What happens to the capacitance if the distance between the plates increases while the plate area remains fixed?

What happens to the capacitance if the distance between the plates increases while the plate area remains fixed?

• A. Capacitance increases
• B. Capacitance decreases
• C. Capacitance remains the same
• D. Capacitance becomes infinite

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that the capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor depends on geometry through C = ε A / d. With the plate area fixed and the distance between plates increasing, the denominator grows while the numerator stays the same, so the capacitance decreases. Doubling the gap halves the capacitance; making the gap very large pushes the capacitance toward zero. This happens because larger separation weakens the electric coupling between the plates, storing less charge for the same voltage.

The key idea is that the capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor depends on geometry through C = ε A / d. With the plate area fixed and the distance between plates increasing, the denominator grows while the numerator stays the same, so the capacitance decreases. Doubling the gap halves the capacitance; making the gap very large pushes the capacitance toward zero. This happens because larger separation weakens the electric coupling between the plates, storing less charge for the same voltage.