Conductors

1. A capacitor of 0.75 μF is charged to a voltage of 16 V. What is the magnitude of the charge on

each plate of the capacitor?

Using q = CV , we find

q = C V = (0.75 × 10 −6 F)(16 V) = 1.2 × 10 −5 C

2. A parallel-plate capacitor is constructed with plates of area 0.0280 m2 and separation 0.550
mm. Find the magnitude of the charge on each plate of this capacitor when the potential
difference between the plates is 20.1 volts.

A ⎛ 0.0280 m 2 ⎞
Using the formula C = ε 0 = (8.85 × 10−12 C2 / N ⋅ m 2 ) ⎜ −3 ⎟ we obtain the capacitance of
d ⎝ 0.550 ×10 m ⎠

the parallel-plate capacitor: C = 4.51× 10 −10 F . Since Q = CV, we have

Q = (4.51× 10 −10 F)(20.1V) = 9.06 × 10 −9 C .

3. A parallel plate capacitor with a plate separation of 0.0001 m and a capacitance of C = 6 μF is

charged to a potential difference of 200 volts.

a. What is the magnitude of the electric field inside the capacitor?

b. How much energy is stored in the capacitor?

c. What is the energy density of the capacitor?

a. The magnitude of the electric field inside the capacitor is given by

V 200 V V
E = = = 2 ×106
d 0.0001m m
b. The total energy stored in the capacitor is given by

1
U = CV 2
2

1
U= (6 x10 −6 F) ( 200 V ) = 0.12 J
2

c. Energy density is defined as

Energy
u=
Volume

A
For a parallel plate capacitor, we have C = ε 0 ,
d

1 1⎛ A⎞ 1
we can write the stored energy as U = CV 2 = ⎜ ε 0 ⎟ ( Ed ) = ε 0 ( Ad ) E 2
2

2 2⎝ d ⎠ 2

The term Ad is the internal volume of the capacitor. Thus, the energy density of the capacitor is
given by

1
ε 0 ( Ad ) E 2 2
U 2 1 1 ⎛V ⎞
u= = = ε0E2 = ε0 ⎜ ⎟
Volume Ad 2 2 ⎝d ⎠

2
⎛ 200 V ⎞
u=
1
( 8.85 × 10−12 C2 /N ⋅ m 2 ) ⎜
J
⎟ = 17.7 3
2 ⎝ 0.0001m ⎠ m