Equivalent Capacitance

Electricity and Magnetism Level 2

Capacitors in series and parallel

Each capacitor in the above diagram has capacitance $C$ . What is the equivalent capacitance?

\frac{C}{2}

2C

\frac{2C}{3}

3C

2 solutions

Matt DeCross
Feb 17, 2016

The equivalent capacitance of the two in parallel directly adds to $2C$ . Combining with the third in series gives:

$\frac{1}{C_{\text{total}}} = \frac{1}{C} + \frac{1}{2C} \implies C_{\text{total}} = \frac{2C}{3}.$

Chandresh Shah
Feb 23, 2016

1/Ce=1/C+1/(2C) Hence 1/Ce=3/2C There for Ce=2C/3