Capacitors – capacitance and capacitors in circuits
PhysicsElectricity & CircuitsAges 16–17
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Sign in to playChange the plate area, the plate separation and the battery voltage to see the capacitance C, charge Q and stored energy W of a parallel-plate capacitor update in real time. Disconnect the battery to see the charge stay fixed while the voltage changes with the capacitor's geometry. The second screen charges the capacitor and then switches it to discharge through a light bulb, so you can watch the current and brightness fall off exponentially. Adapted from the "Capacitor Lab: Basics" simulation by PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder (CC BY 4.0); rewritten.
Lesson: Capacitors and capacitance
How to use
Parameters you can change
- Screen Capacitance, Light bulb
- Area of each plate S 20–100 cm²
- Plate separation d 1–10 mm
- Battery voltage U 0–12 V
- Battery connected (Capacitance screen)
- Charging from battery (Light bulb screen; untick = discharging through the bulb)
- Show charges on plates
- Show electric field lines
- Show voltmeter
