Practice Questions: Topic 4 Capacitors

1. Capacitor is a device that stores ______. 5. Simple circuit used for charging and
discharging a capacitor. Which of the following
A. electric charge only statements is/are true?

B. electric potential energy only

C. electric potential

D. charge and electric potential energy

2. Which of the following is a unit of capacitance?

I. The capacitor charges when switch is at
II. The capacitor charges when switch is at
A. Coulomb III. The capacitor discharges when switch is
at
B. Farad
IV. The capacitor discharges when switch is
C. Volt at

D. Joule A. I and III

3. Which of the following is a circuit symbol for a B. I and IV

capacitor?
C. II and III

A. D. II and IV

B. 6. What is the voltage across the plates of a

capacitor if the capacitance is 10 µF and the
C. charge stored is 30 µC?

D. A. 0.33 V

B. 3.0 V
4. The figure shows a charged capacitor. What is
the net charge on the capacitor? C. 300 V

D. 600 V
A. (+q) + ( q) = 0

B. |+q| + | q| = 0 7. A parallel-plate capacitor stores

when fully charged by the application of a
C. |+q| + | q| = 2q potential difference across its plates. What is its
D. q capacitance?

A.
B.
C.
D.

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8. A capacitor stores charge Q at a potential 12. Suppose you charge a parallel plate capacitor
difference V. What happens if the voltage using a battery and then remove the battery,
applied to the capacitor by a battery is doubled to isolating the capacitor and leaving it charged. You
2 V? then move the plates of the capacitor farther
apart. The potential difference between the plates
The capacitance falls to half its initial will _____.
A.
value, and the charge remains the same
The capacitance and the charge both A. increase
B.
fall to half their initial values
The capacitance and the charge both B. decrease
C.
double
The capacitance remains the same, and C. stay the same
D.
the charge doubles D. not be determinable
9. A parallel plate capacitor has a capacitance
equal to . What would be its capacitance if the 13. Suppose you have a parallel plate capacitor
area of each of the two plates doubled and their with area A and plate separation d, but space
separation distance quadrupled? constraints on a circuit board force you to reduce
the area of the capacitor by a factor of 2. What do
you have to do to compensate and retain the same
A. value of the capacitance?
B.
A. reduce d by a factor of 2
C.
B. increase d by a factor of 2
D.
C. reduce d by a factor of 4
10. The capacitance of a charged parallel plate D. increase d by a factor of 4
capacitor can be increased by ____.

14. A parallel plate capacitor is connected to a

A. increasing the charge battery for charging. After some time, while the
B. decreasing the charge battery is still connected to the capacitor, the
distance between the capacitor plates is doubled.
C. increasing the plate separation Which of the following is (are) true?

D. decreasing the plate separation

The electric field between the plates is
A.
halved
11. Which of the following is (are) proportional to
The potential difference of the battery
the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor? B.
is halved
the charge stored on each conducting C. The capacitance doubles
A.
plate
The potential difference across the
D.
the potential difference between the plates does not change
B.
two plates
the separation distance between the
C.
two plates
D. the area of each plate

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15. The distance between the plates of a parallel 18. Capacitors connected in series always have
plate capacitor is reduced by half and the area of the same ______?
the plates is doubled. What happens to the
capacitance? A. capacitance

A. It remains unchanged B. charge

B. It doubles C. potential difference

C. It quadruples D. dielectric strength

D. It is reduced by half 19. Capacitors connected in parallel always have

the same ______?
16. A parallel plate capacitor of capacitance C has
plates of area A with distance d between them. A. capacitance
When the capacitor is connected to a battery
supplying potential difference V, it has a charge of B. charge
magnitude Q on its plates. While the capacitor is
connected to the battery, the distance between C. potential difference
the plates is decreased by a factor of 3. The
D. dielectric strength
magnitude of the charge on the plates and the
capacitance will then be ___.
20. identical capacitors are connected in series.
The capacitance of one of them is equal to . What
A. is the equivalent capacitance of all capacitors?

B. A.

C. B.

C.
D.
D.

17. The potential drop for a circuit with three

21. identical capacitors are connected in
capacitors of different individual capacitances in
parallel. The capacitance of one of them is equal
series connection is
to . What is the equivalent capacitance of all
capacitors?
the same across each capacitor and has
A. the same value as the potential
difference supplied by the battery A.
the same across each capacitor and has
B.
B. of the value of the potential difference
supplied by the battery C.
largest across the capacitor with the
C.
smallest capacitance D.
largest across the capacitor with the
D.
largest capacitance

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22. The total capacitance of two capacitors 25. Three capacitors are connected to a battery as
connected in series is _________ the lowest value shown in the figure. If C1 = C2 = C3 V
capacitor. = 10.0 V, what is the charge on capacitor C3?

A. equal to

B. greater than

C. less than

D. opposite

23. Three capacitors, each with capacitance C, are

connected as shown in the figure. What is the
equivalent capacitance for this arrangement of A.
capacitors?
B.

C.
D.

A.
26. Three capacitors of capacity 4 µF, 6 µF, and 8
B. µF are connected in series with a battery of 13 V.
What is the potential difference across the 6 µF
C. capacitor?
D.
A. 4V
24. Three capacitors, each with capacitance C, are B. 6V
connected as shown in the figure. What is the
equivalent capacitance for this arrangement of C. 8V
capacitors?
D. 9V

27. What is the equivalent capacitance for the

three capacitors shown below?

A.

B.

C.
D.
A.

B.

C.
D.

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28. In the circuit shown, what would be the 31. In the circuit shown in the figure, the
equivalent single capacitor which would replace capacitance for each capacitor is C. What is the
the three? equivalent capacitance for these three capacitors?

A.

B.

C.

D.
A.

B.
32. The capacitance of a capacitor is 47µF, and the
C. voltage difference across the capacitor is 6.0 V.
What is the energy stored in the capacitor?
D.
A.
29. A 1.50 µF capacitor charged to 40.0 V and a
2.40 µF capacitor charged to 15.0 V are connected B.
to each other, with the positive plate of each
connected to the negative plate of the other. What C.
is the final charge on the 1.50 µF capacitor?
D.

A. 1.82 µC
33. When a capacitor has a charge of absolute
B. 5.74 µC value 80 µC on each plate the potential difference
across the plates is 10 V. How much energy is
C. 9.23 µC stored in this capacitor when the potential
difference across its plates is 120 V?
D. 15.8 µC
A. 0.48 mJ
30. In circuit shown, calculate the charge on C 3,
where = 10 V, C1 = C2 = 6 F and C3 = 3 F. B. 58 mJ
C. 0.36 J
D. 0.12 J

34
capacitor of a camera flash unit charged to 300.0
V?
A. 1.22 J
A. 9 µC B. 8.10 J
B. 12 µC C. 45.0 J
C. 24 µC D. 115 J

D. 36 µC

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35. A capacitor stores energy when it holds 39. How does the capacitance of a parallel-plate
charge . The same capacitor stores energy capacitor affected by filling the space between the
when it holds charge . What is the ratio plates with an insulator ?
?
A. increases
A. 16
B. decreases
B. 64
C. remains the same
C. 128
D. fluctuates
D. 256
40. When a dielectric is placed between the plates
36. Two capacitors are identical. They can be of a charged, isolated capacitor, what happens to
connected in series or in parallel to a circuit. How the electric field inside the capacitor?
should they be connected to get the smallest
equivalent capacitance or the maximum possible
energy stored when connected to a battery? A. increases

B. decreases
Smallest Equivalent Maximum
Capacitance Energy C. stays the same
A. Series Series increases if the charge on the plates is
D.
B. Series Parallel positive

C. Parallel Series 41. The space between the plates of an isolated

parallel plate capacitor is filled with a slab of
D. Parallel Parallel dielectric material. The magnitude of the charge Q
on each plate is kept constant. If the dielectric
37. A capacitor is created out of two metal plates material is removed the energy stored in the
and an insulating material called a _____. capacitor.

A. inductor A. increases

B. resistor B. decreases

C. dielectric C. stays the same

D. variable resistor D. may increase or decrease

38. The advantage of using a dielectric in a 42. What is the capacitance of two parallel plates
capacitor is that it ___. 0.9 mm apart with an area of 12 cm 2 if the space
between the plates is filled with a material with
increases the capacitance of the dielectric constant of 3.7?
A.
capacitor
increases the conductivity of the
B. A. 3.7 F
capacitor
decreases the charging time of the
C. B. 44 pF
capacitor
D. makes the capacitor dissipate less power C. 76 F

D. 130 F

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Free Response:

1. State whether each of the following statements about an isolated parallel plate capacitor is true or false.

a. When the distance between the plates of the capacitor is doubled, the energy stored in the
capacitor doubles.
b. Increasing the distance between the plates increases the electric field between the plates.
c. When the distance between the plates is halved, the charge on the plates stays the same.
d. Inserting a dielectric between the plates increases the charge on the plates.
e. Inserting a dielectric between the plates decreases the energy stored in the capacitor.

2. Suppose a thundercloud with a width of 2.0 km and a length of 3.0 km hovers at an altitude of 0.50 km
over a flat area. The cloud carries a charge of 160 C, and the ground has no charge. Approximate the
cloud-ground system as a parallel plate capacitor.

a. What is the capacitance of the cloud-ground system capacitor?

b. What is the potential difference between the cloud and the ground?

3. Two conductors having net charges of +10.0 µC and -10.0 µC have a potential difference of 10.0 V
between them.

a. Determine the capacitance of the system.

b. What is the potential difference between the two conductors if the charges on each are increased
to +100 µC and -100 µC?

4.
a. How much charge is on each plate of a 4.00 µF capacitor when it is connected to a 12.0 V battery?

b. If this same capacitor is connected to a 1.50 V battery, what charge is stored?

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5. An air-filled parallel-plate capacitor has plates of area 2.30 cm2 separated by 1.50 mm.

a. Find the value of its capacitance. The capacitor is connected to a 12.0-V battery.

b. What is the charge on the capacitor?

c. What is the magnitude of the uniform electric field between the plates?

6. Two capacitors, and , are connected to a 9.00 V battery.

a. If the two capacitors are connected to the battery in parallel, find:

i. the equivalent capacitance of the combination.

ii. the potential difference across each capacitor.

iii. the charge stored on each capacitor.

b. If the two capacitors are connected to the battery in series, find:

i. the equivalent capacitance of the combination.

ii. the charge on each capacitor.

iii. the potential difference across each capacitor. The potential difference across each is:

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7. The potential difference across two capacitors in series is 120 V. The capacitances are
.

a. What is the total capacitance of this pair of capacitors?

b. What is the charge on each capacitor?

c. What is the potential difference across each capacitor?

8. What is the total energy stored by the capacitors? Three capacitors with capacitances
are wired to a battery with , as shown in the figure.

a. What is the total capacitance in the circuit?

b. What is the total charge supplied?

c. What is the potential drop across capacitor ?

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9. Referring to the figure, decide which of the equations in the table below is (are) true. Assume that all of
the capacitors have different capacitances.
The potential difference across capacitor is .
The potential difference across capacitor is .
The potential difference across capacitor is .
The potential difference across capacitor is .
The charge stored in capacitor is .
The charge stored in capacitor is .
The charge stored in capacitor is .
The charge stored in capacitor is .

Equations True/ False

10. The figure shows a circuit with .

a. The switch is closed, to A, and the capacitor is fully charged. Find,

i. The charge delivered to the capacitor.

ii. the energy delivered by the battery

iii. the energy stored in .

b. Then the switch is thrown to B and the circuit is allowed to reach equilibrium. Which of the
statements below are true? Tick the appropriate box.

The potential difference across is equal to the potential difference across

The potential difference across is more than the potential difference across
The potential difference across is less than the potential difference across

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11. When a capacitor has a charge of magnitude 60.0 µC on each plate, the potential difference across the
plates is 12.0 V.

a. What is the capacitance of the capacitor?

b. How much energy is stored in this capacitor when the potential difference across its plates is
?

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