Charge on Capacitors in Series with 24V Potential Difference

[gralla55]

To capacitors are charged up with a potential difference of 24 volts, and then connected in series in a closed circuit. What is the final charge on each capacitor? C1 = 2,0*10^-6 F and C2 = 6,0*10^-6 F

What I did was to compute the total capacitance of the system, and use that to figure out the charge on the capacitor, which would have to be the same on both of them. Or so I thought, the answer in my book says that the charge on each capacitor is just equal to what it would have been if it was just sitting by itself. Why won't the charges distribute themselves equally over both plates in this scenario?

 

[CWatters]

Have you done a similar question involving two capacitors charged and then connected in parallel? This is the same except that one capacitor is charged with the oposite polarity (eg one +24V and the other -24V).

Redraw it with the caps on the left and right sides of the circuit.

What does KVL it tell you about the final voltage on each capacitor?

 

[CWatters]

PS There are two ways to connect two capacitors in series. You have shown then both with +ve on the left. Is that how it's drawn in the book? What if one had +ve on the right?