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How to Calculate a Capacitor Charge Current

The ability to store a charge electronically has enabled many innovations in industry through the years. A capacitor is an electronic component that can do this. The component itself is comprised of two conductive plates which are separated by a small distance. The discovery that a charge can be stored by connecting a high voltage generator by a wire to water in a glass jar was first attributed to Ewald Georg von Kleist from Pomerania, Germany in October 1745. In the years to follow, others would make similar discoveries. Pieter van Musschenbroek named his version after the university where he worked, it became a Leyden jar. These devices were the earliest known capacitors.

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Instructions

- 1
  Examine the given circuit or information provided to determine the capacitance of the capacitor and the voltage of the voltage source. This information will be found on the schematic of the circuit near the symbol for each component.
- 2
  Write down the given capacitance in units of farads (F).
- 3
  Record the voltage.
- 4
  Derive the equation to find the capacitor current charge from the relationship, C = Q / V where C is the capacitance measured in units of farads, Q is the current measured in coulombs, and V is the potential difference measured in volts. Multiply both sides of the equation by V to obtain:
  
  C = Q / V
  
  C V = Q / V (V)
  
  CV = Q .
- 5
  Solve for the capacitance current charge using Q = CV. For example if asked to find the charge held by a 520 micro farad capacitor which is charged to 9.0 volts, plug the values into the equation to solve. In this case:
  
  Q = CV
  
  Q = (520 x 10^(-6) farads) x 9.0 volts = 4.68 x 10^(-3) coulombs.

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