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
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
and dielectric constant
is partially inserted between the plates.
The short solution is based on treating the system as a combination of two capacitors in series:
- Capacitor 1 (region with dielectric): The thickness of this region is
, and the capacitance is given by:
- Capacitor 2 (region without dielectric): The thickness of this region is
, and the capacitance is:
Since the two regions are in series, the equivalent capacitance is given by:
Substituting
and
:
Simplifying:
Therefore:
When the dielectric slab thickness is
, the capacitance simplifies to:
This matches the given answer. Let me know if further clarification is needed!
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