Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

(1) A capacitor is said to carry a charge Q. What is the net charge on the entir

ID: 1709450 • Letter: #

Question

(1) A capacitor is said to carry a charge Q. What is the net charge on the entire capacitor? (Explain your answer).

(2) A medical defibrillator stores 1000 J of energy in a 100 microF capacitor. What is the voltage across the capacitor?

(3) You are given a thin copper sheet of 20 cm x 40 cm, a piece of paper (see table 23.1) of 20 cm x 25 cm x 0.2mm, plus wires as needed. How would you construct a capacitor? (You could cut the copper sheet). What will be the largest capacitance that you can achieve? What will be the breakdown voltage of your capacitor?

Explanation / Answer

1) net charge on the entire capacitor is also Q

2) Given

     energy stored in the capacitor U = 1000 J

     capacitance of the capcitor   C = 100F  

      energy stored in the capacitor is

                          U = ( 1/2) C V 2  

                        1000 = 0.5 * 100F * V 2  

                          V2   = 20 *10 6  

                           V   = 4472.135 V

3) Given

      Area of copper sheet A = 20 *40 cm 2

dielectric constant of paper is   K = 3.5

distance between plates   d = 0.2mm

   largest capacitance of the capacitor

                    C = o A K / d

                    = ( 8.85*10 -12 ) ( 20*40*10 -4 ) ( 3.5 ) / 0.2*10 -3

   = 1.239*10 -8 F