Question

Consider a parallel plate capacitor having plates of area 1.75 cm2 that are separated by 0.024 mm of neoprene rubber. You may assume the rubber has a dielectric constant -κ = 6.7. What is the capacitance of the capacitor?

Answer 1

The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with plates of area 1.75 cm² and separated by 0.024 mm of neoprene rubber is approximately 41.0 picofarads (pF).

Step-by-step explanation:

The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor can be calculated using the formula:

C = ε₀ κ A / d

where:

• ε₀ is the vacuum permittivity (ε₀ ≈ 8.85 x 10⁻¹² F/m),
• κ is the dielectric constant of neoprene rubber (6.7 in this case),
• A is the area of the plates (we convert 1.75 cm² to m² by dividing by 10,000),
• d is the separation between the plates (converted from mm to meters by dividing by 1000).

Substituting the given values:

C = (8.85 x 10⁻¹² F/m) * 6.7 * (1.75 x 10⁻ m²) / (0.024 x 10⁻ m) = 4.10 x 10⁻ F or 41.0 pF