The successful student will be able to:
- Understand the definition and function of capacitance, so they can:
- Relate stored charge and voltage for a capacitor. (IIIB2a1) (Knight 29.5)
- Relate voltage, charge, and stored energy for a capacitor. (IIIB2a2) (Knight 29.6
- Recognize situations in which energy stored in a capacitor is converted to other forms. (IIIB2a3) (Knight 29.6)
- Understand the physics of the parallel-plate capacitor, so they can:
- Derive an expression for the capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor. (IIIB2b3) (Knight 29.5)
- Determine how changes in dimension will affect the value of the capacitance. (IIIB2b4) (Knight 29.5)
- Derive and apply expressions for the energy stored in a parallel-plate capacitor and for the energy density in the field between the plates. (IIIB2b5) (Knight 29.6)
- Analyze situations in which capacitor plates are moved apart or moved closer together, or in which a conducting slab is inserted between capacitor plates, either with a battery connected between the plates or with the charge on the plates held fixed. (IIIB2b6) (Knight 29.5, 29.7)
- Understand cylindrical and spherical capacitors, so they can:
- Derive an expression for the capacitance of each. (IIIB2c2) (Knight 29.5)
- Understand the behavior of dielectrics, so they can:
- Describe how the insertion of a dielectric between the plates of a charged parallel-plate capacitor affects its capacitance and the field strength and voltage between the plates. (IIIB3a) (Knight 29.7)
- Analyze situations in which a dielectric slab is inserted between the plates of a capacitor. (IIIB3b) (Knight 29.7)
- Understand the t = 0 and steady-state behavior of capacitors connected in series or in parallel, so they can:
- Calculate the equivalent capacitance of a series or parallel combination. (IIIC3a1) (Knight 29.5)
- Describe how stored charge is divided between capacitors connected in parallel. (IIIC3a2) (Knight 29.5)
- Determine the ratio of voltages for capacitors connected in series. (IIIC3a3) (Knight 29.5)
Due date Day Assignment
3/16 Mon Read/Scan/Use Knight Chapter 29.5 Ă 29.7
3/18 Wed Do Chapter 29: 17, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 55, 57, 58, 81
- MIT's OpenCourseware presents Walter Lewin's videos for 8.02, the freshman electricity and magnetism class. MIT's equivalent of AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism.
- Prentice Hall's web page on Giancoli Chapter 17 Electric Potential and Electric Energy; Capacitance
- (no calculus)
- Haliday, Resnick and Walker's page on Chapter 26 - Capacitance (Calculus based)
- Pieter van Musschenbroek at the University of Leyden in the Netherlands invented a way to store electrical charge in 1745 in a device which became known as the Leyden Jar. These devices were the first capacitors, and an array of them, just like an array of artilery, became known as a battery.
- The Bizarre Leyden Jar page explains how to construct your own Leyden jar. As does this Leyden jar page.
- Twyla Kitts's Leyden Jar page descibes an elementary and middle school level lab for making the devices with pie plates.