Two Capacitors in Series
Enter your known values, leave one input blank, and solves for the missing one. Try different units for next level excitement!
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Capacitors combine opposite to resistors. In series the same charge sits on every capacitor while the voltages stack, so the reciprocals add — 1/Cₜ = 1/C₁ + 1/C₂, the product-over-sum shortcut for two — and the total is always smaller than either capacitor alone. Two equal 10 µF parts in series make just 5 µF.
Two Capacitors in Series
Where
- = Total capacitance
- = Capacitance 1
- = Capacitance 2
Missing one of these? Work it out first, then come back
- Total capacitance — RC Time Constant, Capacitance (C = Q/V)
- Capacitance 1 — RC Time Constant, Capacitance (C = Q/V)
- Capacitance 2 — RC Time Constant, Capacitance (C = Q/V)