When capacitors are connected in parallel, what happens to capacitance?

When capacitors are connected in parallel, the total capacitance increases. This occurs because the total capacitance of capacitors in parallel is the sum of the individual capacitances. Each capacitor provides an additional path for charge to be stored, effectively increasing the overall ability of the circuit to store capacitance.

When capacitors are connected in parallel, they share the same voltage across their terminals, and the total capacitance can be mathematically represented by the formula:

C_total = C1 + C2 + C3 + ... + Cn

Where C1, C2, C3, ..., Cn are the capacitances of the individual capacitors. This characteristic makes parallel connections useful for applications requiring larger capacitance values without changing the voltage rating.

In contrast, if capacitors were connected in series, the overall capacitance would be less than that of the smallest capacitor in the series, leading to a decrease in capacitance. Understanding this fundamental behavior of capacitors is crucial for designing circuits with specific capacitance requirements.