Electrostatics II

Syllabus tag: KCSE | Physics | Form 3 | Topic 27 Electrostatics II

Lesson objectives

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

• Describe electric fields and sketch field patterns.
• Define capacitance and state its unit.
• Calculate capacitors in series and in parallel.
• Explain the factors affecting capacitance and the energy stored.

Summary

An electric field is a region where a charge experiences a force, represented by lines running from positive to negative. A capacitor stores charge, and its capacitance is C = Q ÷ V, measured in farads. Capacitors combine oppositely to resistors: they add in parallel and combine reciprocally in series.