Rakesh Learning Academy
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ASSIGNMENT: Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance
1 Two parallel plates, separated by 2 mm of air, have a capacitance of 3× 10 −14 F and are charged to a
potential of 200 V. Then without touching the plates, they have moved apart till the separation is 6 mm.
1. What is the potential difference between the plates?
2. What is the change in energy?
2 A capacitor is made of a flat plate of area A and a second plate having a stair - like structure, as shown in
Fig. The width of each stair is a and the height is b. Find the capacitance of the assembly.
3 Figure shows a parallel plate capacitor of plate area A and plate
separation d. Its entire space is filled with three different dielectric
slabs of same thickness. Find the equivalent capacitance of the
arrangement
4 You are given an air filled parallel plate capacitor C1 . The space between its
plates is now filled with slabs of dielectric constants K 1 and K 2 as shown in
figure. Find the capacitance of the capacitor C 2 if area of the plates is A and
distance between the plates is d.
5 A parallel plate capacitor, each with plate area A and separation d is charged to a potential difference V.
The battery used to charge it remains connected. A dielectric slab of thickness d and dielectric constant K
is now placed between the plates. What change if any will take place in
1. charge on plates?
2. electric field intensity between the plates?
3. capacitance of the capacitor? Justify your answer in each case.
6 Explain briefly the process of charging a parallel plate capacitor when it is connected across a d.c. battery.
A capacitor of capacitance Cis charged to V volts by a battery. After some time the battery is disconnected
and the distance between the plates is doubled. Now a slab of dielectric constant, 1 <𝜅 < 2, is introduced
to fill the space between the plates. How will the following be affected?
1. The electric field between the plates of the capacitor.
2. The energy stored in the capacitor Justifies your answer by writing the necessary expressions.
7 Two identical parallel plate capacitors A and B are connected to a
battery of emf E volts with the switch S is closed. The switch is now
opened and the free space between the plates of the capacitors is
filled with a dielectric of dielectric constant K. Find the ratio of the
total electrostatic energy stored in both capacitors before and after
the introduction of the dielectric.
8 1. A 900pF capacitor is charged by a 100 V battery. How much electrostatic energy is stored by the
capacitor?
2. The capacitor is disconnected from the battery and connected to another 900pF capacitor. What is
the electrostatic energy stored by the system?
3. Where has the remainder of the energy gone?
9 Three point charges of 1 C, 2 C and 3 C are placed at the corners of an
equilateral triangle of side 1 m. Calculate the work required to move these
charges to the corners of a smaller equilateral triangle of sides 0.5 m as
shown in:
10 An isolated conductor cannot have a large capacitance. Why?
11
In a hydrogen atom, the electron and proton are bound at a distance of about 0.53 :
1. Estimate the potential energy of the system in eV, taking the zero of the potential energy at infinite
separation of the electron from proton.
2. What is the minimum work required to free the electron, given that its kinetic energy in the orbit is
half the magnitude of potential energy obtained in (a)?
3. What are the answers to (a) and (b) above if the zero of potential energy is taken at 1.06
separation?
12 Define an equipotential surface. Draw equipotential surfaces
1. in case of a single point charge
2. in a constant electric field in Z - direction. Why the equipotential surfaces about a single charge are
not equidistant?
3. Can electric field exist tangential to an equipotential surface? Give reason.
13 Two charges5 × 10−8 𝐶 and −3 × 10−8 𝐶 are located 16 cm apart. At what points on the line joining the
two charges in the electric potential zero? Take the potential at infinity to be zero.
14 Find the equivalent capacitance of the combination of capacitors between
points A and B as shown in Fig. Also calculate the total charge that flows
in the circuit when a 100 V battery is connected between points A and B.
15 Two point charges - q and q are located at points (0, 0, - a) and (0, 0, a) respectively.
1. Find the electrostatic potential at (0, 0, z) and (x, y, 0).
2. How much work is done in moving a small test charge from the point (5, 0, 0) to ( - 7, 0, 0) along
the x - axis?
3. How would your answer change if the path of the test charge between the same points is not along
the x - axis but along any other random path?
4. If the above point charges are now placed in the same positions in the uniform external electric
field𝐸⃗ ,what would be the potential energy of the charging system in its orientation of unstable
equilibrium?
Justify your answer in each case.
16 A parallel plate capacitor is charged to a potential difference V by a DC source. The capacitor is then
disconnected from the source. If the distance between the plates is doubled, state with reason, how the
following will change -
1. Electric field between the plates?
2. Capacitance?
3. Energy stored in the capacitor?
17 1. Derive the expression for the energy stored in parallel plate capacitor. Hence, obtain the
expression for the energy density of the electric field.
2. A fully charged parallel plate capacitor is connected across an uncharged identical capacitor. Show
that the energy stored in the combination is less than the energy stored initially in the single
capacitor.
18 1. Two - point charges q1 and q 2 are kept r distance apart in a uniform external electric field 𝐸⃗ . Find
the amount of work done in assembling this system of charges.
2. A cube of side 20 cm is kept in a region as shown in the figure. An electric field exists in the region
such that the potential at a point is given by V = 10x + 5, where V is in volt and x is in m.
Find
a. the electric field𝐸⃗ , and
b. the total electric flux through the cube.
19 Calculate potential on the axis of a disc of radius R due to a charge Q uniformly distributed on its surface.
20 Two charges - q and +q are located at points (0, 0, - a) and (0, 0, a), respectively.
1. What is the electrostatic potential at the points (0, 0, z) and (x, y, 0)?
2. Obtain the dependence of potential on the distance r of a point from the origin when r/a >> 1.
3. How much work is done in moving a small test charge from the point (5, 0, 0) to ( - 7, 0, 0) along
the x - axis? Does the answer change if the path of the test charge between the same points is not
along the x - axis?
21 1. Two isolated metal spheres A and B have radii R and 2R respectively, and the same charge q. Find
which of the two spheres have greater:
a. capacitance and
b. energy density just outside the surface of the spheres
2.
a. Show that the equipotential surfaces are closed together in the
regions of a strong field and far apart in the regions of a weak field.
Draw equipotential surfaces for an electric dipole,
b. Concentric equipotential surfaces due to a charged body placed at
the centre are shown. Identify the polarity of the charge and draw
the electric field lines due to it.
22 1. Three point charges q, - 4q and 2q are placed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle ABC of side𝑙
as shown in the figure. Obtain the expression for the magnitude of the resultant electric force
acting on the charge q.
2. Find out the amount of the work done to separate the charges at infinite distance.
