Capacitor Demonstration
This applet is a simulation of a rectangular parallel-plate
capacitor. You can vary the separation between the plates, as well as
the width of the plates. The depth of the plates is a constant 240
mm, which is pretty big for a capacitor. The convention here is that
one pixel equals one millimeter. You can also change the potential
difference V between the plates of the capacitor.
- To change the voltage (potential difference) across the capacitor,
use the chooser in the upper right-hand corner.
- To change the size of the capacitor, move the mouse cursor onto
the capacitor's right or bottom edge so that the cursor changes to one
of the resize cursors. Then drag to move the edge of the capacitor.
The upper left corner is fixed. You cannot make the capacitor more
than 240 pixels high or wide.
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Watch how the capacitance C, the charge Q, and the
electrical energy U change when you change the size of the
capacitor and the voltage.
Questions
How does the capacitance of the parallel-plate capacitor depend on
- The area of the plates?
- The separation between the plates?
- The potential difference between the plates?
- The electric charge on the plates?
How does the energy stored in the capacitor depend on
- The capacitance?
- The potential difference between the plates?
- The electric charge on the plates?
I'm working on improving the dragging, but don't hold your breath...
Copyright
2000
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. All Rights Reserved.