plumiEnergy stored by a capacitor: AQA A‑Level Physics questions
AQA A-Level Physics past-paper questions on 3.7.4.3 Energy stored by a capacitor, 2008–2025, with mark schemes and examiner’s reports where available.
Paper
All papers
Exam
All years
Calculations
Q03.4
The whole paper ↗
Loading the start of the question…
Loading the question…
Open the full PDFLoading the question…
Open the full PDFLoading the question…
Open the full PDFQ01.3
The whole paper ↗
Loading the start of the question…
Loading the question…
Open the full PDFLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerQ02.3
The whole paper ↗
Loading the start of the question…
Loading the question…
Open the full PDFQ1(a)(ii)
The whole paper ↗
Loading the start of the question…
Loading the question…
Open the full PDFLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerQ3(b)(i)
The whole paper ↗
Loading the start of the question…
Loading the question…
Open the full PDFQ3(b)(ii)
The whole paper ↗Loading the start of the question…
Loading the question…
Open the full PDFLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerQ2(b)(ii)
The whole paper ↗
Loading the start of the question…
Loading the question…
Open the full PDFLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answerLoading the question…
Open the full PDFYour answer
All 33 questions on Energy stored by a capacitor, as a list
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q03.4 (3 marks): Electrons leak away from the sphere with time and the amount of energy stored by the sphere decreases. At one instant, the magnitude of the electric potential o
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q20 (1 mark): A parallel plate capacitor is connected across a battery and the energy stored in the capacitor is E. Without disconnecting the battery, the separation of the p
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q21 (1 mark): A fully charged capacitor of capacitance 2.0 mF discharges through a 15 kΩ resistor. What fraction of the stored energy remains after 1.0 minute? [1 mark] A 1 4
- November 2021, Paper 2, Q01.3 (3 marks): Calculate the difference between the initial energy stored by the capacitor and the energy stored when the mica has been fully inserted. [3 marks] energy differ
- November 2020, Paper 2, Q20 (1 mark): When a parallel-plate capacitor is connected across a battery, the energy stored in the capacitor is W. The battery remains connected as the distance between th
- November 2020, Paper 2, Q22 (1 mark): A 10 μF capacitor stores 4.5 mJ of energy. It then discharges through a 25 Ω resistor. What is the maximum current during the discharge of the capacitor? [1 mar
- June 2019, Paper 2, Q20 (1 mark): A 1.0 µF capacitor is charged for 20 s using a constant current of 10 µA. What is the energy transferred to the capacitor? [1 mark] A 5.0 × 10–3 J B 1.0 × 10–2
- June 2017, Paper 2, Q19 (1 mark): A capacitor of capacitance C has a charge of Q stored on the plates. The potential difference between the plates is doubled. What is the change in the energy st
- Specimen, Paper 2, Q02.3 (2 marks): Figure 2 shows a capacitor of capacitance 370 pF. It consists of two parallel metal plates of area 250 cm2. A sheet of polythene that has a relative permittivit
- June 2016, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q1(a)(ii) (3 marks): Calculate the additional energy stored by the capacitor when V is increased from 9.0 V to 12.0 V. [3 marks] additional energy = ____________________________ J
- June 2015, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q19 (1 mark): A capacitor of capacitance 10 μF is charged through a resistor R to a potential difference (pd) of 20 V using the circuit shown. When the capacitor is fully cha
- June 2015, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q3(b)(i) (4 marks): The capacitance of the capacitor is 0.12 F and it is charged to a pd of 9.0 V. The weight of the mass raised is 3.5 N. Calculate the maximum height to which the
- June 2015, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q3(b)(ii) (2 marks): Give two reasons why the value you have calculated in part (b)(i) would not be achieved in practice. [2 marks] 1 2
- June 2014, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q19 (1 mark): Initially a charged capacitor stores 1600 μJ of energy. When the pd across it decreases by 2.0V, the energy stored by it becomes 400μJ. What is the capacitance
- June 2013, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q20 (1 mark): A nuclear fusion device is required to deliver at least 1MJ of energy using capacitors. If the largest workable potential difference is 10kV, what is the minimu
- June 2013, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q2(b)(ii) (2 marks): the brightness of each spark. (2 marks)
- January 2013, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q18 (1 mark): An initially uncharged capacitor of capacitance 20μF is charged by a constant current of 80μA. Which line, A to D, in the table gives the potential difference a
- June 2012, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q17 (1 mark): A 1000μF capacitor and a 10μF capacitor are charged so that they store the same energy. The pd across the 1000μF capacitor is V1 and the pd across the other cap
- January 2012, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q18 (1 mark): The graph shows the results of an experiment which was carried out to investigate the relationship between the charge Q stored by a capacitor and the pd V acros
- January 2012, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q19 (1 mark): A 10μF capacitor is fully charged to a pd of 3.0kV. The energy stored in the capacitor can be used to lift a load of 5.0kg through a vertical height h. What is
- June 2011, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q18 (1 mark): A capacitor of capacitance C stores an amount of energy E when the pd across it is V. Which line, A to D, in the table gives the correct stored energy and pd wh
- June 2011, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q3(a)(i) (3 marks): A capacitor of capacitance70F is used to provide the emergency back-up in a low voltage power supply. Calculate the energy stored by this capacitor when fully c
- June 2011, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q3(a)(ii) (2 marks): A rechargeable 1.2V cell used in a cordless telephone can supply a steady current of 55mA for 10 hours. Show that this cell, when fully charged, stores almost 5
- June 2011, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q3(b) (2 marks): Give two reasons why a capacitor is not a suitable source for powering a cordless telephone. Reason 1 Reason 2 (2 marks)
- January 2011, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q17 (1 mark): The graph shows how the charge stored by a capacitor varies with the pd applied across it. Which line, A to D, in the table gives the capacitance and the energy
- January 2011, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q18 (1 mark): A 10mF capacitor is charged to 10V and then discharged completely through a small motor. During the process, the motor lifts a weight of mass 0.10kg. If 10% of
- June 2010, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q15 (1 mark): A 1µF capacitor is charged using a constant current of 10µA for 20 s. What is the energy finally stored by the capacitor? A 2 × 10–3 J B 2 × 10–2 J C 4 × 10–2 J
- January 2010, PHYA4 Section A (old spec), Q20 (1 mark): A 1000µF capacitor, X, and a 100µF capacitor, Y, are charged to the same potential difference. Which row, A to D, in the table gives correct ratios of charge st
- January 2010, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q2(a)(iv) (3 marks): Show that the capacitor lost 90% of the energy it stored originally after about 25s. (3 marks)
- January 2010, PHYA4 Section B (old spec), Q2(b)(i) (2 marks): State and explain the effect of this higher initial pd on the energy stored by this capacitor initially. (2 marks)
- June 2008, PA04A (2008 spec), Q6 (2 marks): 6 An uncharged capacitor of Þ xed capacitance is connected in series with a switch and battery. The switch is closed at time t = 0. Which graph, A to D, shows h
- June 2008, PA10 (2008 spec), Q2(a) (3 marks): 2 (a) During the night, the capacitor pd falls from 12.0 V to 11.0 V. During the day, the solar cells charge the capacitor back to 12.0 V. 2 (a) (i) Show that t
- June 2008, PA10 (2008 spec), Q2(b) (6 marks): 2 (b) On a certain day, the output power of the solar cell panel varied as shown on the graph. output power /W time of day 2 (b) (i) Use the graph to show that
Questions, mark schemes and examiner’s reports are © AQA, from their published past papers. Plumi isn’t affiliated with any exam board. Want whole papers? AQA A-Level Physics past papers.
The Plumi iPad app also offers exam-style questions with AI feedback on your handwritten working.