Hi, I'm new to the forum so I apologize if I'm not following some sort of rule or something.

In my lab, I have a capacitor (measured capacitance is approx 138pF). Now I had to measure the capacitance of the wires alone (approx. 41pF). The calculated capacitance should be around 84pF. Now, my question is, is the wire's capacitance in PARALLEL with the capacitor? Shouldn't it be in series?

Thanks!

 

The electrostatic field lines between the elemental static charges on the connecting wires are effectively in parallel with the field lines between the charges on the capacitor plates. So the overall effect is that the lead and plate capacitances add - as for parallel connection of capacitors.