Leakage Current in Capacitor MCQ [Free PDF] – Objective Question Answer for Leakage Current in Capacitor Quiz

Leakage is primarily caused due to electronic devices, such as transistors, connected to the capacitors. Transistors conduct a small amount of current even when they are turned off, hence they are responsible for leakage current.

When a capacitor is fully charged, there is no conduction of electrons from one plate of the capacitor to another, hence there is no conduction current and the conduction current is equal to zero.

There is, under normal circumstances, no flow of electrons in a dielectric since a dielectric is an insulator. Hence, there is a flow of electrons in a dielectric only at breakdown voltage.

Displacement current is the flow of electrons from the positive plate of the capacitor to the negative plate of the capacitor, not through the battery. Hence the type of current which flows without passing through the battery is displacement current.

Ideally, dielectrics are insulators and do not contain any free electrons. But no dielectric is a perfect dielectric, hence the free electrons are due to impurities present in each dielectric.

The current in conductors connecting the voltage source to the plates of a capacitor is the charging current and not the conduction or leakage current.

Conduction current is the current caused by the actual flow of electrons and displacement current is the current where no charge carriers are involved.

Displacement current is the current where no charge carriers are involved. It is caused due to variations in the electric field.

Under normal conditions, capacitors contain an insulating material called dielectric sandwiched between the plates of the capacitor. Since insulators can carry only an electric field but not moving carriers, therefore normally a capacitor has a displacement current and not a conduction current.

When a large amount of voltage is applied between the plates of a capacitor, the dielectric between the plates does not behave as an insulator anymore and starts conducting and conduction currents flow through it.