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Electrostatic Potential and Capacitance is one of the heaviest scoring chapters in the second half of the syllabus. Potential, energy, and the series and parallel rules for capacitors give NEET(UG) a steady supply of short numerical questions. The one thing to settle in your mind before you begin: when the battery stays connected the voltage is fixed, and when it is disconnected the charge is fixed. Ten questions below. Give them ten honest minutes.
What this chapter carries in NEET(UG)
- Usually 3 to 4 questions every year, which is 12 to 16 marks.
- Combinations of capacitors and the energy stored are asked every year.
- Potential due to point charges and the effect of a dielectric fill the rest.
What the syllabus says
In the syllabus (Unit 11, Electrostatics): Electric potential and its calculation for a point charge, a dipole and a system of charges, potential difference, equipotential surfaces, electrical potential energy of two point charges and of a dipole in an electrostatic field, conductors and insulators, dielectrics and electric polarization, capacitors and capacitance, capacitors in series and parallel, the parallel plate capacitor with and without a dielectric, and energy stored in a capacitor.
Taken from the NMC syllabus for NEET (UG) 2026, the latest one published. See the full syllabus, unit by unit.
Formulas you must know by heart
| Potential of a point charge | V = kQ/r |
| Potential energy of two charges | U = kq1q2/r |
| Work done between two points | W = q(VA − VB) |
| Field from potential | E = − dV/dr |
| Parallel plate capacitor | C = ε0A/d |
| With a dielectric | C = Kε0A/d |
| Capacitors in series | 1/C = 1/C1 + 1/C2 |
| Capacitors in parallel | C = C1 + C2 |
| Energy stored | U = ½CV2 = ½QV = Q2/2C |
| Energy density of a field | u = ½ε0E2 |
| Electron volt | 1 eV = 1.6 × 10−19 J |
Three forms of the energy are given on purpose. Use ½CV2 when the battery is still connected and the voltage is held fixed, and Q2/2C when the battery has been removed and the charge is trapped. Picking the wrong one is the commonest error in this chapter.
Ten questions. Give yourself ten minutes.
Write your answers down before you scroll. A question you looked up is a question you have not answered.
Q1. The electric potential at a distance r from a point charge Q is
- (a) kQ/r2
- (b) kQ/r
- (c) kQr
- (d) kQ/r3
Q2. The work done in moving a charge from one point to another on an equipotential surface is
- (a) qV
- (b) zero
- (c) q2V
- (d) infinite
Q3. If the separation between the plates of a parallel plate capacitor is doubled, its capacitance becomes
- (a) double
- (b) half
- (c) four times
- (d) unchanged
Q4. The energy stored in a capacitor of capacitance C charged to a potential difference V is
- (a) CV2
- (b) ½CV2
- (c) ½C2V
- (d) CV
Q5. Three capacitors of 3 µF each are joined in series. The equivalent capacitance is
- (a) 9 µF
- (b) 3 µF
- (c) 1 µF
- (d) 6 µF
Q6. A charged capacitor is disconnected from the battery and a dielectric of constant K is then inserted. The potential difference across it
- (a) becomes K times larger
- (b) becomes K times smaller
- (c) does not change
- (d) falls to zero
Q7. The electric potential at a point inside a hollow charged conducting sphere is
- (a) zero
- (b) constant and equal to the value on the surface
- (c) infinite
- (d) proportional to 1/r
Q8. A potential difference of 100 V is applied across a gap of 2 cm. The uniform electric field in the gap is
- (a) 50 V/m
- (b) 500 V/m
- (c) 5000 V/m
- (d) 2 V/m
Q9. Capacitors of 2 µF and 3 µF are joined in parallel. The equivalent capacitance is
- (a) 1.2 µF
- (b) 5 µF
- (c) 6 µF
- (d) 2.5 µF
Q10. The electron volt is a unit of
- (a) potential
- (b) charge
- (c) energy
- (d) capacitance
Answer key, with a hint for each
| Q1 | (b) | Potential falls as 1/r, while the field falls as 1/r2. Keep the two apart. |
| Q2 | (b) | Every point on an equipotential surface is at the same potential, so VA − VB is zero. |
| Q3 | (b) | C = ε0A/d, so capacitance and plate separation move opposite ways. |
| Q4 | (b) | The same half as in every energy formula. Charge builds up gradually, so you use the average potential. |
| Q5 | (c) | In series the reciprocals add: 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1. |
| Q6 | (b) | With the battery gone the charge is trapped. C goes up K times, and V = Q/C must come down K times. |
| Q7 | (b) | There is no field inside the conductor, so the potential cannot change. It stays at the surface value all the way through. |
| Q8 | (c) | E = V/d = 100 / 0.02. Convert the centimetres first. |
| Q9 | (b) | In parallel the capacitances simply add. |
| Q10 | (c) | It is the energy an electron gains across one volt, which is 1.6 × 10−19 joule. |
Now mark yourself honestly
NEET(UG) marks the way it marks. Use the same rule here:
- +4 for a right answer
- −1 for a wrong one
- 0 for a blank
So ten questions here are out of 40. In the real paper, 45 Physics questions are out of 180.
If you scored 32 or more, the basics of this chapter are secure. Move to harder questions, not more of these.
If you scored below 24, do not feel bad about it. You have just found out something useful before the exam did. Go back to the formula table above, learn it properly, and sit these ten again tomorrow.
And if you guessed a few and they landed, count those as wrong. A guess that works once will not work in May.
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