Partially Filled Capacitor

percentage of material k

dielectric constant κ

paper

A capacitor is an electrical device that stores energy. Between its two plates a capacitor can be filled with some material or evacuated to leave a vacuum. A partially filled capacitor is equivalent to two capacitors connected in a series, one with the material and the other empty.

Details

The capacitance is

1

C

=(1-k)

d

ϵ

0

A

+k

d

κ

ϵ

0

A

,

where

k

is the percentage of the capacitor filled,

d

the separation between the original plates,

κ

the dielectric constant, and

ϵ

0

the permittivity in a vacuum. Simplifying,

C=

Aκ

ϵ

0

d(k+κ(1-k))

.

In this example,

A=

-4

10

2

m

and

d=

-3

10

m

.

External Links

Capacitor (ScienceWorld)

Capacitance (ScienceWorld)

Farad (ScienceWorld)

Permittivity of Free Space (ScienceWorld)

Permanent Citation

Enrique Zeleny

"Partially Filled Capacitor"
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/PartiallyFilledCapacitor/
Wolfram Demonstrations Project
Published: March 7, 2011