Ain Shams University CHEP / Freshmen level
Faculty of Engineering Electricity & Magnetism
Department of Eng. Phys. & Math. PHM 122s / Spring – 2024
Sheet 4
Capacitance and Dielectric
Useful constants in SI units:
Part I: Select the correct answer in the following:
1. If the voltage across a parallel plate capacitor is doubled, its capacitance
(a) doubles (b) drops by half (c) remains the same
2. If the charge on an isolated spherical conductor is doubled, its capacitance
(a) doubles (b) drops by half. (c) remains the same.
3. A parallel plate air capacitor is connected to battery. If the separation between the capacitor plates is
doubled while the capacitor remains connected to the battery, the energy stored in the capacitor
(a) becomes four times the previous value. (b) doubles. (c) remains unchanged.
(d) drops to half its previous value. (e) drops to one fourth its previous value.
4. Consider the circuit shown in Fig. (1-a), the sketch shown in Fig. (1-b) represents the variation of :
(a) Capacitance with respect to voltage
(b) Voltage with respect to stored charge C
(c) Stored energy with respect to voltage
(d) Stored charge with respect to voltage (a) (b)
Fig. 1
5. Two initially uncharged capacitors of capacitance values Co and 2Co, respectively, are connected in
series across a battery. Which of the following is true?
(a) The capacitor 2Co carries twice the charge as the other capacitor.
(b) The voltage across each capacitor is the same.
(c) The energy stored by each capacitor is the same.
(d) None of the previous answers is correct.
6. The equivalent capacitance between a and b for the circuit shown 4 F
in Fig. 2 is 8 F
a b
(a) 8 F (b) 12 F (c) 3 F (d) 6 F 8 F
4 F
Fig.(2)
1/2
7. Capacitor C1 is connected alone to a battery and charged until the magnitude of the charge on each
plate is 4.0×10−8 C. Then it is removed from the battery and connected to two other capacitors C2 and
C3, as shown in Fig.(3). The charge on the positive plate of C1 became 1.0×10−8 C, thus the charges on
the positive plates of C2 and C3 are:
(a) q2 = 3.0 × 10−8 C and q3 = 3.0 × 10−8 C
(b) q2 = 2.0 × 10−8 C and q3 = 2.0 × 10−8 C
(c) q2 = 5.0 × 10−8 C and q3 = 1.0 × 10−8 C
(d) q2 = 3.0 × 10−8 C and q3 = 1.0 × 10−8 C
(e) q2 = 1.0 × 10−8 C and q3 = 3.0 × 10−8 C
Fig.(3)
Part II: Problems
1. A parallel plate capacitor with square plates 14 cm on a side and separated by 2 mm is connected to a
12V battery. The battery is then disconnected from the capacitor and the plate separation is increased to
3.5 mm
a) What is the charge on the capacitor?
b) How much energy was originally stored in the capacitor?
c) By how much is the energy increased when the plate separation is changed?
2. A parallel plate capacitor of plate area 10 cm2 and plate separation of 4
mm is connected to a 12V battery. The battery is then disconnected
from the capacitor and a dielectric slab of thickness 2 mm and 2 mm k=2.61 4 mm
dielectric constant 2.61 is placed at the middle between the plates as
shown in Fig.(4)
(a) What is the capacitance before and after the dielectric slab is Fig. 4
inserted?
(b) What is the charge on the capacitor plates?
(c) What is the electric field in the air gaps and in the dielectric slab?
(d) What is the potential difference between the plates after the slab has been introduced?
3. In the circuit shown in Fig. 5, find the equivalent capacitance and also find the total charge transferred
from the battery to the circuit?
Fig. 5
With Best wishes
Physics staff members
2/2