---
title: "An air-filled parallel-plate capacitor with plate area \\(A\\) and initial plate separation \\(d\\) is connected to an ideal battery that maintains a constant potential difference \\(\\Delta V\\). With the battery remaining connected, the plate separation is slowly increased to \\(2d\\). Which of the following correctly describes how the electric field magnitude between the plates and the magnitude of the charge on each plate compare to their initial values?"
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url: "https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/124811/"
date_modified: "2026-09-28T14:11:25+00:00"
---

# An air-filled parallel-plate capacitor with plate area \(A\) and initial plate separation \(d\) is connected to an ideal battery that maintains a constant potential difference \(\Delta V\). With the battery remaining connected, the plate separation is slowly increased to \(2d\). Which of the following correctly describes how the electric field magnitude between the plates and the magnitude of the charge on each plate compare to their initial values?

An air-filled parallel-plate capacitor with plate area \(A\) and initial plate separation \(d\) is connected to an ideal battery that maintains a constant potential difference \(\Delta V\). With the battery remaining connected, the plate separation is slowly increased to \(2d\). Which of the following correctly describes how the electric field magnitude between the plates and the magnitude of the charge on each plate compare to their initial values?

![A schematic diagram showing a circuit with a DC voltage source on the left and a parallel-plate capacitor on the right. On the left vertical branch is a battery symbol consisting of two parallel horizontal lines: a longer top line labeled with a plus sign and a shorter, thicker bottom line labeled with a minus sign, with the label \(\Delta V\) to the left. Conducting wires extend horizontally from the battery terminals to the top and bottom plates of the capacitor. The capacitor consists of two horizontal parallel plates of equal length, separated by a vertical distance labeled \(d\) with a double-headed vertical arrow. The area of each plate is indicated by the label \(A\) to the right of the upper plate. No other labels, lines, text, or axes appear.](https://nerd-notes.com/wp-content/uploads/ubq-frq-generated/stem-fig-1-1790604685-QaI3wd.jpg)

- **A.** Electric field magnitude: Halved; Charge magnitude: Unchanged
- **B.** Electric field magnitude: Unchanged; Charge magnitude: Halved
- **C.** Electric field magnitude: Halved; Charge magnitude: Halved
- **D.** Electric field magnitude: Unchanged; Charge magnitude: Unchanged

*The answer key and step-by-step explanation are available to logged-in users at https://nerd-notes.com/ubq/124811/*