Physics II FIS3062 Tutorial Capacitor

Tutorial: Capacitor

1.
(a) A parallel-plate capacitor with plates each of dimensions 2.0 cm × 120 cm. The plates
are separated by a 1.5 mm thick paper which has a dielectric constant of 3.5. Calculate
the capacitance of the capacitor.
(b) A capacitor consisting of two parallel plates each of area 0.0360 m and a separation of
4.20 mm has a capacitance of 100.0 pF when the space between the plates is filled with
a kind of dielectric. What is the dielectric constant of the dielectric?

2. Two thin conducting plates having an area of 0.50 m each are placed parallel to each other
and 25 mm apart. One plate is maintained at +45 V while the other at −45 V by a d.c. supply.

Calculate
(a) the capacitance of the capacitor.
(b) the amount of charges stored in each plate of the capacitor.
(c) the energy stored in the electric field between the plates.

3. Find the equivalent capacitance of the arrangement of capacitors shown in the circuit diagram.

Find the charge stored in the 4.0 μF capacitor.

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Physics II FIS3062 Tutorial Capacitor

4. Three capacitors , and of capacitances 3.0 μF , 2.0 μF and 5.0 μF respectively are
connected in a circuit as shown below.

Calculate
(a) the equivalent capacitance.
(b) the potential difference across each capacitor.
(c) the charge on each capacitor.

5.
(a) The energy stored in a capacitor is 0.080 J when the potential difference of the capacitor
is 40 V. What is the capacitance of the capacitor?
(b) If the charge of a capacitor is increased by 12%, what is the percentage increase of the
energy stored in the capacitor?
(c) A capacitor of capacitance 4700 μF is charged to a potential difference of 18.0 V. It is
then partially discharged through a resistor. The potential difference is reduced to 12.0 V.
Calculate the energy dissipated in the resistor during the discharge.

6. The capacitance of a variable capacitor can be varied between 100 μF to 400 μF. With the
capacitance 400 μF , the capacitor is charged by a battery to 75 V . The battery is then
disconnected from the capacitor.
(a) What is the charge on the capacitor?
(b) The capacitance of the capacitor is then changed to 100 μF,
i. What is the new potential difference of the capacitor?
ii. What is the new energy stored in the capacitor?

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Physics II FIS3062 Tutorial Capacitor

7. When a capacitor of capacitance is being charged through a resistor of 50.0 kΩ, the current
in the charging circuit is given by the equation below.
!
= 4.00 ."
where # is the time in seconds and is the current in mA.
Calculate
(a) the capacitance
(b) the time taken for the current to decay to 2.50 mA.

8. When a capacitor of 600 μF is being charged through a resistor %, the variation of the voltage
across the resistor with time # in the charging circuit is given by the equation below.
!
& = 12.0 '"."

where # is in seconds and & is in volts.

Calculate
(a) the resistance %.
(b) the time taken for the voltage in the resistor to decay to 5.00 V.

9. In the circuit below, the capacitor is initially uncharged.

The switch ( is switched on at time # = 0. Determine

(a) the initial current.
(b) the initial potential difference across of the resistors.
(c) the final potential difference of the capacitor.
(d) the final current in the circuit.
(e) the potential difference and charge of the capacitor when the charging current is 3.00 mA.

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Physics II FIS3062 Tutorial Capacitor

10. The circuit below shows a capacitor of 400.0 μF being charged through a resistor of 80.0 kΩ
by a source of 12.0 V.

The switch is closed at time # = 0.

(a) Find the time constant for the circuit.
(b) Find the energy stored in the capacitor when it is fully charged.
(c) Find the potential difference across the resistor after 2.00 s.
(d) What is the current in the circuit after two time constants?

11. A capacitor of capacitance is initially charged to a potential difference of 8.0 V. It is then

allowed to discharge through a resistor of 5.0 kΩ. The graph below shows how the charge in
the capacitor varies with time.

(a) What is the time constant of the discharging circuit?

(b) What is the capacitance of the capacitor?

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Physics II FIS3062 Tutorial Capacitor

12. A capacitor of 18.0 μF that was initially charge to 24.0 V is being discharged through two
resistors as shown in the circuits below.

The voltmeter initially reads 24.0 V. The switch is then closed.

(a) Determine the time taken for the voltmeter reading to change from 24.0 V to 15.6 V.
(b) Determine the time taken for the charge in the capacitor to reduce to 77.0% of the initial
charge.