The charges on capacitor 2 and 3 are same because they are connected in series and replaced by equivalent capacitance. Thus, the equivalent capacitance is given using equation (i) as:
…(¾±±¹)
And the potential difference across the equivalent capacitor is given using equation (iii) as follows:
The potential difference on capacitor 1 is given using equation (iii) as follows:
This equivalent capacitor and capacitor 1 are now in parallel combination. The potential difference across both the capacitances is same. Thus, the equation of charge and capacitance is given as:
…(±¹)
Now suppose the original chargeon capacitor 1 flows to the combination of capacitor 2 and 3.
Using conservation of charge and equation (iii), we get that
…(±¹¾±)
where,is the original potential difference across capacitor 1.
Solving both the equations (v) and (vi), we can get the charge as follows:
Substituting this value in equation (vi), we get that
Substituting value of equation (iv) in the above value, we get the charge value on capacitor 1 as:
.
Hence, the value of the charge is .