What Is the Capacitance of a Homemade Parallel Plate Capacitor?

[Evelima]

1. Homework Statement [/b]

You make a parallel plate capacitor by using two sheets of aluminum foil, each the size of a
piece of notebook paper. The foil pieces are insulated from each other by a real piece of
notebook paper. The capacitance of this arrangment is approximatelya) 10ˆ–12

b) 10ˆ–8

c) 10ˆ–5

d) 10ˆ–22. Homework Equations [/b]

C = e0 (A / d)

3. The Attempt at a Solution [/b]

C = e0 (w x l)/d
I don't think this is what the question is asking though...
Im lost!

 

[gneill]

It looks as though they want you to estimate the capacitance. So you'll need to find out the dimensions of a piece of notebook paper, whatever "notebook size" is for your part of the world.

 

[Bhumble]

Looks like you were exactly correct to me. You just need some estimated numbers. e0 is proportional to 10^-12 then you could just guess at the ratio of the area to the distance.I guessed wrong but I looked it up for notebook paper 8.5x11" and thickness is 0.15 mm.

Kind of an annoying problem though...