If the distance between the plates of a capacitor is halved, what happens to its capacitance?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
If the distance between the plates of a capacitor is halved, what happens to its capacitance?
It doubles
It halves
It remains the same
It quadruples
Capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance between the plates. If the distance is halved, the capacitance doubles.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: If the distance between the plates of a capacitor is halved, what happens to its capacitance?
Solution: Capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance between the plates. If the distance is halved, the capacitance doubles.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand what capacitance is. Capacitance is a measure of a capacitor's ability to store electrical 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 distance between the plates.
Step 3: Identify the relationship between capacitance and distance. In the formula, capacitance (C) is inversely proportional to the distance (d). This means that if distance decreases, capacitance increases.
Step 4: If the distance (d) is halved, replace d in the formula with d/2. The new capacitance becomes C' = ε * (A/(d/2)) = ε * (2A/d) = 2 * C.
Step 5: Conclude that if the distance between the plates is halved, the capacitance doubles.
