Parallel capacitor plate charging and energy storage process

What is a parallel plate capacitor?

A parallel plate capacitor is a device that stores electric charge and energy in an electric field between two conductive plates separated by a distance. Its capacitance is proportional to the area of each plate and inversely proportional to the distance between them.

How do you calculate the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor?

The capacitance of the parallel plate can be derived as C = Q/V = εoA/d The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with 2 dielectrics is shown below. Every region of the plate is Am2 and is separated by a d-meter gap. K1 & k2 are the two dielectrics, so the capacitance would be like the following.

What is the total electrostatic energy of a circular parallel plate capacitor?

The positive Coulomb self-energy of each of the two circular plates is identical. Thus, one can write the total electrostatic energy of the circular parallel plate capacitor as U = 2 U 11 + U 12.

How do capacitors work?

The simplest design for a capacitor is a parallel-plate, which consists of two metal plates with a gap between them: electrons are placed onto one plate (the negative plate), while an equal amount of electrons are removed from the other plate (the positive plate). Capacitors function a lot like rechargeable batteries.

How is electrostatic energy stored in a circular parallel plate nanocapacitor?

In this work, we considered a theoretical model for a circular parallel plate nanocapacitor and calculated exactly, in closed analytic form, the electrostatic energy stored in the nanocapacitor as a function of the size of the circular plates and inter-plate separation.

How a parallel plate capacitor is used as an actuator?

In fact, this principle forms the basis for the electrostatic sensing of position when a parallel plate capacitor is used as an actuator. Assume that the bottom plate is held fixed, while the top plate is suspended by an ideal elastic spring that is free to move. One may calibrate the system so that the spring is initially underformed.