What is the equivalent capacitance of N identical capacitors in parallel?

• A. N C
• B. C / N
• C. N^2 C
• D. C

Answer: (A)

In parallel, the same voltage is across every capacitor and the charges add up, so the equivalent capacitance is the sum of all the individual capacitances. With N identical capacitors each of value C, the total becomes C + C + ... + C (N times) = N C. That’s why the equivalent capacitance is N C. The other ideas would come from different setups: in series the result would be C/N for identical values, and treating them as a single capacitor of value C would ignore the additive effect of parallel paths.