Rankers Physics
Topic: Capacitors
Subtopic: Parallel Plate Capacitor

A parallel plate capacitor has capacitance C. If charge Q is given to one plate and another plate is kept uncharged. The potential difference between the plates is
zero
Q/C
Q/2C
Can't be determined

Solution:

To derive the potential difference between the plates when one plate is given a charge QQ and the other plate is uncharged, let's go step by step:


1. Induced Charge on the Opposite Plate

When a charge QQ is placed on one plate, the other uncharged plate will develop an induced charge of Q-Q (due to electrostatic induction). This creates an electric field between the plates.


2. Net Capacitance of the System

For a parallel plate capacitor, the capacitance is given by:

C=ε0AdC = \frac{\varepsilon_0 A}{d}

However, we are not dealing with the conventional capacitor configuration here. Instead, only one plate is directly charged while the other has an induced charge.

The effective charge separation across the plates is the same, but the field contributions are halved because the uncharged plate contributes only via induction. This effectively makes the potential difference behave as if the charge on the capacitor were shared equally across its plates.


3. Potential Difference

The potential difference VV across the plates is related to the charge QQ by:

V=QeffectiveCV = \frac{Q_{\text{effective}}}{C}

Here, the effective charge separation contributes as if the charge on each plate were effectively halved due to induction:

Qeffective=Q2Q_{\text{effective}} = \frac{Q}{2}

Substitute QeffectiveQ_{\text{effective}} into the equation for VV:

V=Q2CV = \frac{\frac{Q}{2}}{C} V=Q2CV = \frac{Q}{2C}


Final Answer:

The potential difference between the plates is:

V=Q2CV = \frac{Q}{2C}

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