• A capacitor is a device that stores electric charge and potential energy. The capacitance C of a capacitor is the ratio of the charge stored on the capacitor plates to the the potential difference between them: (parallel) This is equal to the amount of energy stored in the capacitor. The E surface. 0 is the electric field without dielectric.
The capacitance for spherical or cylindrical conductors can be obtained by evaluating the voltage difference between the conductors for a given charge on each. By applying Gauss' law to an charged conducting sphere, the electric field outside it is found to be Does an isolated charged sphere have capacitance? Isolated Sphere Capacitor?
Isolated Sphere Capacitor? An isolated charged conducting sphere has capacitance. Applications for such a capacitor may not be immediately evident, but it does illustrate that a charged sphere has stored some energy as a result of being charged. Taking the concentric sphere capacitance expression:
The equivalent capacitance for a spherical capacitor of inner radius 1r and outer radius r filled with dielectric with dielectric constant It is instructive to check the limit where κ , κ → 1 . In this case, the above expression a force constant k, and another plate held fixed.
The same result can be obtained by taking the limit of Equation 4.1.4 as . A single isolated sphere is therefore equivalent to a spherical capacitor whose outer shell has an infinitely large radius. The radius of the outer sphere of a spherical capacitor is five times the radius of its inner shell.
The system can be treated as two capacitors connected in series, since the total potential difference across the capacitors is the sum of potential differences across individual capacitors. The equivalent capacitance for a spherical capacitor of inner radius 1r and outer radius r filled with dielectric with dielectric constant