Connecting two or more capacitors in parallel gives ____________ capacitance.

• A. More
• B. The same
• C. Less
• D. Zero

Answer: (A)

When capacitors are connected in parallel, they all share the same voltage across them. Each capacitor stores charge proportional to that voltage, Q = C V. The total charge stored by the combination is the sum of the individual charges, so Q_total = Q1 + Q2 + ... = (C1 + C2 + ...) V. The effective capacitance of the whole arrangement is C_total = Q_total / V, which simplifies to C_total = C1 + C2 + ... . This means the overall capacitance increases as you add more capacitors in parallel.

A helpful way to see it is that parallel adds plate area for storing charge, allowing more charge to be stored at the same voltage. In contrast, series configurations produce a smaller effective capacitance, and zero isn’t possible with finite capacitors.