In this section, we will deal with an electric circuit, where an AC voltage is applied across a capacitor.

Let us
consider the circuit shown below. We have a capacitor and an AC voltage V, represented by the symbol ~, that
produces a potential difference across its terminals that varies sinusoidally. Here, the potential difference or the AC
voltage can be given as,
v = vm sin ωt
Here, vm is the amplitude of the oscillating potential difference and the angular frequency is given by ω. The
current through the resistor due to the present voltage source can be calculated using the Kirchhoff’s loop rule, as
under,
∑ V (t) = 0

For the given capacitor we can write,

q
v= C

According to the Kirchhoff’s rule, we can write from the above circuit,
q
vm sin ωt = C
The current through the circuit can be calculated using the relation,
dq
i= dt
d(vm Csin ωt)
⇒i= dt
= ωC vm cos ωt
π π
⇒ i = i m sin(ωt + 2
) [Using the relation, cos ωt = sin(ωt + 2
)]
Here the amplitude of the current can be written as,
i m = ωC vm
or else we can write it as,
vm
im = 1
ωC

Here, we can see that the term 1/ωC can be said to be equivalent to the resistance of this device and is termed as
the capacitive resistance. We denote the capacitive resistance of the device as XC.
1
XC = ωC

And thus, we can say that the amplitude of current in this circuit is given as,
vm
im = XC
In the above equations, the dimension of the capacitive resistance can be seen to be the same as that of
resistance and also, the SI unit of capacitance is given as ohm. The capacitive resistance restricts the passage of
current in a purely capacitive circuit the same way as resistance hinders the passage of current in a purely resistive
circuit.
Here we say, that the capacitive resistance is inversely proportional to the frequency and the capacitance. We also
see from the above equations that the current in a capacitive circuit is π/2 ahead of the voltage across the
capacitor.
The instantaneous power supplied to the capacitor can be given in terms of the current passing through the
capacitor as,
P c = iv = i m cos ωt vm sin ωt
i m vm
Pc = 2
sin2ωt
Here, the average power supplied over a complete cycle can be given as,
i m vm
P = 2
sin2ωt = 0
Concluding the article, we can say that in the case of a capacitor the current leads the voltage by π/2.