Calculate the capacitance using a known charge (Q) and known or measured voltage (V) for a single plate capacitor. The units of these two variables are coloumbs (C) and volts (V) respectively.
Convert the resulting capacitance value from farad to picofarad. The prefix "pico" denotes a factor of 10^-12 or 12 decimal places; therefore, our previously calculated value will be multiplied by 10^12. For example, a 1 farad capacitance is equivalent to 1 x 10^12 picofarads.
Ensure correct scientific notation is used. As previously stated, 1 farad is equal to 1 x 10^12 picofarads. Thus a calculated capacitance of 0.8 farads would be equal to 0.8 x 10^12 picofarads. Although this is technically correct, scientific notation should be reported with a whole number as the first placeholder and not a decimal. The decimal point should be moved one place to the right. which removes one factor of 10 from the 10^12 power resulting in a value of 8 x 10^11 picofarads. So 8.0 x 10^11 picofarads would be the correct way to report the original value of 0.8 farads.
Learn the common metric prefixes and the respective factors that will be used frequently in these types of problems. A list of these is in the resources section below.