Question:
Two parallel plate capacitors are filled with the same dielectric material and have the same plate area. However, the plate separation of capacitor 1 is twice that of capacitor 2. When capacitor 1 is connected across the terminals of an ac generator, the generator delivers an rms current of 0.60 A. Concepts: (i) Which of the two capacitors has the greater capacitance? (ii) Is the equivalent capacitance of the parallel combination (CP) greater or smaller than the capacitance of capacitor 1? (iii) Is the capacitive reactance of CP greater or smaller than for C1? (iv) When both capacitors are connected in parallel across the terminals of the generator, is the current from the generator greater or smaller than when capacitor 1 is connected alone? Calculations: What is the current delivered by the generator when both capacitors are connected in parallel across the terminals?