Confirming Pages

18.6

of change of the charge is equal to the current. Viewed from the outside, the capacitor
behaves as if a current I flows through it.
The instantaneous currents through series capacitors C1 and C2 must be equal
because no charge is created or destroyed and there is no junction between them to
another branch of the circuit. Because their charges always change at the same rate, the
instantaneous charges on series capacitors are equal.
We want to find the equivalent capacitance Ceq that would store the same amount of
charge as each of the series capacitors for the same applied voltage. With the switch
closed, the emf pumps charge so that the potential difference between points A and B is
equal to the emf. The capacitors are fully charged and the current goes to zero. From
Kirchhoffs loop rule,

V1 V2 = 0

(18-14)

The magnitude Q of the charges on series capacitors is the same, so

Q
V 1 = ___
C1

and

657

SERIES AND PARALLEL CIRCUITS

Q
V 2 = ___
C2

The equivalent capacitance (Fig. 18.20b) is defined by = Q/C eq . Substituting into

Eq. (18-14) yields
Q ___
Q ___
Q
___

=0
C eq C 1 C 2

R
I
+

1

C1

C2

I
B

I
(a)

1 = ___
1 + ___
1
___
C eq C 1 C 2

Ceq

This reasoning can be extended to the general case for any number of capacitors connected in series.

A B
S
(b)

For N capacitors connected in series,

1 = ___
1 + ___
1 + . . . + ___
1
__
C C
C
C
i

Figure 18.19 Circuit for

charging a rechargeable battery
(shown as emf 2 ). The source
supplying the energy to charge
the battery must have a larger
emf ( 1 > 2 ). The net emf in
the circuit is 1 2 ; the current is I = ( 1 2 )/R (where
R includes the internal resistances of the sources).

The equivalent capacitance is given by

1 =
___
C eq

+

2

(18-15)

Figure 18.20 (a) Two

capacitors connected in series.
(b) Equivalent circuit.

Note that the equivalent capacitor stores the same magnitude of charge as each of
the capacitors it replaces.

Resistors in Parallel
When one or more electrical devices are wired so that the potential difference across
them is the same, the devices are said to be wired in parallel (Fig. 18.21). In Fig. 18.22,
an emf is connected to three resistors in parallel with each other. The left side of each
resistor is at the same potential since they are all connected by wires of negligible resistance. Likewise, the right side of each resistor is at the same potential. Thus, there is a
common potential difference across the three resistors. Applying the junction rule to
point A yields
+I I 1 I 2 I 3 = 0 or I = I 1 + I 2 + I 3

Parallel: same potential difference

across each device

(18-16)

How much of the current I from the emf flows through each resistor? The current
divides such that the potential difference VA VB must be the same along each of the
three pathsand it must equal the emf . From the definition of resistance,
= I1R1 = I2R2 = I3R3
Therefore, the currents are
,
I 1 = ___
R1

gia04535_ch18_640-692.indd 657

,
I 2 = ___
R2

I 3 = ___
R3

12/4/08 11:37:55 PM