Rankers Physics
Topic: Capacitors
Subtopic: Capacitor With Dielectrics

An isolated parallel-plate capacitor consists of two metal plates of area A and separation d. A slab of thickness t and dielectric constant K = 2 is inserted between the plates with its faces parallel to the plates and having the same surface area as that of the plates as shown (Fig.). Image related to The capacitance of the system is :-  
\[\frac{\varepsilon_{0}A}{\left( d-\frac{t}{2} \right)}\]
\[\frac{\varepsilon_{0}A}{\left( d+\frac{t}{2} \right)}\]
\[\frac{\varepsilon_{0}A}{d-t}\]
\[\frac{\varepsilon_{0}A}{d+t}\]

Solution:

The question involves calculating the capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor when a dielectric slab of thickness tt and dielectric constant K=2K = 2 is partially inserted between the plates.

The short solution is based on treating the system as a combination of two capacitors in series:

  1. Capacitor 1 (region with dielectric): The thickness of this region is tt, and the capacitance is given by:

    C1=ε0AKt=2ε0AtC_1 = \frac{\varepsilon_0 A K}{t} = \frac{2\varepsilon_0 A}{t}

  2. Capacitor 2 (region without dielectric): The thickness of this region is dtd - t, and the capacitance is:

    C2=ε0AdtC_2 = \frac{\varepsilon_0 A}{d - t}

Since the two regions are in series, the equivalent capacitance is given by:

1C=1C1+1C2\frac{1}{C} = \frac{1}{C_1} + \frac{1}{C_2}

Substituting C1C_1 and C2C_2:

1C=t2ε0A+dtε0A\frac{1}{C} = \frac{t}{2\varepsilon_0 A} + \frac{d - t}{\varepsilon_0 A}

Simplifying:

1C=t+2(dt)2ε0A=2dt2ε0A\frac{1}{C} = \frac{t + 2(d - t)}{2\varepsilon_0 A} = \frac{2d - t}{2\varepsilon_0 A}

Therefore:

C=2ε0A2dtC = \frac{2\varepsilon_0 A}{2d - t}

When the dielectric slab thickness is t=d2t = \frac{d}{2}, the capacitance simplifies to:

C=ε0Adt2C = \frac{\varepsilon_0 A}{d - \frac{t}{2}}

This matches the given answer. Let me know if further clarification is needed!

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