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I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if I am missing something.

I am building a capacitor, and I want to know if stacking dielectric and metal foil will increase the capacitance, and if so

  1. At what rate will it increase,
  2. How should this be wired?
  3. How should I stack it (such as metal/metal/dielecric/metal/metal or metal/dielectric/metal/dielectric or whatever I should do)

[EDIT] : I am using a dielecetric of paper, dielectric value of ~2. I can also use saran wrap.

currently my capacitor is 5 nano-farads, I want to know what to do to bring it up to 40 microfarads. Is this possible?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Do you know how to calculate capacitance based on area, gap and dielectric constant? Have you seen the formula? \$\endgroup\$
    – Andy aka
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 18:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ Stacking allows you to use both sides of the metal as "active area" (except for the outermost layers), so you get an effective doubling of the capacitance. Rolling it into a cylinder does much the same thing. But to get 10,000x the capacitance, you'll still need 5000x the area of metal foil. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dave Tweed
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 18:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Andyaka Sorry, Im a newbie \$\endgroup\$
    – dGRAMOP
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 18:21

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enter image description here

This gives the formula and takes account of stacked layers (n). Every odd plate is connected to one capacitor terminal and every even layer connects to the other terminal.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Looks like I'm gonna need a caliper ;) \$\endgroup\$
    – dGRAMOP
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 18:32

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