Elenco Electronic Playground 50-in-1 Experiments - Manual (Page 20)

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Take a look at the schematic, it is almost the same circuit
as the last experiment except that now there are two
capacitors in series. What do you think will happen?
Connect the wires according to the Wiring Checklist and
press the switch several times to see if you are right.
Looking at the water diagram and the name of this
experiment should have made it clear - the smaller 10
μF
will dominate (control) the response since it will take less
time to charge up. As with resistors, you could change
the order of the two capacitors and would still get the
same results (try this if you like). Notice that while
resistors in series add together to make a larger circuit
resistance, capacitors in series combine to make a
smaller circuit capacitance. Actually, capacitors in series
combine the same way resistors in parallel combine
(using the same mathematical relationship given in
Experiment 4). For this experiment, 10
μF and 100μF in
series perform the same as a single 9.1
μF.
In terms of our water pipe analogy, you could think of
capacitors in series as adding together the stiffness of
their rubber diaphragms.
EXPERIMENT #8: Small Dominates Large - Capacitors in Series
Wiring Checklist:
o 27-to-56
o 55-to-43
o 34-to-44-to-42
o 45-to-3
o 37-to-26-to-4
o 35-to-36
Water Diagram
On/Off
Valve
Rubber
Diaphragms
Rocks
Pump
Schematic
Rocks
Water
Meter