Enter the capacitance of up to 8 capacitors in a series to calculate the resulting capacitance in that series. Leave any remaining sections blank after entering your values.

Capacitors in Series Formula

The following formula is used to calculate the total capacitance of capacitors in a series.

1 / C = 1 / C₁ + 1 / C₂ + 1/Cx 
  • Where C is the capacitance of each capacitor.
  • X is each number of the total number of capacitors

Conceptually, this equation can be thought of as the sum of all of the inverses of the capacitance in the series. In other words, take the inverse of each capacitance, and add them all together. As you can see from the equation above, the capacitance of a series of capacitors is lower than the capacitor itself. This is in contrast to a set of capacitors in parallel, which in fact, increases the total capacitance.

Capacitors in Series Definition

Capacitors in series are defined as 2 or more capacitors in a circuit that are connected in series. That is, the current has to flow through the first capacitor before it can get to subsequent capacitors.

How to calculate capacitance in series?

How to calculate equivalent capacitance in series.

  1. First, determine the capacitance of each capacitor.

    Measure the capacitance of each individual capacitor.

  2. Next, take the inverse of each capacitance.

    Divide 1 by the capacitance of each capacitor.

  3. Finally, sum the inverses from step 2.

    Sum each inverse from step to get the equivalent capacitance.

FAQ

What is capacitors in series?

Capacitors in series are defined as 2 or more capacitors in a circuit that are connected in series. That is the current has to flow through the first capacitor before it can get to subsequent capacitors.