Displacement current goes through the gap between the plates of a capacitor when the charge of the capacitor


Explanation: The displacement current depends on the changing


electric flux across the capacitor plates. Due to the charging of the


capacitor, the charge varies on the capacitor plates with time. Due


to this, the electric flux also varies with time. The relation between


the displacement current and the electric flux is given as



where ϕE is the time varying electric flux through the plane surface,


ϵ0 is the electric permittivity of free space(vacuum) and is equal


to 8.85 × 10-12 C2 N-1 m-2 and Id is the displacement current.


The electric flux is given by Gauss’s law as



The displacement current then becomes




which is dependent on charge. If the charge is zero, then the R.H.S


would be zero so D. is incorrect. If the charge doesn’t change with


time so its derivative w.r.t time will be zero and so will be the


current, so C. is zero. For R.H.S to be non-zero, the charge must vary with time i.e. increase or decrease, hence A. and B. are correct.

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