JEE-Main (Previous Year Questions)

1. Let C be the capacitance of a capacitor discharging through a resistor R. Suppose t1 is the time
taken for the energy stored in the capacitor to reduce to half its initial value and t 2 is the time
taken for the charge to reduce to one-fourth its initial value. Then the ratio t1/t2 will be
[AIEEE-2010]
1 1
(1) 1 (2) (3) (4) 2
2 4

2. Two identical charged spheres are suspended by strings of equal lengths. The strings make an
angle of 30° with each other. When suspended in a liquid of density 0.8 g cm–3, the angle remains
the same. If density of the material of the sphere is 1.6 g cm –3, the dielectric constant of the
liquid is : [AIEEE-2010]
(1) 1 (2) 4 (3) 3 (4) 2

3. A resistor 'R' and 2F capacitor in series is connected through a switch to 200 V direct supply.
Across the capacitor is a neon bulb that lights up at 120 V. Calculate the value of R to make the
bulb light up 5s after the switch has been closed. (log102.5 = 0.4) [AIEEE-2011]
(1) 1.3 × 10 
4
(2) 1.7 × 10 
5

(3) 2.7 × 106  (4) 3.3 × 107 

4. Combination of two identical capacitors, a resistor R and a dc voltage source of voltage 6V is

used in an experiment on a (C – R) circuit. It is found that for a parallel combination of the
capacitor the time in which the voltage of the fully charged combination reduces to half its
original voltage is 10 second. For series combination the time needed for reducing the voltage
of the fully charged series combination by half is : [AIEEE-2011]
(1) 10 second (2) 5 second (3) 2.5 second (4) 20 second

5. The figure shows an experimental plot discharging of a capacitor in an RC circuit. The time
constant  of this circuit lies between : [AIEEE-2012]

(1) 150 sec and 200 sec (2) 0 and 50 sec

(3) 50 sec and 100 sec (4) 100 sec and 150 sec

6. Two capacitors C1 and C2 are charged to 120 V and 200 V respectively. It is found that by
connecting them together the potential on each one can be made zero. Then: [JEE(Main)-2013]
(1) 5C1 = 3C2 (2) 3C1 = 5C2
(3) 3C1 + 5C2 = 0 (4) 9C1 = 4C2

334 Capacitance
7. A parallel plate capacitor is made of two circular plates separated by a distance of 5 mm and
with a dielectric of dielectric constant 2.2 between them. When the electric field in the dielectric
is 3 × 104 V/m, the charge density of the positive plate will be close to : [JEE(Main)-2014]
(1) 6 × 10 C/m
–7 2
(2) 3 × 10 C/m
–7 2

(3) 3 × 104C/m2 (4) 6 × 104C/m2

8. In the given circuit, charge Q2 on the 2F capacitor changes as C is varied from 1F to 3F. Q2
as a function of 'C' is given properly by : (figures are drawn schematically and are not to scale)
[JEE(Main)-2015]

(1) (2)

(3) (4)

9. A combination of capacitors is set up as shown in the figure. The magnitude of the electric field,
due to a point charge Q (having a charge equal to the sum of the charges on the 4F and 9F
capacitors), at a point distance 30 m from it, would equal : [JEE(Main)-2016]

(1) 360 N/C (2) 420 N/C (3) 480 N/C (4) 240 N/C

10. Three capacitors each of 4 µF are to be connected in such a way that the effective capacitance
is 6 µF. This can be done by connecting them : [JEE(Main)-2016]
(1) two in parallel and one in series (2) all in parallel
(3) two in series and one in parallel (4) all in series

11. Figure shows a network of capacitors where the numbers indicates capacitances in micro Farad.
The value of capacitance C if the equivalent capacitance between point A and B is to be 1 PF
is:- [JEE(Main)-2016]

33 34 31 32
(1) F (2) F (3) F (4) F
23 23 23 23

Capacitance 335
 12. In the given circuit diagram when the current reaches steady state in the circuit, the charge on
the capacitor of capacitance C will be : [JEE(Main)-2017]
E r

r1

r2

r1 r1 r2
(1) CE (2) CE (3) CE (4) CE
(r
1
+ r) (r 2
+ r) (r + r )
2

13. A capacitance of 2F is required in an electrical circuit across a potential difference of 1.0 kV. A
large number of 1F capacitors are available which can withstand a potential difference of not
more than 300 V. The minimum number of capacitors required to achieve this is :
[JEE(Main)-2017]
(1) 32 (2) 2 (3) 16 (4) 24
14. A parallel plate capacitor of capacitance 90 pF is connected to a battery of emf 20V. If a
5
dielectric material of dielectric constant K = is inserted between the plates, the magnitude
3
of the induced charge will be : [JEE(Main)-2018]
(1) 2.4 n C (2) 0.9 n C (3) 1.2 n C (4) 0.3 n C
15. A parallel plate capacitor with square plates is filled with four dielectrics of dielectric constants
K1, K2, K3, K4 arranged as shown in the figure. The effective dielectric constant K will be :
[JEE(Main)-2019]

(1) K =
(K + K )(K + K )
1 2 3 4
(2) K =
(K 1
+ K2 )(K3 + K4 )
2 (K + K + K + K )
1 2 3 4 (K 1
+ K2 + K3 + K4 )

(3) K =
(K + K )(K + K )
1 4 2 3
(4) K =
(K 1
+ K4 )(K2 + K3 )
2 (K + K + K + K )
1 2 3 4
K 1 + K2 + K3 + K4

16. A parallel plate capacitor is made of two square plates of side 'a', separated by a distance d
(d<<a). The lower triangular portion is filled with a dielectric of dielectric constant K, as shown
in the figure. Capacitance of this capacitor is : [JEE(Main)-2019]

1 k 0 a k 0 a 2
2

(1) (2) ln K
2 d d
k 0 a2 k 0 a2
(3) ln K (4)
d (K − 1) 2d (K + 1)

336 Capacitance
17. A parallel plate capacitor has 1µF capacitance. One of its two plates is given +2µC charge and
the other plate, +4µC charge. The potential difference developed across the capacitor is :
[JEE(Main)-2019]
(1) 5V (2) 2V (3) 3V (4) 1V

18. The parallel combination of two air filled parallel plate capacitors of capacitance C and nC is
connected to a battery of voltage, V. When the capacitors are fully charged, the battery is
removed and after that a dielectric material of dielectric constant K is placed between the two
plates of the first capacitor. The new potential difference of the combined system is :
[JEE(Main)-2019]

(1)
V
(2) V (3)
(n + 1) V (4)
nV
K +n (K + n) K +n
19. A capacitor with capacitance 5µF is charged to 5µC. If the plates are pulled apart to reduce the
capacitance to 2µF, how much work is done? [JEE(Main)-2019]
(1) 3.75  10-6 J (2) 2.55  10-6 J
(3) 2.16  10-6 J (4) 6.25 ´ 10-6 J

20. Two identical parallel plate capacitors, of capacitance ‘C’ each, have plates of area ‘A’, separated
by a distance ‘d’. The space between the plates of the two capacitors, is filled with three
dielectrics, of equal thickness and dielectric constants K 1, K2 and K3. The first capacitor is filled
as shown in fig. I, and the second one is filled as shown in fig. II.
If these two modified capacitors are charged by the same potential V, the ratio of the energy
stored in the two, would be (E1 refers to capacitor (I) and E2 to capacitor (II)) : [JEE(Main)-2019]

E1 9K1K2K3 E1 K1K2K3
(1) = (2) =
E2 (K + K
1 2
+ K3 )(K2K3 + K3K1 + K1K2 ) E2 (K 1
+ K2 + K3 )(K2K3 + K3K1 + K1K2 )

(3)
E1
=
(K + K
1 2
+ K3 )(K2K3 + K3K1 + K1K2 )
(4)
E1
=
(K 1
+ K2 + K3 )(K2K3 + K3K1 + K1K2 )
E2 K1K2K3 E2 9K1K2K3

21. A parallel plate capacitor has plates of area A separated by distance 'd' between them. It is
filled with a dielectric which has a dielectric constant that varies as k (x) = K(1 + x) where 'x' is
the distance measured from one of the plates. If (d) << 1, the total capacitance of the system
is best given by the expression : [JEE(Main)-2020]

A0K   d  
2
AK0  d 
(1) 1+  (2) 1+   
d  2  d   2  
 
A0K  
2
 2d AK0
(3)
d 
1+
2


(4)
d
( 1 + d)
 

Capacitance 337
 22. Effective capacitance of parallel combination of two capacitors C 1 and C2 is 10 µF. When these
capacitors are individually connected to a voltage source of 1V, the energy stored in the
capacitor C2 is 4 times that of C1. If these capacitors are connected in series, their effective
capacitance will be : [JEE(Main)-2020]
(1) 3.2 F (2) 8.4 F (3) 1.6 F (4) 4.2 F

23. A capacitor is made of two square plates each of side 'a' making a very small angle  between
them, as shown in figure. The capacitance will be close to : [JEE(Main)-2020]

0 a 2  3a  0 a 2  a 
(1) 1 −  (2) 1− 
d  2d  d  4d 
0 a 2  a  0 a 2  a 
(3) 1+  (4) 1− 
d  d  d  2d 

24. A parallel palate capacitor has plate of length ‘l’, width ‘w’ and separation of plates is ‘d’. It is
connected to a battery of emf V. A dielectric slab of the same thickness ‘d’ and of dielectric
constant k = 4 is being inserted between the plates of the capacitor. At what length of the slab
inside plates, will be energy stored in the capacitor be two times the initial energy stored?
[JEE(Main)-2020]
(1) l/4 (2) l/2 (3) l/3 (4) 2l/3

25. For the given input voltage waveform Vin(t), the output voltage waveform VD(t), across the
capacitor is correctly depicted by : [JEE(Main)-2020]

(1) (2)

(3) (4)

338 Capacitance
26. An electron with kinetic energy K 1 enters between parallel plates of a capacitor at an angle ‘’
with the plates. It leaves the plates at angle ‘’ with kinetic energy K2. Then the ratio of kinetic
energies K1 : K2 will be: [JEE(Main)-2021]
sin2  cos2 
(1) (2)
cos2  cos2 
cos  cos 
(3) (4)
cos  sin 

27. A 2 F capacitor C1 is first charged to a potential difference of 10 V using a battery. Then the
battery is removed and the capacitor is connected to an uncharged capacitor C 2 of 8F. The
charge in C2 on equilibrium condition is_______C. (Round off to the Nearest Integer)
[JEE(Main)-2021]

28. A parallel plate capacitor whose capacitance C is 14 pF is charged by a battery to a potential

difference V = 12V between its plates. The charging battery is now disconnected and a porcelain
plate with k = 7 is inserted between the plates, then the plate would oscillate back and forth
between the plates with a constant mechanical energy of_____pJ. (Assume no friction)
[JEE(Main)-2021]

29. Two equal capacitors are first connected in series and then in parallel. The ratio of the
equivalent capacities in the two cases will be: [JEE(Main)-2021]
(1) 4 : 1 (2) 2 : 1 (3) 1 : 4 (4) 1 : 2

30. An electron with kinetic energy K 1 enters between parallel plates of a capacitor at an angle ' '
with the plates. It leaves the plates at angle '' with kinetic energy K2. Then the ratio of kinetic
energies K1 : K2 will be : [JEE(Main)-2021]
sin2  cos2 
(1) (2)
cos2  cos2 
cos  cos 
(3) (4)
cos  sin 

31. For changing the capacitance of a given parallel plate capacitor, a dielectric material of
dielectric constant K is used, which has the same area as the plates of the capacitor. The
3
thickness of the dielectric slab isd, where 'd' is the separation between the plates of parallel
4
plate capacitor.
The new capacitance (C') in terms f original capacitance (C 0) is given by the following relation :
[JEE(Main)-2021]
3+K 4 +K
(1) C' = C (2) C' = C0
4K 0 3
4K 4
(3) C' = C (4) C' = C
K+3 0 3+K 0

Capacitance 339
 32. In a parallel plate capacitor set up, the plate area of capacitor is 2 m2 and the plates are
separated by 1m. If the space between the plates are filled with a dielectric material of thickness
0.5 m and area 2m2 (see fig.) the capacitance of the set-up will be ______ . (Dielectric constant
of the material = 3.2) (Round off to the Nearest Integer) [JEE(Main)-2021]

3
33. Four identical rectangular plates with length, l = 2 cm and breadth, b = cm are arranged as
2
X0
shown in figure. The equivalent capacitance between A and C is . The value of x is ___.
d
(Round off to the Nearest Integer) [JEE(Main)-2021]

34. The circuit shown in the figure consists of a charged capacitor of capacity 3 μF and a charge of
30 μC. At time t = 0, when the key is closed, the value of current flowing through the 5 M 
resistor is 'x' μ-A. The value of 'x to the nearest integer is _______. [JEE(Main)-2021]

35. If qf is the free charge on the capacitor plates and qb is the bound charge on the dielectric slab
of dielectric constant k placed between the capacitor plates, then bound charge qb can be
expressed as : [JEE(Main)-2021]
 1   1
(1) qb = qf  1 −  (2) qb = qf  1 − 
 K  K 
 1   1
(3) qb = q f  1 +  (4) qb = qf  1 + 
 K  K 

340 Capacitance
36. A parallel plate capacitor is formed by two plates each of area 30 cm2 separated by 1 mm. A
material of dielectric strength 3.6 × 107 Vm–1 is filled between the plates. If the maximum charge
that can be stored on the capacitor without causing dielectric breakdown is 7 × 10 –6 C, the value
of dielectric constant of the material is : [JEE(Main)-2022]

 1 

USe : − 9  109Nm2C−2 

 4 0 

(1) 1.66 (2) 1.75
(3) 2.25 (4) 2.33

37. if the charge on a capacitor is increased by 2 C, the energy stored in increases by 44%. The
original charge on the capacitor is (in C): [JEE(Main)-2022]
(1) 10 (2) 20 (3) 30 (4) 40

38. the equivalent capacitance between points A and b on below shown figure will be _______F.
[JEE(Main)-2022]

39. Two capacitor having capacitance C1 and C2 respectively are connected as shown in figure.
Initially, capacitor C1 is charged to a potential difference V volt by a battery. The battery is then
removed and the charged capacitor C 1 is now connected to uncharged capacitor C 2 by closing
the switch S. The amount of charge on the capacitor C2, after equilibrium is : [JEE(Main)-2022]

C1C2 (C1 + C2 )
(1) V (2) V
(C1 + C2 ) C1C2
(3) (C1 + C2)V (4) (C1 – C2)V

40. The charge on capacitor of capacitance 15F in the figure given below is : [JEE(Main)-2022]

(1) 60c (2) 130c

(3) 260c (4) 585c

Capacitance 341
 41. A parallel plate capacitor with plate area A and plate separation d = 2 m has a capacitance of
4F. The new capacitance of the system if half of the space between them is filled with a
dielectric material of dielectric constant K = 3 (as shown in figure) will be : [JEE(Main)-2022]

(1) 2F (2) 32F (3) 6F (4) 8F

42. A parallel plate capacitor is made up of stair like structure with a plate. area A of each stair
and that is connected with a wire of length b, as shown in the figure. The capacitance of the
x 0 A
arrangement is . The value of x is _____. [JEE(Main)-2022]
15 b

ANSWER KEY

1. (3) 2. (4) 3. (3) 4. (3) 5. (4) 6. (2) 7. (1)

8. (2) 9. (2) 10. (3) 11. (4) 12. (4) 13. (1) 14. (3)
15. (Bonus) 16. (3) 17. (4) 18. (3) 19. (1) 20. (1)
21. (1) 22. (3) 23. (4) 24. (3) 25. (1) 26. (2) 27. 16
28. 864 29. (3) 30. (2) 31. (3) 32. 3 33. (2) 34. 2
35. (2) 36. (4) 37. (1) 38. 6 39. (1) 40. (1) 41. (3)
42. 23

342 Capacitance
 JEE-Advanced (Previous Year Questions)

1. At time t = 0, a battery of 10V is connected across points A and B in the given circuit. If the
capacitors have no charge initially, at what time (in seconds) does the voltage across them
become 4V?
[Take : n 5 = 1.6, n3 = 1.1] [IIT-JEE-2010]

2. A 2 F capacitor is charged as shown in figure. The percentage of its stored energy dissipated
after the switch S is turned to position 2 is: [IIT-JEE-2011]

(A) 0% (B) 20%

(C) 75% (D) 80%

3. In the given circuit, a charge of +80 C is given to the upper plate of the 4F capacitor. Then in
the steady state, the charge on the upper plate of the 3F capacitor is: [IIT-JEE-2012]

(A) +32 C (B) +40 C (C) +48 C (D) +80 C

4. In the circuit shown in the figure, there are two parallel plate capacitors each of the capacitance
C. the switch S1 is pressed first to fully charge the capacitor C1 and then released. The switch
S2 is then pressed to charge the capacitor C2. After some time, S2 is released and then S3 is
pressed, After some time, [JEE(Advanced)-2013]

(A) the charge on the upper plate of C2 is 2CV0

(B) the charge on the upper plate of C1 is 2CV0
(C) the charge on the upper plate of C2 is 0
(D) the charge on the upper plate of C2 is –CV0

Capacitance 343
 5. A parallel plate capacitor has a dielectric slab of dielectric constant K between its plates that
covers 1/3 of the area of its plates, as shown in the figure. The total capacitance of the capacitor
is C while that of the portion with dielectric in between in C 1. When the capacitor is charged,
the plate area covered by the dielectric gets charge Q1 and the rest of the area gets charge Q2.
The electric field in the dielectric is E 1 and that in the other potion is E2. Choose the correct
option/options, ignoring edge effects. [JEE(Advanced)-2014]

E1 E1 1
(A) =1 (B) =
E2 E2 K
Q1 3 C 2+K
(C) = (D) =
Q2 K C1 K

6. A parallel plate capacitor having plates of area S and plate separation d, has capacitance C 1 in
air. When two dielectrics of different relative permittivities (1 =2 and 2 = 4) are introduced
C2
between the two plates as shown in the figure, the capacitance becomes C 2. The ratio is:
C2
[JEE(Advanced)-2015]

6 5 7 7
(A) (B) (C) (D)
5 3 5 3

7. In the circuit shown below, the key is pressed at time t = 0. Which of the following statement(s)
is (are) true? [JEE(Advanced)-2016]

(A) The voltmeter displays –5V as soon as the key is pressed, and displays +5V after a long time
(B) The voltmeter will display 0V at time t = ln 2 seconds
(C) The current in the ammeter becomes 1/e of the initial value after 1 second
(D) The current in the ammeter becomes zero after a long time

344 Capacitance
 Paragraph for Question No. 8 & 9
Consider a simple RC circuit as shown in figure 1.
Process 1: In the circuit the switch S is closed at t = 0 and the capacitor is fully charged to
voltage V0 (i.e., charging continues for time T >> RC). In the process some dissipation (ED) occurs
across the resistance R. The amount of energy finally stored in the fully charged capacitor is E C.
v0
Process 2: In different process the voltage is first set to and maintained for a charging time
3
2v 0
T >> RC. Then the voltage is raised to without discharging the capacitor and again
3
maintained for a time T >> RC. The process is repeated one more time by raising the voltage to
V0 and the capacitor is charged to the same final voltage V0 as in Process 1.
These two processes are depicted in Figure 2. [JEE(Advanced)-2017]

8. In process 1, the energy stored in the capacitor EC and heat dissipated across resistance ED are
related by:
(A) EC = ED (B) EC = 2ED
1
(C) EC = ED (D) EC = ED ln2
2

9. In process 2, total energy dissipated across the resistance ED is:

11 2 1 
(A) ED =  CV0  (B) ED = 3  CV02 
32  2 
1
(C) ED = CV 2 (D) ED = 3CV02
2 0

10. Three identical capacitors C1, C2 and C3 have a capacitance of 1.0 F each and they are uncharged
initially. They are connected in a circuit as shown in the figure And C 1 is then filled completely
with a dielectric material of relative permittivity r . The cell electromotive force (emf) V = 8V.
First the switch S1 is closed while the switch S2 is kept open. When the capacitor C3 is fully
charged, S1 is opened and S2 is closed simultaneously. When all the capacitors reach equilibrium,
the charge on C3 is found to be 5C. The value of r . [JEE(Advanced)-2018]

Capacitance 345
 11. In the circuit shown, initially there is no charge on capacitors and keys S 1 and S2 are open. The
values of he capacitors are C1 = 10 F, C2 = 30 F and C3 = C4 = 80 F.

Which of the statement(s) is/are correct? [JEE(Advanced)-2019]

(1) The keys S1 is kept closed for long time such that capacitors are fully charged. Now key S2
is closed, at this time, the instantaneous current across 30  resistor (between points P
and Q) will be 0.2 A (round off to 1st decimal place).
(2) If key S1 is kept closed for long time such that capacitors are fully charged, the voltage
difference between points P and Q will be 10 V.
(3) At time t = 0, the key S1 is closed, the instantaneous current in the closed circuit will be 25
mA.
(4) If key S1 is kept closed for long time such that capacitors are fully charged, the voltage
across the capacitors C1 will be 4 V.

12. A parallel plate capacitor of capacitance ‘C’ has spacing ‘d’ between two plates having area ‘A’.
The region between the plates is filled with N dielectric layers, parallel to its plates, each with
d  m
thickness  = . The dielectric constant of the mth layer is Km = K  1 +  . For a very large N (>
N  N
 K 0 A 
103), the capacitance C is   . The value of  will be ____. [JEE(Advanced)-2019]
 d n2 
 

13. Two large circular discs separated by a distance of 0.01 m are connected to a battery via a
switch as shown in the figure. Charged oil drops of density 900 kg m –3 are released through a
tiny hole at the center of the top disc. Once some oil drops achieve terminal velocity the switch
is closed to apply a voltage of 200 V across the discs. The number of electrons present in this
oil drop is _____. (neglect the buoyancy force, take acceleration due to gravity = 10 ms –2 and
charge on an electron (e) = 1.6 × 10–19 C) [JEE(Advanced)-2020]

346 Capacitance
 Paragraph for Question No. 14 & 15
In the circuit shown below, the switch S is connected to position P for a long time so that the
charge on the capacitor becomes q1 C. then S is switched to position Q. After a long time, the
charge on the capacitor is q2 C. [JEE(Advanced)-2021]

14. The magnitude of q1 is _____ .

15. The magnitude of q2 is _____ .

16. In the following circuit C1 = 12 F, C2 = C3 = 4 F and C4 = C5 = 2 F. The charge stored in C3 is
______ C.

17. A medium having dielectric constant K > 1 fills the space between the plates of a parallel plate
capacitor. The plates have large area, and the distance between them is d. The capacitor is
connected to a battery of voltage V, as shown in Figure (a). Now, both the plates are moved by
d
a distance of from their original positions, as shown in Figure (b). [JEE(Advanced)-2022]
2

Figure (a) Figure (b)

In the process of going from the configuration depicted in Figure (a) to that in Figure (b), which
of the following statement(s) is(are) correct?

(A) The electric field inside the dielectric material is reduced by a factor of 2K.
1
(B) The capacitance is decreased by a factor of .
K+1
(C) The voltage between the capacitor plates is increased by a factor of (K + 1).
(D) The work done in the process DOES NOT depend on the presence of the dielectric material.

ANSWER KEY

1. 2 2. (D) 3. (C) 4. (BD) 5. (AD) 6. (D) 7. (ABCD)

8. (A) 9. (A) 10. 1.50 11. (CD) 12. 1.00 13. 6 14. 1.33
15. 0.67 16. 8.00 17. (B)

Capacitance 347