Item RG111002: Either increasing the charge of the plates in a capacitor or increasing the thickness of the insulating layer would change the amount of electrostatic potential energy.
A scientist is designing a new capacitor. A capacitor is a device that is used to store an electrostatic charge. It is composed of two large conductive plates separated by a nonconductive insulating layer. He can change the charge on the plates or the thickness of the insulating layer.
Which of the following would change the amount of electrostatic potential energy stored in the capacitor?
- Either increasing the charge of the plates or increasing the thickness of the insulating layer would change the amount of electrostatic potential energy.
- Increasing the charge of the plates would change the amount of electrostatic potential energy, but increasing the thickness of the insulating layer would not.
- Increasing the thickness of the insulating layer would change the amount of electrostatic potential energy, but increasing the charge of the plates would not.
- Neither increasing the thickness of the insulating layer nor increasing the charge of the plates would change the amount of electrostatic potential energy.
- Distribution of Responses
- Scale Score for Item Difficulty
(200[Easy]-800[Difficult]) - 518
- Students Responding Correctly
Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
---|---|---|---|
Overall | 1244 | 3831 | 33% |
Grades | |||
4–5 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
6–8 | 600 | 2001 | 30% |
9–12 | 644 | 1830 | 35% |
Gender | |||
Male | 600 | 1813 | 33% |
Female | 605 | 1922 | 31% |
Primary Language | |||
English | 1124 | 3401 | 33% |
Other | 88 | 329 | 27% |
- Disciplinary Core Ideas
- PS3.A A system of objects may also contain stored (potential) energy, depending on their relative positions.
PS3.C When two objects interacting through a field change relative position, the energy stored in the field is changed. - NRC Framework
- Energy is also stored in the electric fields between charged particles and the magnetic fields between magnets, and it changes when these objects are moved relative to one another.