Skip to content
Question of 56

Q.Derive an expression for the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor.

Andhra Pradesh BieapBIEAP Intermediate Board 2020Subjective· 4mImportance★★★★★
0% · 0/56 Questions
🔒 Locked · start free trial →

You're viewing a preview — the full solution, concept, methods & PYQ mapping are locked.

Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →

Using Gauss's law to find the field between the plates and then integrating to get the potential difference, the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor works out to C=ε0A/dC = \varepsilon_0 A/d.

Consider a parallel plate capacitor made of two large, plane, parallel conducting plates, each of area A, separated by a small distance d, with vacuum (or air) between them. Let the plates carry charges +Q+Q and −Q-Q, so the surface charge density is σ=Q/A\sigma = Q/A.

Step 1 — Field between the plates: Using Gauss's law, the field due to an infinite charged plane sheet of surface density σ\sigma is E=σ/2ε0E = \sigma/2\varepsilon_0 on each side. Between the two oppositely charged plates, the fields due to both plates add up (they point in the same direction in the region between the plates), while outside the plates they cancel. So the net field between the plates is:

E=σ2ε0+σ2ε0=σε0=Qε0AE = \dfrac{\sigma}{2\varepsilon_0} + \dfrac{\sigma}{2\varepsilon_0} = \dfrac{\sigma}{\varepsilon_0} = \dfrac{Q}{\varepsilon_0 A}

Step 2 — Potential difference: Since the field between the plates is uniform, the potential difference between the plates is:

…

Unlock everything free for 14 days

  • Full step-by-step solutions
  • Concept-first explanations
  • Methods, shortcuts & mistakes
  • PYQ mapping + timed mock tests

Full access for 14 days. No credit card required.