Question

When capacitors are connected in series, the equivalent capacitance is ___________ each individual capacitance.

(a) Greater than

(b) Less then

(c) Equal to

(d) Insufficient data provided

The question was asked during a job interview.

My question is taken from Capacitors in Series topic in division Capacitance and Capacitors of Basic Electrical Engineering

Answer 1

The correct answer is (b) Less then

For explanation I would say: When capacitors are connected in series, the equivalent capacitance is:

1/Ctotal=1/C1+1/C2. Since we find the reciprocals of the sum of the reciprocals, the equivalent capacitance is less than the individual capacitance values.