PHYS 102 Lecture Notes - Eocene, Farad, Electric Field

• School: McGill University
• Department: Physics
• Course: PHYS 102
• Professor: Zaven Altounian

Document Summary

A pair of conducting surfaces separated by a gap constitute a capacitor. If a capacitor is connected to a battery, after a very short time each plate acquires a charge. The charge on the capacitor is defined to be the charge on its positively charged plate. The amount of charge is directly proportional to the potential difference of the battery. Q = cv: where c is the capacitance of the capacitor. If c is large, so is q for a given v. Capacitance refers to the capacity to accumulate charges. Units for capacitance: c/v = farad [f] The capacitance c depends on the construction of the capacitor. The larger the area of the plates, the more charges can be put on the plate. The smaller the separation, d, between the plates, the greater the attraction between the oppositely charged plates. This will allow more charges to be deposited on each plate. Where the proportionality constant is the permittivity of vacuum.