Capacitors In Series And Parallel

Capacitors connected in parallel share the same voltage while their charges add, so the equivalent capacitance is simply the sum, $C_{eq}=C_1+C_2$, as detailed in NCERT Class 12, Chapter 2 (Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance). Substituting $C_1=4\mu F$ and $C_2=12\mu F$ gives $C_{eq}=4+12=16\mu F$. Because each capacitor faces the full battery voltage, the total charge stored increases, which is why parallel combinations raise capacitance. The value 3 \mu F is wrong because it applies the series reciprocal rule instead of straight addition. The value 8 \mu F is wrong because it averages the two capacitances. The value 48 \mu F is wrong because it multiplies the values rather than adding them. A consistency check confirms the answer: the parallel equivalent must be larger than the largest individual capacitor, and $16\mu F$ is indeed greater than $12\mu F$, exactly as expected when effective plate area is increased by paralleling.