Five capacitors are connected to form a Wheatstone bridge network between terminals A and B . The first branch between A and B consists of two capacitors in series having capacitances C and 3C . The second branch between A and B consists of two capacitors in series having capacitances 5 F and 15 F . A central capacitor of 10 F connects the junction of the first branch to the junction of the second branch. If the pote

Step-by-step solution

Since the potential difference across the 10 F capacitor is zero, the bridge is balanced and the central capacitor can be removed from the circuit. The equivalent capacitance of the upper branch (series combination of C and 3C ) is: C_ upper = C 3C C + 3C = 3C 4 The equivalent capacitance of the lower branch (series combination of 5 F and 15 F ) is: C_ lower = 5 15 5 + 15 = 75 20 = 15 4 F The total equivalent capacitance is the parallel combination of the upper and lower branches: C_ eq = C_ upper + C_ lower 6 = 3C