University of Potsdam Applied Condensed Matter Physics Summer 2012

Polymer Science Physical & Engineering Properties Problem Set 1

Tutor: Dr. Dmitry Rychkov (Room 2.28.0.003, Tel.: (0331) 977-5452, Email: dmitry.rychkov@uni-potsdam.de)

Topics: Electric Fields, Polarization, Dielectrics

1. A parallel plate capacitor (plate separation: 1.0 cm) is charged in vacuum with a voltage of V0 = 1600 V, and subsequently disconnected from the power supply. (a) Calculate the voltage if a metal plate of 3 mm thickness is inserted between the capacitor plates without touching them. (b) Calculate the voltage if the metal plate is replaced by a glass plate ( r = 6) of the same thickness. (c) For problem (b), calculate the electric eld strength in vacuum and inside the glass plate. 2. An electret material (dielectric constant r ) contains a positive space charge layer at a distance x from the bottom electrode. The sample is short-circuited and is electrically neutral, so that compensation charges accumulate on the electrodes.
2 1

d x

E2 E1

(a) Calculate the electric elds E1 and E2 above and below the charge layer. (Hint: use Gauss law and the fact that the sample is short-circuited.) (b) Calculate the compensation charge charge densities 1 and 2 . 3. The force constant between neighboring atoms in NaCl is 36 N/m. Their equilibrium distance is 0.282 nm. (a) Each ion carries a charge of +e or e. Calculate the equilibrium dipole moment of an ion pair. (b) Calculate the change in equilibrium distance and dipole moment when a local electric eld of 1500 MV/m is applied. (c) Calculate the static polarizability. 4. Consider a parallel plate capacitor connected to a voltage source. Let the distance between the plates be d = 1 m and the applied voltage V = 150 V. The capacitor is lled with amorphous Selenium with a permittivity of r = 6 and a particle concentration of n = 3.67 1028 atoms/m3 . (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) What is the polarization within the Selenium? What is the surface charge density? Estimate the polarizability of a selenium atom. Calculate the local eld acting on a selenium atom. Calculate the induced dipole moment of a selenium atom.

Solutions:
Problem 1: The three situations which will be encountered are shown in the drawing. The initial vacuum capacitor was charged to Q1 , has a capacitance of C1 = 0 A/l, and experiences a voltage drop of V1 = Q1 /C1 .

l1 l t l2 1: Q1, V1, C1 2: Q2, V2, C2 3: Q3, V3, C3

(a) When the metal plate is inserted, mirror charges will appear on it, as shown in the drawing. The charge on the outer plates is constant, since they are isolated, therefore Q1 = Q2 . The voltage does not remain constant, neither does the capacitance. The capacitance is situation 2 is calculated by treating the system as a series connection of two capacitors, 1 1 1 l1 l2 l1 + l2 lt = + = + = = C2 C (l1 ) C (l2 ) 0 A 0 A 0 A 0 A where A is the (arbitrary) area of the capacitors. The sum of the separation lengths is equal to the distance between outer electrodes minus the thickness of the inserted metal plate, l1 + l2 = l t. The new voltage is then found from Q1 = Q2 C1 V 1 = C2 V 2 V2 = V1 C1 lt 7mm 1 0 A l t = V1 = V1 = V1 C2 l 0 A l 10mm

which evaluates to 1120 V. (b) Again we note that the charge on the outer plates must be conserved. The capacitor has changed, we now consider it to be a series connection of three capacitors: 1 1 1 1 l1 t l2 lt t = + + = + + = + C3 C (l1 ) C (t) C (l2 ) 0 A r 0 A 0 A 0 A r 0 A and the voltage becomes Q1 = Q3 which is 1200 V. (c) Again, since the capacitor plates are isolated, the amount of charge is unchanged, and therefore also the displacement, D = Q/A is unchanged. Further, we know that the displacement only changes due to free charges, therefore the insertion of a dielectric plate does not alter the amount of displacement inside the capacitor, D1 = D3 , see drawing. For clarication, the dielectric glass plate was moved to lie against the capacitor plate, which does not change the problem. lt+ 1 V3 = V1 C1 = V1 C3 l
t r

7mm + 3mm 6 = V1 =3 4 V1 10mm

a: l-t b: t 3: Q3, V3, C3

Va, Da, Ea Vb, Db, Eb

The total voltage drop from one plate to the other was calculated in the previous question. This drop can be split into two parts, the drop over the vacuum, Va , and the drop inside the dielectric, Vb , such that V3 = Va + Vb . We need to nd both Va and Vb to extract the electric elds. Da = Db 0 Ea = r 0 Eb Va Vb = r lt t Va = Vb r lt = V3 Vb t

Isolation of Vb yields Vb = V3 = 80V t 1 + r l t = Eb = Vb kV = 26.67 t m

We can now calculate the voltage drop in the vacuum, Va kV = 160 lt m We could also calculate the eld from noting that the electric eld inside the dielectric is reduced by an amount proportional to the dielectric constant, Eb = Ea /r , such that Va = V3 Vb = 1120V = Ea = Ea = r Eb = 160 the same number. kV m

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(d) Bonus question: (d) If the capacitor remains connected to the power supply, how does its charge change if either the metal plate or the glass plate is inserted between the capcaitor plates? Answer: A similar approach as previously, except now the voltages remain constant, V1 = V2 = V3 . For the insertion of the metal plate: Q1 Q2 = C1 C2 = Q2 C2 = = Q1 C1
0 A lt 0 A l

l 10 = lt 7

3 Q when inserting a metal plate. The amount of charges increases by an amount of 7

A similar approach for the dielectric plate yields Q3 C3 = = Q1 C1

0 A lt+ t 0 A l

l lt+

t r

4 3

The amount of charges increases by an amount of 1 3 Q when inserting a glass dielectric with = 6. Problem 2: We start by putting a Gauss box around the charge layer inside the electret:

E2
2 4 1 3 dA

dA dA dA

E1
Gauss Law states that the total displacement on the surface of a closed volume equals the total free charge inside that volume, D dA = Q. (a) We treat each surface in the above drawing separately: 1:
1

D dA = r 0
1

E dA = r 0 E1 A E dA = r 0 E2 A
2

2:
2

D dA = r 0 D dA = 0
3

3: 4:
4

D dA = 0 D dA = r 0 E1 A + r 0 E2 A + 0 + 0 = A = r 0 (E2 E1 )

The short circuit condition requires that the total potential drop from top to bottom is zero, V1 + V2 = 0. The electric eld below the charged layer is connected to the voltage drop in this part thorugh E1 = V1 /x, and above E2 = V2 /(d x), such that the short circuit condition may be written as V1 + V2 = 0 = E1 x + E2 (d x) = E1 x + E1 = x 1 r 0 d x E2 = + E1 = r 0 r 0 d + E1 (d x) r 0

Notice that E1 is negative and E2 positive. (b) The compensation charges are also found with the help of Gauss law,

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0 0 0

0 0
On the lower plate, 1 A =

r 0 E dA = r 0 E1 A x 1 r 0 d = 1 x d

1 = r 0

and on the upper plate, 2 = r 0 x x = r 0 d d

Notice that both the charge densities found have signs opposite to the charge in the center. Problem 3: (a) The electric dipole moment is = qd = er0 = 4.52 1029 Cm. (b) Assuming that the dipole is aligned with the electric eld lines, there will be a total force acting on the dipole given by F = 2qE = 2eE . This force is balanced by the elasticity of the problem, F = k x, F = 2eE = k x x = 2eE = 1.335 1011 m = 13.35pm k

(c) The change in polarisation due to the application of an electric eld is proportional to the polarisability, P = E . In this case, the polarisability dipole change can be calculated directly from the change in distance between the charges in the molecule, P = x q = x e = 2eE 2e2 e= E k k = = 2e2 Cm2 = 1.43 1039 k N

Problem 4: (a) The polarisation is found from the electric eld and dielectric constant by P = (r 1)0 E = 5 V C = 6.64 103 2 d m

(b) The surface charge density is also known as the displacement, D = r 0 E = 6 (c) Aided by the ClausiusMosotti: r 1 n = r + 2 30 = = 30 r 1 150 C = = 4.52 1040 n r + 2 8n Vm V C = 7.97 103 2 d m

(d) The necessary equation was given by Blythe and Bloor: EL = r + 2 8V V E= = 400 3 3d m

(e) The dipole moment induced by an applied electric eld is found from the polarisability = E = 6.785 1032 Cm

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