Capacitance

The capacitor's capacitance (C) is a measure of the quantity of charge (Q) stored on each plate when a given potential difference or voltage (V) is applied across the plates:

So capacitance is defined as:

The ratio of charge stored on an isolated conductor to the difference in potential.

  Or

The charge required to cause unit potential difference in a conductor

Units

In SI units, a capacitor has a capacitance of one farad (F) when one coulomb (C) of charge is stored when one volt (V) of potential difference is applied across the plates.

Since the farad is a very large unit, values of capacitors are usually expressed in microfarads (µ F), nanofarads (nF), or picofarads (pF).

Capacitors - an introduction Dielectric The parallel plate capacitor Storing Energy in a Capacitor Capacitor Discharge An Experiment to Determine the Capacitance of a Capacitor

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