In a parallel plate capacitor, if the area of the plates is doubled while keeping the separation constant, what happens to the capacitance?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
In a parallel plate capacitor, if the area of the plates is doubled while keeping the separation constant, what happens to the capacitance?
It doubles
It halves
It remains the same
It quadruples
Capacitance is directly proportional to the area of the plates. Doubling the area will double the capacitance.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: In a parallel plate capacitor, if the area of the plates is doubled while keeping the separation constant, what happens to the capacitance?
Solution: Capacitance is directly proportional to the area of the plates. Doubling the area will double the capacitance.
Steps: 5
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 = ε * (A/d), where ε is the permittivity of the material between the plates, A is the area of the plates, and d is the separation between the plates.
Step 3: Identify what happens when the area (A) of the plates is doubled. If A becomes 2A, the formula becomes C = ε * (2A/d).
Step 4: Notice that doubling the area (A) directly affects the capacitance (C). Since C is proportional to A, if A is doubled, C will also double.
Step 5: Conclude that if the area of the plates is doubled while keeping the separation constant, the capacitance will also double.
