Teaching Physics with the Physics Suite

Edward F. Redish

Home | Action Research Kit| Sample Problems | Resources | Product Information

Problems Sorted by Type | Problems Sorted by Subject | Problems Sorted by Chapter in UP

Comparing capacitors 2

A series of parallel plate capacitors are connected to a battery as shown in the figure below and have the areas and separations of the plates shown in the table at the right.

Capacitor

Area

Plate
Separation

(a)

A

d

(b)

2A

d

(c)

A

d/2

(d)

2A

d/2

A. Rank the capacitors according to the magnitude of the electric field between their plates. Use a ranking such as E>F=G>H=0, that is, only use " >" signs, indicate if any two situations produce equal fields, and indicate if any of the fields are zero.  

B. Rank the capacitors according to the amount of charge on their top plates. Use a ranking such as E>F=G>H=0, that is, only use " >" signs, indicate if any two situations produce equal charge, and indicate if any of the charges are zero.

C. Rank the capacitors according to the net (total) amount of charge they contain. Use a ranking such as E>F=G>H=0, that is, only use " >" signs, indicate if any two situations produce equal charge, and indicate if any of the charges are zero.


Page last modified April 19, 2008: E53