Capacitor Charge

A capacitor stores electric charge on two separated conductors, and the amount it can hold depends on both its capacitance and the voltage across it. Capacitance tells you how much charge a capacitor stores per volt, so multiplying C by V gives the total charge Q in coulombs. This relation is the defining property of a capacitor: higher capacitance or higher voltage means more separated charge.

Use this formula when you know a capacitor's capacitance and the voltage across it and want to find how much charge is stored. It is common in circuit analysis, electronics labs, and when estimating how much energy or current a capacitor can provide.

• Forgetting to convert microfarads, millifarads, or nanofarads into farads before calculating
• Using the wrong voltage, such as supply voltage instead of the actual voltage across the capacitor
• Mixing up charge in coulombs with capacitance in farads or energy in joules