Grouping of Capacitors
In many electrical circuits, capacitors are to be grouped suitably to obtain the desired capacitance. The two most common modes are:
1. Capacitors in series2. Capacitors in parallel
Capacitors in Series
-Q charge appears on the right plate. +Q appears on the left plate of capacitor C2 and so on. Thus, same charge appears on each capacitor.
The potential difference across each capacitor however is different. Therefore,V = V1 + V2 + V3
On substituting,
OR
where CS is the effective capacitance, when capacitors are connected in series.
This implies that when the capacitors are connected in series, the reciprocal of the equivalent capacitance equals to the reciprocals of the individual capacitance.Capacitors in Parallel
Q = Q1 + Q2 + Q3
CPV = C1 V + C2V + C3VCP = C1 + C2 + C3
where Cp is the effective capacitance, when capacitors are connected in parallel.This implies that when the capacitors are connected in parallel, the equivalent capacitance equals the sum of the individual capacitance.


