In a capacitor, if the plate area is increased while keeping the separation constant, what happens to the capacitance?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
In a capacitor, if the plate area is increased while keeping the separation constant, what happens to the capacitance?
It increases
It decreases
It remains the same
It becomes zero
Capacitance is directly proportional to the plate area A. Increasing A increases capacitance.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: In a capacitor, if the plate area is increased while keeping the separation constant, what happens to the capacitance?
Solution: Capacitance is directly proportional to the plate area A. Increasing A increases capacitance.
Steps: 7
Step 1: Understand what a capacitor is. A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy.
Step 2: Know that a capacitor has two plates that hold opposite charges.
Step 3: Recognize that the capacitance (C) of a capacitor depends on the area of the plates (A) and the distance between them (d).
Step 4: Remember the formula for capacitance: C = ε * (A / d), where ε is the permittivity of the material between the plates.
Step 5: Notice that in the formula, capacitance (C) is directly proportional to the plate area (A). This means if you increase A, C will also increase.
Step 6: Since the separation (d) is kept constant, only the area (A) is changing.
Step 7: Conclude that if the plate area is increased, the capacitance will also increase.
