When a capacitor is discharged, the electric charge on its plates will dissipate quickly. In just a few milliseconds, the charge will be completely gone. The voltage across the capacitor will also decrease quickly, reaching its minimum value shortly after t 0.
The charge on the capacitor plates is determined by the voltage applied to them and the capacitance of the device. Immediately after time t 0, the voltage across the capacitor plates is zero and the charge on each plate is equal. As time progresses, the voltage across the plates increases until it reaches its maximum value. At this point, the charge on each plate is also at its maximum value. The charge on the capacitor plates then begins to decrease as the voltage drops back down to zero.
In an ideal capacitor, each plate would be charged to the same voltage. If a capacitor is charged up to a potential of 1.5 Volts, and it is then connected across a resistor of 1K ohms, what happens to the charge on each plate when time t=0?
The capacitor completely discharges. The initial charge of the capacitor will be $1.5 * 0 = 0 V$. At the end of this process, the capacitor will have a voltage of 1.5 V across its terminals.
This is because electrons will flow from the plate with a higher charge to the plate with a lower charge. This is similar to what happens when you pour water from a high container to a low container. The water in the high container will start to decrease and the water in the low container will increase.
What is capacitance?
Capacitance is the ability of a capacitor to store electrical energy in the form of an electric field. Capacitance is measured in farads and is determined by the size of the plates, the distance between the plates, and the type of material that separates the plates.
Immediately after time t 0, what happens to the charge on the capacitor plates? The charge on each plate remains constant as long as there is no current flowing through the capacitor.
