A circular parallel plate capacitor with radius 6cm is separated by 0.12cm. Calculate the capacitance of the capacitor [\(\pi\) = 3.142, ε\(_0\) = 8.85 x 10...

Answer Details

For a parallel-plate capacitor with air (or vacuum) between the plates, the capacitance depends only on the geometry: \[C = \frac{\varepsilon_0 A}{d},\] where \(A\) is the area of overlap of one plate and \(d\) the separation. Wider plates store more charge for the same voltage, and closer plates do too, which is why \(A\) is on top and \(d\) underneath. Because \(\varepsilon_0\) is quoted in SI units, both the area and the separation must be converted to metres before substituting.

The plates are circular, so the area is \[A = \pi r^{2} = 3.142 \times (0.06)^{2} = 3.142 \times 3.6 \times 10^{-3} = 1.131 \times 10^{-2}\ \text{m}^{2},\] using \(r = 6\ \text{cm} = 0.06\ \text{m}\). The separation is \(d = 0.12\ \text{cm} = 1.2 \times 10^{-3}\ \text{m}\). Substituting: \[C = \frac{(8.85 \times 10^{-12})(1.131 \times 10^{-2})}{1.2 \times 10^{-3}} = (8.85 \times 10^{-12}) \times 9.426 = 8.34 \times 10^{-11}\ \text{F}.\] So the capacitance is about \(8.3 \times 10^{-11}\ \text{F}\), which is 83 pF.

Two traps sit in this question. The first is using the diameter as the radius or forgetting to square the radius, which changes the area by a factor of four. The second is leaving centimetres in place: since \(1\ \text{cm}^{2} = 10^{-4}\ \text{m}^{2}\) and \(1\ \text{cm} = 10^{-2}\ \text{m}\), a mixed substitution shifts the power of ten. Note as well that any physically real capacitance of a small air capacitor must come out as a tiny fraction of a farad, so a positive index such as \(10^{11}\ \text{F}\) can be rejected on sight.