Equivalente capaciteit

The net capacitance for a capacitor network can be calculated by finding the equivalent capacitances individually for the parallel only and series only combinations.

Consider a capacitor network consisting of a series and parallel combination of four capacitors connected to a battery. What is the charge across each capacitor?

Since capacitors 2 and 3 are connected in parallel, the sum of their capacitances gives the equivalent capacitance.

So, the four-capacitor network reduces to three capacitors connected in series.

Now, the charge on each capacitor has an equal magnitude, while the applied potential difference equals the sum of the voltage across each capacitor.

Since voltage equals the ratio of charge to capacitance, substituting the values of capacitances and applied voltage gives the charge accumulated on each capacitor in series.

The voltage across capacitors 2 and 3 are equal and can be obtained from the calculated charge.

Finally, the product of individual capacitances and voltage values gives the charges on capacitors 2 and 3.

So, the charges on all the capacitors in the network are estimated.