Capacitors: Series Capacitance Concepts

[yuvlevental]

Homework Statement

The sketch below is a side view of two capacitors consisting of parallel plates in air. The capacitor plates are equal in area but the plate separation differs as shown. Individual capacitors are specified with two letters, for example YW is a single capacitor. The charge on plate Y is represented by QY.
The image is http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/7236/plotty8.png" .

Homework Equations

C = (1/2)*E0A/d
C = 1/2(CV^2)
E = (.5)(Q^2/C)

The Attempt at a Solution

stay the same The energy stored in capacitor XZ is ______ the energy stored in capacitor YW.

less than The electric field between plates Y and W is ______ the electric field between plates X and Z.

equal to The potential difference across capacitor XZ is ______ the potential difference across capacitor YW.

stay the same If the plate separation for capacitor YW decreases, the energy stored in capacitor XZ will ...

greater than QW + QX is _____ zero.

stay the same If capacitor XZ is eliminated from the circuit, the energy stored in capacitor YW will...

stay the same If capacitor YW is eliminated from the circuit, the magnitude of QX will...

What am I doing wrong?

 

[yuvlevental]

bumpe

 

[yuvlevental]

anyone??

 

[kamerling]

why do you think all those answers are true? It's hard to tell what you're doing wrong with just the answers.

 

[yuvlevental]

ok then. first of all, are the charges on all capacitors exactly the same regardless of distance and/or area on a series circuit?

And if one of the capacitors is removed, will the charge of the other one stay the same?

 

[yuvlevental]

really, i need to know