JAMB - Physics (2001 - No. 23)

when a piece of rectangular glass block is inserted between two parallel capacitor,at constant plate area and distance of separation, the capacitance of the capacitor will
increase
decrease
decrease then increase
remain constant

Explanation

When you insert a dielectric material (like glass) between the plates, the permittivity ε increases because the dielectric constant k of glass is greater than that of air or vacuum. The new capacitance when a dielectric is inserted is given 

C′ = \(\frac{\text{kεoA}}{\text{d}}\)

where k is the dielectric constant of the glass, and ε\(_0\) is the permittivity of free space.

Since k >1 for glass, inserting it increases the capacitance:

C ′ = kC

Thus, with the glass block inserted, the capacitance C′ will be greater than the original capacitance C.

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