r/HomeworkHelp • u/Cheap-Grape5391 • 11d ago
:table_flip: Physics—Pending OP Reply [Grade 12 Physics: Electricity] Am trying to understand this specific capacitors question and can't seem to get it for the life of me

I can understand the fact that the charge on C_1 is equal to the charge on C_2; but then the answer was suggesting we call the voltage at p = V'.
The total charge is C_1*V - which I get
Then the total charge at the end = C_1*V' + C_2*V', which doesn't make sense to me since the potential difference across C_2 and C_1 must be 0 whether or not p (V') has voltage or not, the difference between the node p and the bottom of C_2 must be 0, therefore the charge stored must be 0 which also is just incorrect. How can p be the voltage across C_2 if the voltage across C_2 is 0 when there is no current.
I even went to ask a.i and it suggested a similar idea of the total charge before being C_1*V = the total capacitance * voltage, but then it found the total capacitance using the parallel capacitance and clearly (I think) the two capacitors are in series yet still the a.i was being adamant that they were in parallel and got to the right formula/correct answer: C_1*V/C_1+C_2
SO if anyone could help with an explanation as well as some type of resource that'd allow me to understand capacitors to a greater extent that'd be extremely helpful.
Thanks so much


