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### College Physics (Urone)

Book edition 1st Edition
Author(s) Paul Peter Urone
Pages 1272 pages
ISBN 9781938168000

# How does the energy contained in a charged capacitor change when a dielectric is inserted, assuming the capacitor is isolated and its charge is constant? Does this imply that work was done?

Energy is increased by the insertion of dielectric.

See the step by step solution

## Step 1: Definition of Dielectric

A dielectric material is a substance that conducts electricity poorly but efficiently supports electrostatic fields.

## Step 2: Determining the energy in capacitor

Yes, when a Dielectric is introduced, the energy stored in the capacitor increases because the capacitance increases and energy is proportional to the capacitance. The dielectric decreases the net electric field between the plates due to palarization, thus resulting in lesser voltage. As the charge is constant, the capacitance will be inversely proportional to voltage. Thus, it will increase.

Therefore, dielectric increases energy by increasing capacitance.