Series and parallel capacitors

Capacitors are one of the standard components in electronic circuits, and can be connected in series or in parallel.

• Series capacitors: capacitors connected in series will have a lower total capacitance than any single one in the circuit, and is calculated as:

Let's do an example:  

What is the total capacity in this series capacitor?                     

We only have to do the formula, so:

C1= 3µF

C2= 7µF

C3= 23µF

Ctotal= 1/(1/3+1/7+1/23)= 1,92 µF

Remember!: µ means 10^-6 (millionth), so 1000000µF = 1F

• The formula for calculating the parallel total capacitance is the same form as for calculating series resistances: