Question 24.6: A 5.00 µF parallel-plate capacitor is connected to a 12.0 V battery. After the capacitor is fully charged, the battery is disconnected without loss of any of the charge on the plates. (a) A voltmeter is connected across the two plates without discharging them. What does it read? (b) What would the voltmeter read if (i) the plate separation were doubled; (ii) the radius of each plate were doubled but their separation was unchanged?
Question 24.13: A spherical capacitor is formed from two concentric, spherical, conducting shells separated by vacuum. The inner sphere has radius 15.0 cm and the capacitance is 116 pF. (a) What is the radius of the outer sphere? (b) If the potential difference between the two spheres is 220 V, what is the magnitude of charge on each sphere?
Question 24.26: A parallel-plate vacuum capacitor has 8.38 J of energy stored in it. The separation between the plates is 2.30 mm. If the separation is decreased to 1.15 mm, what is the energy stored (a) if the capacitor is disconnected from the potential source so the charge on the plates remains constant, and (b) if the capacitor remains connected to the potential source so the potential difference between the plates remains constant? Question 24.28: For the capacitor network shown in the figure, the potential difference across ab is 48 V. Find (a) the total charge stored in this network; (b) the charge on each capacitor; (c) the total energy stored in the network; (d) the energy stored in each capacitor; (e) the potential differences across each capacitor.
Question 24.41: When a 360 nF air capacitor is connected to a power supply, the energy stored in the capacitor is 1.85 × 10−5 J. While the capacitor is kept connected to the power supply, a slab of dielectric is inserted that completely fills the space between the plates. This increases the stored energy by 2.32 × 10−5 J. (a) What is the potential difference between the capacitor plates? (b) What is the dielectric constant of the slab? Question 24.43: A parallel-plate capacitor has the volume between its plates filled with plastic with dielectric constant K. The magnitude of the charge on each plate is Q. Each plate has area A, and the distance between the plates is d. (a) Use Gauss’s law as stated in the equation I KE ⃗ = Qencl−free ⃗ · dA ϵ0 to calculate the magnitude of the electric field in the dielectric. (b) Use the electric field determined in part (a) to calculate the potential difference between the two plates. (c) Use the result of part (b) to determine the capacitance of the capacitor. Compare your result to equation C K= C0
Question 24.46: A parallel-plate air capacitor is made by using two plates 12 cm square, spaced 3.7 mm apart. It is connected to a 12 V battery. (a) What is the capacitance? (b) What is the charge on each plate? (c) What is the electric field between the plates? (d) What is the energy stored in the capacitor? (e) If the battery is disconnected and then the plates are pulled apart to a separation of 7.4 mm, what are the answers to parts (a)–(d)?
Question 24.51: For the capacitor network shown in the figure, the potential difference across ab is 12.0 V. Find (a) the total energy stored in this network and; (b) the energy stored in the 4.80 µF capacitor.
Question 24.66: A parallel-plate capacitor is made from two plates 12.0 cm on each side and 4.50 mm apart. Half of the space between these plates contains only air, but the other half is filled with Plexiglas of dielectric constant 3.40 (see the figure). An 18.0 V battery is connected across the plates. (a) What is the capacitance of this combination? (Hint: Can you think of this capacitor as equivalent to two capacitors in parallel?) (b) How much energy is stored in the capacitor? (c) If we remove the Plexiglas but change nothing else, how much energy will be stored in the capacitor?
Question 24.67: Three square metal plates A, B, and C, each 12.0 cm on a side and 1.50 mm thick, are arranged as shown in the figure. The plates are sepa- rated by sheets of paper 0.45 mm thick and with dielectric constant 4.2. The outer plates are connected together and connected to point b. The inner plate is connected to point a. (a) Copy the diagram and show by plus and minus signs the charge distribution on the plates when point a is maintained at a positive potential relative to point b. (b) What is the capacitance between points a and b?
Question 24.72: Two square conducting plates with sides of length L are separated by a distance D. A dielectric slab with constant K with dimensions L × L × D is inserted a distance x into the space between the plates, as shown in the figure. (a) Find the capacitance C of this system. (b) Suppose that the capacitor is con- nected to a battery that maintains a constant potential difference V between the plates. If the dielectric slab is inserted an additional distance dx into the space between the plates, show that the change in stored energy is
(K − 1)ϵ0 V 2 L dU = + dx 2D
(c) Suppose that before the slab is moved by dx, the plates are disconnected from the battery, so that the charges on the plates remain constant. Determine the magnitude of the charge on each plate, and then show that when the slab is moved dx farther into the space between the plates, the stored energy changes by an amount that is the negative of the expression for dU given in part (b). (d) If F is the force exerted on the slab by the charges on the plates, then dU should equal the work done against this force to move the slab a distance dx. Thus dU = −F dx. Show that applying this expression to the result of part (b) suggests that the electric force on the slab pushes it out of the capacitor, while the result of part (c) suggests that the force pulls the slab into the capacitor. (e) Figure 24.16 shows that the force in fact pulls the slab into the capacitor. Explain why the result of part (b) gives an incorrect answer for the direction of this force, and calculate the magnitude of the force. (This method does not require knowledge of the nature of the fringing field.)
