Question

Define capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor and state one application of it in electric circuit?​

Answer 1

The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is the quantity of charge the capacitor can hold.

This capacitance is proportional to the area of the any of the two plates (if the area of the plates are the same), or the smaller of the two plates (if the plates have different areas) and inversely proportional to the square of the distance of separation (or thickness of the dielectric material) between the plates. It is mathematically expressed as;

C = Aε₀ / d

Where;

C = capacitance

A = Area of one of the plates.

d = distance between the plates

Some of the applications of capacitance (or simply a capacitor) in an electric circuit are;

i. For storage of electrostatic energy.

ii. For filtering and tuning of circuits.