Question

Which of the following factors does not affect the capacitance of a capacitor?
(A) distance between the plates
(B) material of the plates
(C) area of the plates
(D) curvature of the plates

Answer 1

Hint The solution of this question can be determined by the formula of the capacitor. By using the capacitor formula of the capacitance of parallel plate capacitor, the factors which do not affect the capacitance of a capacitor can be determined.

Useful formula
The capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor can be given by,
$C = \dfrac{{{\varepsilon _0}A}}{d}$
Where, $C$ is the capacitance of a capacitor, ${\varepsilon _0}$ is the permittivity of the plates, $A$ is the area of the parallel plates and $d$ is the distance between the two parallel plates.

Complete step by step solution
By suing the formula of the capacitance of the parallel plate capacitors, then
The capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor can be given by,
$C = \dfrac{{{\varepsilon _0}A}}{d}\,......................\left( 1 \right)$
Where, $C$ is the capacitance of a capacitor, ${\varepsilon _0}$ is the permittivity of the plates, $A$ is the area of the parallel plates and $d$ is the distance between the two parallel plates.
From the above equation (1), the capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor will depend on the permittivity of the plates, the area of the parallel plates and the distance between the two parallel plates. And also, the capacitance is depending on the curvature of the plates. The curvature of the plates means the plate is spherical plates or the cylindrical plates.

So, that the type of the material of the plates is the only factor that does not affect the capacitance of the capacitor.

Hence, the option (B) is the correct answer.

Note The capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor is directly proportional to the permittivity of the plates and area of the parallel plates and the capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor is inversely proportional to the distance between the two parallel plates.