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Q.Derive an expression for the energy stored in a capacitor. In what form is the energy stored in a charged capacitor ?

Punjab PsebPSEB Punjab Class 12 Board 2018Subjective· 4mImportance★★★★★
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Charging a capacitor from 0 to Q against the rising potential does work U=12CV2U=\dfrac12 CV^2, stored as electric-field energy between the plates.

Derivation: Consider a capacitor of capacitance CC being charged. At some intermediate stage, let charge already on it be qq, so the potential difference is v=q/Cv=q/C. To transfer a further small charge dqdq from the negative to the positive plate against this potential, the external agent does work:

dW=v dq=qC dqdW = v\,dq = \frac{q}{C}\,dq

Total work done in charging the capacitor from q=0q=0 to q=Qq=Q:

W=∫0QqC dq=1C⋅Q22=Q22CW=\int_0^Q \frac{q}{C}\,dq = \frac{1}{C}\cdot\frac{Q^2}{2}=\frac{Q^2}{2C}

This work is stored as the electrostatic potential energy of the capacitor:

U=Q22CU=\frac{Q^2}{2C}

Using Q=CVQ=CV, this can equivalently be written as:

U=12CV2=12QVU=\frac{1}{2}CV^2 = \frac{1}{2}QV

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