How I metaphorized capacitance and finally understood physics

Hey ppl!

So I think Scott Young is one of the best bloggers out there. I started following his blog a month ago and the results have been stupendous. I was able to cover up all of what I had ignored in my syllabi for the whole year. Thanks, Scott.

So 2 days ago he started the 'Learning on steroids' program. The first homework for me was to metaphorise some topic I had previously not been able to understand into something I could retain in my mind for long.

So its my physics final on 1st May (Yikes). What best than to metaphorize capacitance?

So here is the original transcript of my reply to his email. See if this helps you to understand and visualize most of your concepts.

P.S. Visit www.scotthyoung.com for more details and how to ace your finals w/out actually studying (yes, really) and make the most out of your life.

P.S.S. Scott happens to be a really charming young university student. I personally admire his personality and charm.

Hey Scott!

Thanks a lot for your last newsletter. I have my physics 12th grade final after 11 days and I must say I was quite spooked out for some concepts. So after yesterday I decided to metaphorise the concept of introduction of dielectric slab and effect of the capacitance etc.

For parallel plate capacitor:

Assume your outstretched hands palms facing each other in front of your torso to be the two plates of a capacitor. A physics student would know capacitance increases on increasing area of plates and decreases on increasing distance b/w them. C= Area*permittivity / Distance

Assume charge to be polyester balls and our effort provided to hold hands like this as potential difference.

so if I increase the gap b/w hands, I would be able to hold less balls, therefore less charge. If one of my friend aligns his hands beneath mine i.e. increases the area, more balls will be held.

If someone brings in a slab (dielectric) below my hands it would support more balls. The effort to hold hands will be same (V remains constant). More balls, more capacity to hold them. Consequently more energy from balls is stored.

So this was the way I finally understood this concept.

Next time I'll be sharing other physics concepts as I keep on revising my notes.

Thanks a great deal for your tips.

Sincerely,

Deepali Garg

India