Passage VI

A parallel-plale capacitor (PPC) stores electric charge on 2 separated plates when a voltage is applied across the plates. Figure 1 shows a PPC before (left) and after (right) it was filled with a dielectric (insulating mate­rial). The capacitance of an empty PPC, C₀, is the amount of charge stored per unit of applied voltage. The capaci­tance of a filled PPC, Cκ, equals C₀ multiplied by the dielectric constant, κ, of the filling material. Table 1 gives κ for 12 materials. Table 2 gives the dielectric strength, S (the maximum electric field strength at which a dielectric remains an insulator), for 7 of the materials.