Hello,
This is something very basic, I have been using it for a while, When you two capacitors in series, you end up having the equivalent of one capacitor that is lower in Farad then the lowest capacitor. My question is ,WHY . One capacitor charges, well they all have to charge at the same time I suppose and also discharge at the same time. Would it have an accumulative effect ?
thanks
Ken
Hopefully this is easy and non-scientific to follow: Consider the simplest capacitor - two metal plates with an air gap between them. The wider the gap, the smaller the capacitance. When you put a second one in series you are effectively increasing the air gap, hence the capacitance is reduced.
------------- Here's a way to think about it. Caps in series are the same as one cap with thicker dieletric, and thicker is lower capacitance. Capacitance goes like Capacitance=epsilon*Area/Distance. Distance being thickness.
-Steve
Thanks for your help, very usefull.
Ken
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required