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What is the average power dissipation in an ideal capacitor in an A.C. circuit?

Asked in GUJCET 2009 · Average power and heating

Answer: (4) Zero

Step-by-step solution

Idea: in an ideal capacitor the current leads the voltage by π/2, so the phase difference is φ = 90°.

Average power P = VᵣₘₛIᵣₘₛ cos φ = VᵣₘₛIᵣₘₛ cos 90° = 0.

Physically: in one quarter cycle the capacitor charges and stores energy; in the next it discharges and returns the same energy to the source.

So the average power dissipated is zero.

Why the other options are wrong

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