Physlet Illustration: Capacitors in Parallel
In this simulation, a 10 microFarad, 15 microFarad, and 25 microFarad capacitor are connected in parallel.  Move the mouse over the capacitors to measure their charge.  How is the sum of these charges related to the charge on the equivalent capacitor?

Hints:

  1. What is the voltage drop across each capacitor?  How is this related to the charge stored on each capacitor?
  2. What is the total charge stored in the circuit?
  3. How large would a single capacitor need to be to store the same amount of total charge?  What is the equivalent capacitance of the circuit?  

Reference

See Walker, Section 21-6

Illustration written by Chuck Niederriter