Capacitors and Dielectric

A PPT for
General Physics 2
STEM-12
2017-2018
Let’s first recall:
Group into 4
Select a secretary
Pass the correct answer
Pts. depend on questions
R………..U……… Ready
 ______ A device consisting of two conductors
carrying equal but opposite charges Capacitor
A measure of the capacity to store charge for
a given potential difference Capacitance
The ratio of a coulomb over the Voltage is
known as _______. Farad
C = Q/V is an equation for _____
Parallel plate capacitor
What is this equation? C  4 0 r Spherical capacitor
SI prefixes used to denote capacitance in Farad
Micro, nano, pico
______
______(called
(calledcorona
coronadischarge)
discharge)often
oftenoccurs
occurs atatsharp
sharppoints
points
where
wherecurvature
curvaturerrisisgreatest.
greatest.
Leakage
Let’s try solving problems this time.
1.When 15 mC of charge are placed on a conductor, the CC==66mF
mF
potential is 2.5V. What is the capacitance?
CC==8.90pF
8.90pF
2. What is the capacitance of a metal sphere of radius
0.008m?
3. On the same capacitance in no.2, what charge is needed to QQ==1.96
1.96nC
nC
increases the charge to 220 V ?
4. A 10 µF parallel-plate capacitor, with separation between
plates about 1 mm, is charged with a 12 V battery. QQ==120
120CC

5. The plates of a parallel plate capacitor have an area of 6.5 m2 QQ==1.92nF

1.92nF
and are 30 mm apart in air. What is the capacitance?
 Objectives:
Describe what is a dielectric.
Explain the effect of dielectric on
capacitors’ capacitance.
Identify the equation used.
Calculate capacitance of with dielectric
 DIELECTRIC
Remember, the dielectric is an insulating material placed between the conductors to help
store the charge. In the previous example we assumed there was NO dielectric and thus
a vacuum between the plates.

A
C  k o
d
k  Dielectric

All insulating materials have a dielectric

constant associated with it. Here now
you can reduce the AREA and use a
LARGE dielectric to establish the
capacitance at 1 F.
Example 26.6 A Paper-Filled Capacitor

A parallel-plate
capacitor has plates of
dimensions 2.0 cm by
3.0 cm separated by a
1.0-mm thickness of
paper.
Find its
capacitance.
 Try your math skills
• A parallel-plate air-filled capacitor has a
capacitance of 50 pF.
• (a) If each of the plates has an area of A=0.35
m2, what is the separation?

A) 12.5 10-1 m
B) 6.2 10-2 m
C) 1.3 m
 Try your math skills
• An air-filled parallel plate capacitor has a
capacitance of 50pF.
• (b) If the region between the plates is now filled
with material having a dielectric constant of =2,
what is the capacitance?

A) the same
B) 25 pF
C) 100 pF
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1. Consider parallel plate capacitor (air filled) with a surface area of

225 cm2 and a charge of 1.5 mC (q) on each of its plates and a plate
separation distance of 1.0x10-4 m.
a. What is the capacitance of the capacitor?
b. What is the potential difference across the capacitor?
c. How much energy is stored in the capacitor?
d. If the capacitor were filled with a dielectric material, k=3.3 (while still maintaining the
same amount of charge on the plates) what is the new capacitance?
e. How much charge would be stored in this capacitor with this dielectric material, at
the same potential difference as in part (b)?
• Ceq = C1 + C2 + …
• The equivalent capacitance of a parallel
combination of capacitors is greater than any of
the individual capacitors
EXAMPLE:Two capacitors, C1=10mF and C2=50mF, are connected together in parallel. The
potential difference across the capacitors is 100V.
a.What is the eq.capacitance? Ceq = C1=10mF + C2=50mF = 60.0mF

b.How much total energy is stored in each capacitor separately and combined?
Utot = 12 CeqV2 =0.3 J U1 = 12 C1V2 =0.05 J & U2 = 12 C2V 2 =0.25 J

c.How much charge is stored in each capacitor separately and combined?

qtot = CeqV = 6.0x10-3 C q1 = C1V = 1.0x10-3C & q2 = C2V = 5.0x10-3C