Themes > Science > Physics > Electromagnetism > Electrostatics > Capacitors & Dielectrics > Capacitors and Dielectrics > Energy in Capacitors > Example Problem: Energy Stored in Capacitors

Three capacitors are connected as shown in Figure 12. Their capacitances are C1 = 2.0 uF, C2 = 6.0 uF, and C3 = 8.0 uF. If a voltage of 200 V is applied to the two free terminals, what will be the charge on each capacitor ? What will be the electric energy of each ?

 

Figure 12. problem 39.

Suppose the voltage across capacitor C1 is V1, and the voltage across capacitor (C2 + C3) is V2. If the charge on capacitor C1 is equal to Q1, then the charge on the parallel capacitor is also equal to Q1. The potential difference across this system is equal to

(62)

The charge on capacitor 1 is thus determined by the potential difference [Delta]V

 

(63)

The voltage V23 across the capacitor (C2 + C3) is related to the charge Q1

(64)

The charge on capacitor C2 is equal to

(65)

The charge on capacitor C3 is equal to

(66)

The electric potential energy stored in each capacitor is equal to

(67)

For the three capacitors in this problem the electric potential energy is equal to

(68)

(69)

(70)


Information provided by: http://teacher.nsrl.rochester.edu