a capacitor to the applied voltage V V across its plates. In other words, capacitance is the largest amount of charge per volt that can be stored on the device: C = Q V (8.2.1) (8.2.1) C = Q V
Figure 5.1.1 Basic configuration of a capacitor. In the uncharged state, the charge on either one of the conductors in the capacitor is zero. During the charging process, a charge Q is moved from one conductor to the other one, giving one conductor a charge + Q , and the other one a charge − Q .
Figure 1: A capacitor with a voltage V across it holding a charge Q. In practice this means that charges +Q and −Q are separated by the dielectric. The capacitance C of a capacitor separating charges +Q and −Q, with voltage V across it, is defined as C = V Q.
This page titled 8.2: Capacitors and Capacitance is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by OpenStax via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform. A capacitor is a device used to store electrical charge and electrical energy.
Capacitor: device that stores electric potential energy and electric charge. Two conductors separated by an insulator form a capacitor. The net charge on a capacitor is zero. To charge a capacitor -| |-, wires are connected to the opposite sides of a battery. The battery is disconnected once the charges Q and –Q are established on the conductors.
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