- #1
gareth
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Say we have a parallel plate capacitor which is charged using a DC source.
In my understanding there is a build up of excess positve and negative charge on opposing plates of the capacitor (depending on which plates are connected to the positive and negative terminals of the DC source).
My question is as follows; do we know where this excess charge actually is?
Does the charge distribute istself evenly over the surface of the metal which is in contact with the dielectric? and if so, what kind of distribution are we talking about?
Is it a sudden step? i.e. all the atoms on the surface acquire 1 extra electron and when the potential difference of the battery is equals the charge of these electrons it stops? so the higher the DC voltage the "thicker" the layer of excess electrons is on the plate?
As you guessed I'm confused/curious about this topic.
Thanks for help, links are welcome aswell!
In my understanding there is a build up of excess positve and negative charge on opposing plates of the capacitor (depending on which plates are connected to the positive and negative terminals of the DC source).
My question is as follows; do we know where this excess charge actually is?
Does the charge distribute istself evenly over the surface of the metal which is in contact with the dielectric? and if so, what kind of distribution are we talking about?
Is it a sudden step? i.e. all the atoms on the surface acquire 1 extra electron and when the potential difference of the battery is equals the charge of these electrons it stops? so the higher the DC voltage the "thicker" the layer of excess electrons is on the plate?
As you guessed I'm confused/curious about this topic.
Thanks for help, links are welcome aswell!