Discharging of Capacitors in Parallel

by Jeremy Marzano

Submitted : Spring 2013

The project deals with discharging of capacitors in parallel. An unknown number of capacitors are placed parallel to each other, and are charged by a source voltage before dissipating energy through the load resistance at the end. The goal is to determine how the number of capacitors influences the amount of power dissipated through the load.

Using equations for resistor voltage, power, current through the resistor, energy and Kirchoff’s voltage law; the affect of the number of capacitors on power dissipation can be found. Initial power was found to be larger with fewer capacitors, but was found to level off as time went on. The formulas and methods derived in this project can be used to determine the most effective number of capacitors to power a device, using only Calculus.

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