N capacitors are connected in parallel to form a "capacitor circuit". The capacitance of first capacitor is C, second one is C/2 and third one is C/4, forth one is C/8 and so on. Namely, capacitance of a capacitor is one-half of the previous one. What is the equivalent capacitance of this parallel combination when N goes to inifinity?

Question

Physics

Evangeline Wood

27 March, 15:40

N capacitors are connected in parallel to form a "capacitor circuit". The capacitance of first capacitor is C, second one is C/2 and third one is C/4, forth one is C/8 and so on. Namely, capacitance of a capacitor is one-half of the previous one. What is the equivalent capacitance of this parallel combination when N goes to inifinity?

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Answers (1)

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Keshawn Mendoza · Answer 1

2C

Explanation:

The equivalent capacitance of a parallel combination of capacitors is the sum of their capacitance.

So, if the capacitance of each capacitor is half the previous one, we have a geometric series with first term = C and rate = 0.5.

Using the formula for the sum of the infinite terms of a geometric series, we have:

Sum = First term / (1 - rate)

Sum = C / (1 - 0.5)

Sum = C / 0.5 = 2C

So the equivalent capacitance of this parallel connection is 2C.