Question

Do some quick research on how you would build a capacitor. Your textbook might have instructions, or you might find a do-it-yourself (DIY) website or video that describes the procedure. Read through or watch the instructions that you find. Then, in your initial post to the discussion, explain why total capacitance increases when capacitors are in a parallel configuration and decreases when they are in a series configuration.

Answer 1

When capacitors are connected together in parallel the total or equivalent capacitance, CT in the circuit is equal to the sum of all the individual capacitors added together. This is because the top plate of capacitor, C1 is connected to the top plate of C2 which is connected to the top plate of C3 and so on. The same is also true of the capacitors bottom plates. Then it is the same as if the three sets of plates were touching each other and equal to one large single plate thereby increasing the effective plate area in m^2. Since capacitance, C is related to plate area ( C = ε(A/d) ) the capacitance value of the combination will also increase. Then the total capacitance value of the capacitors connected together in parallel is actually calculated by adding the plate area together. In other words, the total capacitance is equal to the sum of all the individual capacitance’s in parallel.

When capacitors are in series, the voltage is divided evenly across the dielectric. It is exactly same as a capacitor having twice the distance. Thus the capacitance decreases.