Capacitance

Question 1

How is the charge stored on a capacitor related to the capacitance of the capacitor and the potential difference across the capacitor?

Answer 1

The charge equals the product of the capacitance and the potential difference

Question 2

When a battery charges a capacitor, what happens to the conduction electrons?

Answer 2

electrons leave the plate that becomes the positively charged; electrons enter the plate that becomes negatively charged

Question 3

Which do we do to find the equivalent of capacitors in series?

Answer 3

We sum the inverse of each capacitance and then invert the sum

Question 4

What is true about capacitors in parallel?

Answer 4

They have the same potential difference

Question 5

Which is true about the equivalent of capacitors in parallel?

Answer 5

The equivalent capacitance is more than the largest value of the individual capacitances

Question 6

Which is true about the equivalent of capacitors in series?

Answer 6

The equivalent capacitances is less than the smallest value of the individual capacitances

Question 7

If we were to gradually charge a capacitor by transferring charge from one plate to the other, which describes the work per unit charge required of us?

Answer 7

It gradually increases from start to end.

Question 8

If we were to gradually charge a capacitor by transferring charge from one plate to the other, which describes the action of the electric field between the plates?

Answer 8

It resists our transfer of charge.

Question 9

How does the amount of energy stored in a capacitor depend on the capacitance?

Answer 9

It is proportional to the capacitance.

Question 10

What happens to the amount of energy stored in a capacitor as we increase the potential difference between the plates?

Answer 10

It increases.

Question 11

Capacitance depends on only geometry of capacitor

Answer 11

shape and size of plates, and their separation distance.

Question 12

A battery transfers electrons from one plate to the other until the capacitor is fully charged. When the capacitor is fully charged,

Answer 12

the plates produce the potential difference that equals the potential difference between terminals of the battery

Question 13

A battery maintains

Answer 13

potential difference between its terminal

Question 14

Equivalent capacitor

Answer 14

a single capacitor that has the same capacitance as a network of capacitors in a circuit

Question 15

Capacitors in parallel:

Answer 15

Capacitors are directly wired together at one plate and directly wired together at the other plate
- same potential across each capacitor

Question 16

Capacitors in series:

Answer 16

Capacitors are wired serially, one after the other. Charge stored on each capacitor is the same.
- q is the same for each capacitor

Question 17

In series, two networks are equivalent if

Answer 17

they have the same junction structure

• same # of junctions
• 2 circuits split into the same set of capacitors at each junction

Question 18

The energy stored in the capacitor is

Answer 18

equal to the work done to charge the capacitor

Question 19

If capacitors are connected in parallel

Answer 19

the capacitor with the greatest capacitance stores the greatest amount of energy

Question 20

If capacitors are connected in series

Answer 20

the capacitor with the smallest capacitance stores the greatest amount of energy.

Question 21

Where does a capacitor store its energy?

Answer 21

In the electric field

Question 22

Dielectric breakdown

Answer 22

Any insulating material permits electric conduction if it is subjected to a sufficiently strong electric field.

Question 23

How do we increase capacitance?

Answer 23

We fill the space between plates with an insulating material

Question 24

Capacitance depends on

Answer 24

the dielectric material between the plates and geometry of capacitor

Question 25

Dipole moments of a dielectric

Answer 25

decrease the strength of the electric field by producing an electric field opposes the applied electric field.

Question 26

polar dielectric

Answer 26

molecules have permanent dipoles that align with the applied field

Question 27

non-polar dielectric

Answer 27

dipole moments are induced by the applied field