Scribd
Upload
69 views20 pages

Quiz 2

The document provides information about a quiz on electric field, voltage, and capacitance calculations using superposition methods and Gauss's Law. The quiz will be on Friday, Sept. 30 from 4:30-5:45 PM in rooms CW101-103. A review session will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7:30 PM in CW102. Approximately half the quiz will involve solving problems on test sheets and half will involve answering conceptual questions on scantron cards. The document then provides details about parallel plate capacitors, capacitance formulas for different geometries, energy stored in capacitors, using dielectrics to increase capacitance, and examples of dielectric constants for various materials. It concludes with an overview of

Uploaded by

Nathan King
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
69 views20 pages

Quiz 2

The document provides information about a quiz on electric field, voltage, and capacitance calculations using superposition methods and Gauss's Law. The quiz will be on Friday, Sept. 30 from 4:30-5:45 PM in rooms CW101-103. A review session will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7:30 PM in CW102. Approximately half the quiz will involve solving problems on test sheets and half will involve answering conceptual questions on scantron cards. The document then provides details about parallel plate capacitors, capacitance formulas for different geometries, energy stored in capacitors, using dielectrics to increase capacitance, and examples of dielectric constants for various materials. It concludes with an overview of

Uploaded by

Nathan King
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 20

Quiz 2

Is Friday, Sept. 30, 4:30-5:45, CW101,102,103.


Covers material through next Wednesday: electric field,
voltage, and capacitance calculations using
superposition methods and Gausss Law.
A review will be given Wednesday evening, Sept. 28, at
7:30PM in CW102.
Reminder: ~half the quiz will be problem solving
worked out an test sheets and ~half conceptual
answered on scantron cards.

Two parallel plates


An interesting observation. If the plates are large, they
will acquire equal and opposite charge densities.

-s
E=s/e0

+s

Parallel Plates
The potential difference between the two plates is then
V+-V- = Ed=sd/e0, where d is the plate separation. If we
ground the negative plate, we can write this as V=sd/e0.
If A is the area of the plates, we can identify the total
charge on the positive surface as Q=sA=(e0A/d)V, and
once more the charge on the plate is proportional to the
voltage.
The statement QV, or Q=CV, with C a constant that
depends only on geometry is true for any configuration of
conductors. C tells us how much charge a given
conductor can hold at a given voltage; i.e., the capacity,
or in modern terms, the capacitance of the conductor.
For the parallel plate capacitor CPP=e0A/d. We also
worked out last time C for an isolated sphere:
CS=4pe0R, and C for a coaxial cable, Ccoax=2pe0L/ln(b/a).

A coaxial cable
Suppose V=V0 on the inner conductor at r=a and V=0 on
the outer conductor at r=b a common choice. Lets find
the charge/length=l for the cable.
Gausss Law E=l/2pe0r.
Then 0-V0=-ldr/2pe0r from r=a to r=b, or

V0=(l/2pe0)ln(b/a).
Note the useful property of the ln() function: ln(b)-ln(a) =
ln(b/a).
So l=2pe0V0/ln(b/a). Notice that for a length L of the
cable, Q=lL is again proportional to V: Q=
lL=2pe0L/ln(b/a)V0 = CV0
And Ccoax=2pe0L/ln(b/a).

Capacitance
Units: from Q=CV, the units for C are C/V = Farad (F).
Typical values range from 10-12F (pf or puff), to nF
(10-9F), mF (10-6F), and mF (10-3F).
In terms of capacitance units, e0= 8.85 pF/m.
A 1 mm gap 1 F PP plate capacitor would have an area of
A~(10 km)2. One farad is a huge capacitance.
A capacitor is a device that stores charge and (see later)
energy.

Energy in a capacitor
If the capacitor has a voltage V, then adding a charge
dQ will result in an increase of PE of d(PE)=VdQ.
Using V=Q/C, this is the same as d(PE)=QdQ/C.
The total D(PE) of the capacitor in charging it from 0 to
the final charge Q is then U=D(PE)=QdQ/C
=Q2/2C=CV2/2.
For a parallel plate capacitor held at fixed voltage, we
can write this as U=(e0A/d)(V/d)2d2=(e0/2)E2(Ad).
The last factor is the volume of the gap between the two
plates of the capacitor. This implies that the quantity
e0E2/2 is a volume energy density. This is very general
result: an electric field E in space carries an energy
density uE=e0E2/2.

How to make high capacitance.


Take a parallel plate
geometry with d=1mm. To
make an 8.85 mf capacitor,
we would need an area of
A=103 m2. Not very
practical!
A solution is shown at right.
A large area is obtained by
wrapping a conductor in a
roll interleaved with an
insulator, or a dielectric.
The dielectric helps boost
the capacitance too.

A dielectric gap capacitor

The free charge placed on the plates by the battery pulls induced
opposite charge from the dielectric to the surface, effectively
lowering the original charge.
To maintain the same voltage, the battery must supply more free
charge. The capacitor can thus hold more charge for a given
voltage; its capacitance increases.
For many materials, the capacitance increases by a constant factor,
the dielectric constant k. CkC.

-sF

+sF

+sI

-sI

E=(sF-sI)/e0

Examples of dielectric constants


Material

Dielectric Constant

Vacuum

Glass

5-10

Mica

3-6

Mylar

3.1

Neoprene

6.70

Plexiglas

3.40

Polyethylene

2.25

Polyvinyl chloride

3.18

Teflon

2.1

Germanium

16

Strontiun titanate

310

Titanium dioxide (rutile)

173 perp
86 para

Water

80.4

Glycerin

42.5

Liquid ammonia(-78C

25

Benzene

2.284

Air(1 atm)

1.00059

Air(100 atm)

1.0548

Dielectric details
The free charge on the plates aligns
dipoles within the dielectric.
The induced charge arises only at the
boundaries.
The amount of induced charge is for
many dielectrics proportional to the free
charge: sI=asF.
The total field in the gap is (sF-sI)/e0 =
sF(1-a)/e0. If the voltage is kept fixed,
this must equal V/d.
This implies that sFA=Q=[e0A/d/(1-a)]V;
equating k=1/(1-a), we get our result
that CkC for a dielectric.

More details
To sum up, the total charge QT on the capacitor
determines the voltage.
The total charge is the sum of the free charge that has
been put on the capacitor and the induced charge at
the dielectric surface, which has the opposite sign, QT =
QF+QI.
The free charge is related to the total charge by QF=kQT.
Charge conservation then requires QI=-(k-1)QT.

Dielectrics in capacitors I
Suppose a 24 nF air gap parallel plate capacitor is
attached to a 12 V battery. While remaining attached to
the battery , the capacitor gap is filled with a k=6
dielectric. Whats the voltage across the capacitor at the
end of this process?
A. 2 V.
B. 6 V.
C. 12 V.
D. 72 V.

Dielectrics in capacitors II
Suppose a 24 nF air gap parallel plate capacitor is
attached to a 12 V battery. While remaining attached to
the battery , the capacitor gap is filled with a k=6
dielectric. Whats the capacitance of the capacitor at the
end of this process?
A. 2 nF.
B. 4 nF.
C. 24 nF.
D. 144 nF.

Dielectrics in capacitors III


Suppose a 24 nF air gap parallel plate capacitor is
attached to a 12 V battery. While remaining attached to
the battery , the capacitor gap is filled with a k=6
dielectric. Whats the free charge on the capacitor at the
end of this process?
A. 48 nC.
B. 72 nC.
C. 288 nC.
D. 1728 nC.

Dielectrics in capacitors IV
Now suppose a 24 nF air gap parallel plate capacitor
holds a fixed free charge of 288 nC. It is not attached to
a bettery. The capacitor gap is filled with a k=6 dielectric.
Whats the free charge on the capacitor at the end of this
process?
A. 48 nC.
B. 72 nC.
C. 288 nC.
D. 1728 nC.

Dielectrics in capacitors V
Suppose a 24 nF air gap parallel plate capacitor holds a
fixed free charge of 288 nC. It is not attached to a
bettery. The capacitor gap is filled with a k=6 dielectric.
Whats the capacitance of the capacitor at the end of this
process?
A. 2 nF.
B. 4 nF.
C. 24 nF.
D. 144 nF.

Dielectrics in capacitors VI
Suppose a 24 nF air gap parallel plate capacitor holds a
fixed free charge of 288 nC. It is not attached to a
bettery. The capacitor gap is filled with a k=6 dielectric.
Whats the voltage across the capacitor at the end of this
process?
A. 2 V.
B. 6 V.
C. 12 V.
D. 72 V.

Formulas with dielectrics


Replace the no-dielectric C via CkC.
o Adding a dielectric to a C held at fixed V increases Q by k.
o Adding a dielectric to a C held at fixed Q lowers V by 1/k.
o Adding a dielectric to a C held at fixed V increases UE and uE by
k.
o Adding a dielectric to a C held at fixed Q decreases UE and uE by
1/k.

The best way to remember these is to combine CkC


with V=Q/C, UE=Q2/2C (Q fixed), or Q=CV, UE=CV2/2 (V
fixed).

Dielectric details
The free charge on the plates aligns
dipoles within the dielectric.
The induced charge arises only at the
boundaries.
The amount of induced charge is for
many dielectrics proportional to the free
charge: sI=asF.
The total field in the gap is (sF-sI)/e0 =
sF(1-a)/e0. If the voltage is kept fixed,
this must equal V/d.
This implies that sFA=Q=[e0A/d/(1-a)]V;
equating k=1/(1-a), we get our result
that CkC for a dielectric.

Ultra-capacitors

A hot technology: a battery


supplement/replacement.
Two electrodes are coated with porous activated
carbon (charcoal!), and the gap filled with an
electrolyte (a solution holding ions). The
charcoal has a huge surface area A.
The positive electrodes carbon charges by
contact, and then attracts electrons into pores
from the electrolyte. The plus and minus charges
have tiny separation d.
A similar thing happens at the negative
electrode, with the charges reversed.. A thin
separator (e.g. paper) keeps current flow flowing
in the electrolyte between the electrodes.
So CA/d can be huge, >1000 F! And no
chemical reactions allows fast charge/discharge.

You might also like