What effect does adding a third parallel capacitor have on the total capacitance and charge drawn from the battery?

When a third capacitor is added in parallel to an existing set of capacitors, the total capacitance of the circuit increases. This is because capacitors in parallel sum their capacitances directly. The formula for total capacitance in parallel is:

[ C_{total} = C_1 + C_2 + C_3 + ... + C_n ]

Thus, adding another capacitor increases the total capacitance, leading to higher capacitance values overall.

As the total capacitance increases, the amount of charge that can be stored in the circuit also increases when connected to a constant voltage battery, according to the relationship:

[ Q = C \cdot V ]

Where ( Q ) is the charge, ( C ) is the total capacitance, and ( V ) is the voltage of the battery. Since the capacitance has risen due to the addition of the third capacitor, the total charge ( Q ) drawn from the battery will also increase, assuming the voltage remains constant.

Therefore, both the total capacitance and the charge drawn from the battery increase when a third parallel capacitor is added to the circuit.