---
title: "An ideal parallel-plate capacitor with plate area \\(A\\) and initial plate separation \\(d_0\\) is charged to a magnitude of charge \\(Q_0\\) and then disconnected from the charging source. The separation between the plates is then increased to a distance \\(d > d_0\\). Which of the following best describes the graph of the potential difference \\(V\\) across the capacitor as a function of the plate separation \\(d\\)?"
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url: "https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/118225/"
date_modified: "2026-08-04T08:08:15+00:00"
---

# An ideal parallel-plate capacitor with plate area \(A\) and initial plate separation \(d_0\) is charged to a magnitude of charge \(Q_0\) and then disconnected from the charging source. The separation between the plates is then increased to a distance \(d > d_0\). Which of the following best describes the graph of the potential difference \(V\) across the capacitor as a function of the plate separation \(d\)?

An ideal parallel-plate capacitor with plate area \(A\) and initial plate separation \(d_0\) is charged to a magnitude of charge \(Q_0\) and then disconnected from the charging source. The separation between the plates is then increased to a distance \(d > d_0\). Which of the following best describes the graph of the potential difference \(V\) across the capacitor as a function of the plate separation \(d\)?

![A schematic of an isolated parallel-plate capacitor positioned horizontally. The top plate is a thick horizontal line segment labeled +Q_0 on its upper surface, and the bottom plate is an identical thick horizontal line segment placed parallel below it, labeled -Q_0 on its lower surface. A vertical line segment with arrows at both ends spans between the inner surfaces of the top and bottom plates, positioned near the left edge, labeled with variable d. Two vertical arrows pointing upward originate from the upper surface of the top plate, indicating the direction of movement as the plates are pulled further apart. No other labels, lines, text, or axes appear.](https://nerd-notes.com/wp-content/uploads/ubq-frq-generated/stem-fig-1-1785830895-knQjwS.jpg)

- **A.** A curve that decreases asymptotically toward zero as \(d\) increases.
- **B.** A horizontal line with zero slope, showing that \(V\) remains constant as \(d\) increases.
- **C.** A straight line with a positive slope, showing that \(V\) increases linearly with \(d\).
- **D.** A concave-up curve with an increasing slope, showing that \(V\) grows quadratically with \(d\).

*The answer key and step-by-step explanation are available to logged-in users at https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/118225/*