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I am supposed to find a way to charge a metal plate with a defined charge ( in nanocoulomb) and it must have a + charge so basically i want to know if this way is correct and applicable, and if there is any limitations.

  1. Get 2 metal plates and a dielectric ( the dimensions of the plates and thickness of dielectric will determine the capacitance of this parallel plates capacitor)
  2. connect to electrodes to the two plates.
  3. connect the electrodes to a voltage source. Determine voltage according to desired charge (C=Q/V)
  4. connect a voltmeter to the circuit.
  5. after the voltage on both plates is equal ( capacitor is charged ) , disconnect the capacitor from the source of voltage.
  6. Using an isolator, separate the plates from the dielectric.
  7. As the charge will be in nanocoulomb it wouldn't be so hard to overcome the attraction between the 2 plates.
  8. The desired plate is the one connected to the positive pole.
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After guessing the capacitance (based on the dimensions and dielectric), you ought to measure the capacitance too. It's easy to do ... even a handheld multimeter can measure a capacitance. Also, I fear you'll have trouble unpeeling the dielectric and disconnecting the wire without them bringing some of the charge with them. Static electricity on an insulator can easily be microcoulombs. You'll have to carefully think through the order that things are moved and touched to get an accurate charge at the end. – Steve B Nov 28 '12 at 18:04

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