What is the effect of increasing the plate area of a parallel plate capacitor?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the effect of increasing the plate area of a parallel plate capacitor?
Capacitance decreases
Capacitance increases
Capacitance remains the same
Capacitance becomes zero
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the effect of increasing the plate area of a parallel plate capacitor?
Step 1: Understand what a parallel plate capacitor is. It consists of two plates that store electric charge.
Step 2: Know the formula for capacitance (C) of a parallel plate capacitor: C = ε₀ * A / d, where ε₀ is the permittivity of free space, A is the area of the plates, and d is the distance between the plates.
Step 3: Identify the variables in the formula. A is the area of the plates, and d is the distance between them.
Step 4: Realize that if you increase the area (A) of the plates while keeping the distance (d) the same, the capacitance (C) will increase.
Step 5: Conclude that a larger plate area allows the capacitor to store more charge, which means it has a higher capacitance.
