A parallel-plate capacitor having a plate area of 20 cm ^2 and a plate separation of 1.0 mm is connected to a battery. The circuit has a resistance of 10 k . Determine the time constant of the circuit.

Step-by-step solution

The capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor is given by C = ₀ A d Substituting the given values: C = 8.85 10⁻¹² 20 10⁻⁴ 1.0 10⁻³ C = 17.7 10⁻¹² F The time constant of the RC circuit is given by = RC = 10 10^3 17.7 10⁻¹² = 17.7 10⁻⁸ s = 0.177 s 0.18 s