Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Physics 15b
Lecture #7
Capacitance
Purcell 3.53.8
Concentric spheres
+ +
+
+
+
+ +
E=0
area A
+++
+
+
+++
E = 4 n
Er
+
+
r
Todays Goals
Study a system with a conductive plane
Define capacitance
First, for an isolated conductor w.r.t. infinity
Second, for a pair of conductors
Youll work on this in Lab 1
Dimension and unit
Energy stored in a capacitor
Conductive Plane
A point charge Q is placed above a large conductive plane
It attracts negative charge distribution
on the planes surface
Field lines from Q terminate on the
induced negative charge distribution
+Q
h
z
+Q
Surface Charge
z
+Q
E
Qh
(r ) = z =
4 2 (r 2 + h 2 )3 2
h
Q
Qh
Qhr
(r )2 rdr =
dr
=
2
0 (r 2 + h 2 )3 2
2
r + h 0
= Q
Exact result known for a disk (see Purcell) but beyond 15b
+ +
+ +
+ +
+ +
Capacitance
A conductor with charge Q has a potential 0 w.r.t. infinity
surface
0 =
E ds Q
because E is proportional to Q
Q
0
E=
Q
r (for r > a)
r2
0 =
Q
a
C=a
Capacitance
Capacitance can also be defined for a pair of conductors
+Q
Q
1 2 = E d s Q
2
Capacitance is defined by C =
Q
1 2
Parallel-Plate Capacitor
If A is large (s is small), then this is similar to the double
infinite sheets of charge we saw in Lecture 3
E = 4 =
Potential difference is
1 2 = Es =
4 Q
A
Capacitance is
4 Qs
A
C=
+Q/A
E
Q/A
Q
A
=
1 2 4 s
coulomb (C)
volt (V)
1 F = 10 6 F
1 pF = 10 12 F
Energy in a Capacitor
E field inside a parallel-plate capacitor contains energy
E2
2 Q 2s Q 2
U=
dV =
=
V 8
A
2C
+Q/A
Q/A
E=
4 Q
A
Integrate: W =
qdq Q 2
=
C
2C
Q2
Generally for any capacitor, energy U =
2C
Multiple Conductors
0 = 0
1,Q1
2 ,Q2
3 ,Q3
Coefficients of Capacitance
To determine Cij, set 1 > 0 and all other i = 0
0 = 0
Qi = Ci11
1 > 0
Q1 > 0, Qi 1 0, QB 0
Qi + QB = 0
i
Qi 0
2 = 0
3 = 0
ij
[Cij ] =
Potential Coefficients
Can we solve Qi = Cij j for j?
j
i = PijQ j , where P = C 1
j
Summary
Image-charge technique for a conductive plane
Definitions of capacitance
z
+Q
1 2
Unit: cm in CGS, farad in SI
Parallel-plate capacitor
area A
A
C=
4 s
h
Q
Q
2C
General multi-conductor system
Qi = Cij j
j
i = PijQ j , where P = C 1
j