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Difficulty: MediumCapacitors

A technician needs to modify a parallel-plate capacitor to increase its capacitance for an audio filtering application. Which design change will accomplish this?

  1. A
    Inserting a solid iron core between the plates to concentrate magnetic flux
  2. Increasing the surface area of the conductive plates while decreasing the separation distance between themAnswer
  3. C
    Replacing the insulating dielectric spacer with a conductive aluminum strip
  4. D
    Widening the plate separation gap to permit steady direct current to flow through the component

Answer

Increasing the surface area of the conductive plates while decreasing the separation distance between them
Capacitance (CC) of a parallel-plate capacitor is given by the formula C=εAdC = \frac{\varepsilon A}{d}, where ε\varepsilon represents the permittivity of the dielectric, AA is the surface area of the plates, and dd is the distance between them. Increasing the plate surface area and decreasing the separation distance between the plates directly increases the capacitance.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the formula governing the capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor.
The capacitance formula is C=εAdC = \frac{\varepsilon A}{d}, where CC is capacitance, ε\varepsilon is the permittivity of the dielectric material, AA is the plate surface area, and dd is the plate separation distance.
Capacitance is determined by the physical geometry of the plates and the insulating properties of the dielectric.
2
Determine which physical modifications increase the value of CC.
Increasing the plate area (AA) and decreasing the separation distance (dd) both increase the total capacitance.
A larger plate area accommodates more electric charge at a given voltage, while a smaller gap strengthens the electrostatic field between the plates.

Key Concept

Physical factors affecting parallel-plate capacitance
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Capacitors

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