1-Capacitor Basics For a parallel plate capacitor the capacitance can be written as, A C=- d where A is the area of the plates and d separation between the two plates. Open the following simulation and select capacitance. (https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/capacitor-lab-basics/latest/capacitor-lab-basics en.html) Capacitance Top Plate Charge Stored Energy 0.30 pF Plate Charges Bar Graphs Electric Field Current Direction Use the slider on the battery to set the potential difference and click the boxes to show top plate charge and stored energy. Start with 0 V 1. Is the capacitance zero? 2. What is the charge on the top plate? 3. What is the stored energy? 4. How does the capacitance change as you increase the area? 5. How does the capacitance change as you increase the separation between the plates? As you increase the voltage of the battery to 1.5 V 6. How does the capacitance change compare to the value at 0 V? 7. How does the charge change? 8. How does the energy stored change? Keep the voltage at 1.5 V. If you increase the area 9. How does the capacitance change? 10. How does the charge change? 11. How does the energy stored change? Keep the voltage at 1.5 V. Open the switch to disconnect the capacitor from the battery. 12. How does the energy stored change?