A capacitor is charged to a voltage V and then disconnected from the battery. If the distance between the plates is increased, what happens to the charge?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
A capacitor is charged to a voltage V and then disconnected from the battery. If the distance between the plates is increased, what happens to the charge?
Increases
Decreases
Remains the same
Becomes zero
When a capacitor is disconnected from the battery, the charge remains constant. Increasing the distance decreases capacitance but does not affect the charge.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
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Q
Q: A capacitor is charged to a voltage V and then disconnected from the battery. If the distance between the plates is increased, what happens to the charge?
Solution: When a capacitor is disconnected from the battery, the charge remains constant. Increasing the distance decreases capacitance but does not affect the charge.
Steps: 6
Step 1: Understand that a capacitor stores electrical charge.
Step 2: Know that when a capacitor is connected to a battery, it gets charged to a certain voltage V.
Step 3: When the capacitor is disconnected from the battery, it is isolated and cannot gain or lose charge from the battery.
Step 4: Recognize that the charge on the capacitor remains constant after it is disconnected.
Step 5: Understand that increasing the distance between the plates of the capacitor affects its capacitance, which is a measure of how much charge it can store per unit voltage.
Step 6: Realize that while increasing the distance decreases the capacitance, it does not change the amount of charge already stored on the capacitor.
