In a parallel circuit, what property is the same across all capacitors?

• A. The currents add.
• B. The voltages are the same across each capacitor.
• C. The charges are the same.
• D. The total capacitance is the same as each capacitor.

Answer: (B)

In a parallel circuit, all components share the same voltage across them because they are connected to the same two nodes. For capacitors, the amount of charge stored is Q = C V, so since every capacitor in parallel experiences the same voltage, the voltage across each capacitor is identical even if their capacitances differ. That makes the property of having the same voltage across every capacitor the correct choice.

The currents in each branch can be different because the current through a capacitor is I = C dV/dt, so with the same voltage waveform but different capacitances, the currents vary. The charges on the capacitors don’t have to be the same either because Q = C V; with the same V but different C, Q differs. And the total capacitance in parallel is the sum of the individual capacitances, not equal to any single one.