If the distance between the plates of a capacitor is doubled, what happens to its capacitance?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
If the distance between the plates of a capacitor is doubled, 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 d is doubled, the capacitance C becomes C/2.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: If the distance between the plates of a capacitor is doubled, what happens to its capacitance?
Solution: Capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance between the plates. If the distance d is doubled, the capacitance C becomes C/2.
Steps: 8
Step 1: Understand what a capacitor is. A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy.
Step 2: Know that capacitance (C) is a measure of how much charge a capacitor can store.
Step 3: Remember the formula for capacitance: 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 4: Identify that capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance (d) between the plates. This means that if the distance increases, the capacitance decreases.
Step 5: If the distance (d) is doubled, it becomes 2d.
Step 6: Substitute 2d into the capacitance formula: C = ε * (A/(2d)).
Step 7: Simplify the formula: C = (ε * A/d) / 2, which means C = C_original / 2.
Step 8: Conclude that if the distance between the plates is doubled, the capacitance is halved.
