charge a parallel plate capacitor can hold.?
Estimate how much charge a 6cm2 area parallel plate capacitor filled with air can hold without creating a spark between the plates.
Can someone please show me the steps to do this problem thanks.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Air breaks down and conducts when the electric field strength is ~ 3x10^6 V/m. We'll come back to this.
A capacitor has a uniform electric field inside of it given by s/e0 where s = surface charge density on on of the plates. You can derive this very simply from Gauss' law. Now if you set E = 3 x10^6 V/m you can solve for s:
s = E*e0 = 3x10^6*8.85x10^-12 = 2.655x10^-5 Coul/m^2
You have an area of 6 cm^2 = 6x10^-4 m^2 so the charge Q is:
Q = sA = 2.655x10^-5 * 6x10^-4 = 1.59x10^-8 Coul
the greater suitable you strengthen the voltage at which you feed your costs to the capacitor, the extra costs you're able to shop on your capacitor. subsequently, capacitors carry out at severe voltages. Tasers come to techniques. you're able to boost the voltage of AC with ideas from applying a voltage-raising transformer.