charging and discharging of capacitors

thereddevils

The questions says an isolated conductor has charge Q ...

is isolated the same as uncharged ? If so , how can it have charge Q ?

Also , if an earthed conductor is brought near a positively charged capacitor , some of the negative charges will move to the +ve charged capacitor and vice versa , so would the charge still remain constant ? Or the amount of charge that leave the capacitor equal the amount that came in ?

ehild

Isolated means that the conductor is not connected to anything.

A capacitor usually has two plates, with equal and opposite charges. What do you mean on positively charged capacitor?

Charges can move to one body to an other one if there is some conducting contact between the objects.


ehild

thereddevils

could it be that the positively charged capacitor have positive charges on both plates ? Then when it is brought near to a negatively charged conductor , the charges will move across each other right ? Then will the amount of charges on the capacitor the same now ?

ehild

The charges can not jump to one plate of a capacitor onto the other one.


ehild

thereddevils

what if it is connected to a battery ? I thought the battery would pump the charges around .

ehild

No, the charges can move only in the wires which connect one pole of the battery to one plate of the capacitor.

ehild

thereddevils

oh , so the charges can only move to the other side of the plate through the battery ?

ehild

Yes.