Question

What property of objects is best measured by their capacitance?

a) ability to conduct electric current
b) ability to distort an external electrostatic field
c) ability to store charge

Answer 1

Capacitance measures an object's ability to store charge, and is dependent on the geometry of conductor arrangement and the dielectric properties between conductors. It is measured in farads, with one farad being equivalent to one coulomb of charge per one volt.

Step-by-step explanation:

The property of objects that is best measured by their capacitance is their ability to store charge. A capacitor, which is an arrangement of objects that can store electrical energy due to their geometry, has a capacitance that is directly proportional to the electric potential energy it can store per unit electric potential. The capacitance of a system depends only on the geometry of the conductor arrangement and the physical properties of the dielectric between the conductors.

It is important to note that capacitance is not related to a material's ability to conduct electric current nor is it primarily about distorting an external electrostatic field. Instead, it defines how much charge can be separated for a given electric potential, that is, how much electric energy is stored or held in potential. The SI unit of capacitance is the farad (F), where 1 farad equals 1 coulomb (C) per 1 volt (V).

Answer 2

c) ability to store charge

Step-by-step explanation:

The capacity of an object gives a measure of the ability of the object to store electric charge. In formula, it is defined as the ratio between the charge stored on the object and the electric potential on the object:

`C=(Q)/(V)`

where

Q is the charge

V is the voltage

Therefore, an object with a larger capacity than another object means that if the two objects are at same voltage V, the first object can store more charge than the second object.