Capacitors

Made of two conductive plates separated by an insulating (dielectric) layer.

Capacitance (), in terms of physical dimensions:

Here:

• : distance between the plates
• : area of a plate

In an ideal capacitor, the charge imbalance is proportional to the voltage across the plates.

v and i

As is constant, current passing through the capacitor and the voltage across the capacitor are related by:

Energy stored

Suppose voltage across an initially uncharged capacitor rises from to during a time period of .