PYL 102: Principles of Electronic Properties of Materials

Problem sheet 2
Q.1. Two parallel plates 10cm x 25cm in area are separated by sodium nitrate, r = 5.2, and are
permanently connected to a 250 V battery. What is the (a) capacitance C of this capacitor for plates
spacing L = 5cm, (b) charge on the plates 0 , (c) induced polarization P in the dielectric and (d) electric
field E in the dielectric?
Q.2. Consider the parallel plate capacitor in Q. No.1 above filled with the same dielectric. A spherical
cavity of diameter 2 mm is created inside the dielectric. What will be the local Field Eloc at the centre of
the cavity?
Q.3. If in the Q. No. 2 above the spherical cavity is replaced by (a) a needle shaped cavity or (b) a disc
shaped cavity, each of diameter 2mm and negligible thickness, what will be the local fields Eloc at the
centre of the cavities?
Q.4. Consider an ideal dipole gas placed in an electric field E = 3x 105 V/m. The dipole moment of the
gas molecule is ~ one debye ( = 10-19 C-m). Calculate the average moment contribution per dipole <p> at
room temperature (=300K). What will be the field required to reach 0.1 % of the saturation value of the
orientation polarization?
Q.5. The electronic polarizability of Ar atom is 1.7 x 10-40 F m2. What will be the static dielectric constant
of solid Ar ( below 84K) if its density is 1.8g/cm3 .
Q.6. Consider a pure Si crystal having r = 11.9. (a) What is the electronic polarizability due to valence
electrons per Si atom (if one could portion the observed crystal polarization to individual atoms)? (b)
Suppose the Si crystal is coated on its opposite sides with a metal thin film and a voltage V is applied
across it. What will be the local field inside the crystal? (c) What will be the resonant frequency 0 of the
crystal? Take the no. of Si atoms per unit volume, N = 5 x 1028/m3.
Q.7. Consider a CsCl crystal having a lattice parameter a = 0.412 nm. The electronic polarizability of Cs+
and Cl- ions are 3.35 x 10-40 F.m2 and 3.40 x 10-40 F.m2 respectively. What is the dielectric constant of the
crystal at low frequencies and at optical frequencies?
Q.8. In a gas lighter piezoelectric cylinder (length=10mm and diameter=3mm) is used. Its piezoelectric
coefficient is 250x10-12 m/V and r=1000. The spark gap has a breakdown voltage of 1kV. What force is
required to create a spark?
Q.9. A pyroelectric sensor is prepared from a material whose pyroelectric coefficient is 300x10-6 Cm-2K-1.
For a change in temperature 10-3 K what will be the value of voltage developed at this sensor?
Q.10. The resonant frequency of a piezoelectric crystal is given by 0 = (v/2w) = (1/2w)(E/)1/2 , where v
= velocity of sound in the crystal, w = width of the crystal, E = Youngs modulus and = density of the
crystal. What is the resonant frequency of a quartz crystal of width 2.5 mm? What must be the size of the
crystal to be useful in the frequency control of oscillators in kilocycle range?
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