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Chapter 19: Q14CQ (page 694)

Does the capacitance of a device depend on the applied voltage? What about the charge stored in it?

Short Answer

Expert verified

No, voltage and charge have no effect on capacitance.

Step by step solution

01

Defining Capacitance

A capacitor is a device that can retain energy, in an electrical circuit and its ability to store energy in the form of charge is known as capacitance.

02

does capacitance depend upon stored charge and the potential difference?

The capacitance of a capacitor is solely determined by its shape, size and the material used in it.

For a parallel plate capacitor, the capacitance C, is given as

C=εoAd

where εois the permittivity of free space, A is the area between two parallel plates and d is the distance between two parallel plates.

As, changing the applied voltage results in more charge being accumulated on the capacitor plates. Their ratio remains the same, which is the capacitance.

Therefore, the capacitance of a device does not depend on the applied voltage and the charge stored in it.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

The voltage across a membrane forming a cell wall is \(80.0{\rm{ }}mV\) and the membrane is \(9.00{\rm{ }}nm\) thick. What is the electric field strength? (The value is surprisingly large, but correct. Membranes are discussed in Capacitors and Dielectrics and Nerve Conduction—Electrocardiograms.) You may assume a uniform electric field.

Membrane walls of living cells have surprisingly large electric fields across them due to separation of ions. (Membranes are discussed in some detail in Nerve Conduction—Electrocardiograms.) What is the voltage across an \(8.00{\rm{ }}nm\)–thick membrane if the electric field strength across it is \(5.50{\rm{ }}MV/m\)? You may assume a uniform electric field.

What capacitance is needed to store \(3.00{\bf{ }}\mu C\) of charge at a voltage of \(120\;V\)?

Sketch the equipotential lines surrounding the two conducting plates shown in Figure \({\rm{19}}{\rm{.30}}\), given the top plate is positive and the bottom plate has an equal amount of negative charge. Be certain to indicate the distribution of charge on the plates. Is the field strongest where the plates are closest? Why should it be?

Integrated Concepts

Singly charged gas ions are accelerated from rest through a voltage of \(13.0{\rm{ }}V\). At what temperature will the average kinetic energy of gas molecules be the same as that given these ions?
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