Key Terms
- capacitance
- amount of charge stored per unit volt
- capacitor
- device that stores electrical charge and electrical energy
- dielectric
- insulating material used to fill the space between two plates
- dielectric breakdown
- phenomenon that occurs when an insulator becomes a conductor in a strong electrical field
- dielectric constant
- factor by which capacitance increases when a dielectric is inserted between the plates of a capacitor
- dielectric strength
- critical electrical field strength above which molecules in insulator begin to break down and the insulator starts to conduct
- energy density
- energy stored in a capacitor divided by the volume between the plates
- induced electric-dipole moment
- dipole moment that a nonpolar molecule may acquire when it is placed in an electrical field
- induced electrical field
- electrical field in the dielectric due to the presence of induced charges
- induced surface charges
- charges that occur on a dielectric surface due to its polarization
- parallel combination
- components in a circuit arranged with one side of each component connected to one side of the circuit and the other sides of the components connected to the other side of the circuit
- parallel-plate capacitor
- system of two identical parallel conducting plates separated by a distance
- series combination
- components in a circuit arranged in a row one after the other in a circuit