12. What is the distinction between placing capacitors in parallel and placing them in series? What is the effective capacitance of several capacitors placed in series or in parallel? How does one calculate the energy stored by a capacitor? What is meant by the energy density of an electric field? What is a dielectric? What is meant by the dielectric strength of a material? What is meant by the dielectric constant of a material? In what ways do dielectrics affect electric fields? How does the presence of a dielectric affect capacitance? What implications does this have for Gauss's Law?

Fig: 1