Define Capacitance and State THREE factors that determine the capacitance of a capacitor. – NABTEB QUESTION

Capacitance is the property of an isolated conductor or set of conductors and insulators to store electric charges. It is the ability of a capacitor to store electric charges, it can also be defined as the ratio of the amount of electricity (charge) to the potential difference produced between the plates. It is symbolized by letter C and it is measured in farad (F). Capacitance, C = Q/v.

(ii) Three factors on which the capacitance depends are:

– The effective surface area of overlap of the two parallel plates. If the area is small, the capacitance value will be small ie C α A.
– The distance between the plates. The greater the distance between the plates, the smaller the value of the capacitance is Cα 1/d
– The presence of a dialectic material. The capacitance a capacitor increases as the presence of the dialectic, ε increases i.e C α ε