Does the charge on the capacitor with the dielectric increase/decrease or remain the same?
Christopher Snyder
Updated on February 28, 2026
Because the charge is stranded in the capacitor plates, the charge cannot change. Adding the dielectric increases the capacitance by a factor of κ. To see what happens to the potential difference, look at Q = C ΔV . Increasing C while keeping the charge the same means that the potential difference decreases.