AP Physics C 2017

Figure  19.9            Example of  capacitors  in  series.

When capacitors occur in parallel, you add them algebraically. The voltage across each capacitor in
parallel must be the same.

The equivalent capacitance for the circuit in Figure 19.10 is 18 μF.

Figure  19.10           Example of  capacitors  in  parallel.

You should  also    know    that    the energy  stored  by  a   capacitor   is

Once the circuit has been connected for a long time, capacitors stop current from flowing. To find the
charge stored on or the voltage across a capacitor, just use the equation for capacitors, Q = CV .
For example, imagine that you hook up a 10-V battery to a 5 Ω resistor in series with an uncharged 1
F capacitor. (1 F capacitors are rarely used in actual electronics application—most capacitances are
micro- or nanofarads—but they are commonly used for physics class demonstrations!) When the circuit is