Question

One Pico farad is Equal to-
(A). ${{10}^{-24}}\text{ F}$
(B). ${{10}^{-18}}\text{ F}$
(C). ${{10}^{-12}}\text{ F}$
(D). ${{10}^{-6}}\text{ F}$

Answer 1

Pico is one of the prefixes used before units to represent the number of parts of a unit. Farad is the SI unit of capacitance. $1\text{ pF}$ is used to denote the number of parts of farad. All prefixes denote parts in the powers of 10. The unit of Farad tells us how much a conductor can store charge inside it.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Farad is the SI unit of Capacitance. It is denoted by $\text{F}$ .
Capacitance is the ratio of amount of charge stored in a conductor to the potential difference applied across it’s ends. In simpler words, capacitance is the measure of capacity of a conductor to store charge inside it. It is given by-
$\text{C = }\dfrac{\text{Q}}{{{\text{V}}_{\text{a}}}\text{-}{{\text{V}}_{\text{b}}}}$
Where $\text{Q}$ is the charge stores in the conductor and ( ${{\text{V}}_{\text{a}}}\text{-}{{\text{V}}_{\text{b}}}$ ) is the potential difference.
In the metric system, different prefixes are used to denote parts of a unit. Similarly Pico is a prefix which is added before the unit when there are ${{10}^{-12}}$ parts of a unit. Therefore,

& \text{1 }\\!\\!\mu\\!\\!\text{ F = 1}{{\text{0}}^{-6}}\text{ F} \\\ & \text{1 }\\!\\!\mu\\!\\!\text{ F = 1}{{\text{0}}^{6}}\text{ pF} \\\ & \Rightarrow \text{ 1 pF = 1}{{\text{0}}^{-12}}\text{ F} \\\ \end{aligned}$$ So, $$\text{pF}$$ is one millionth ( $${{10}^{-12}}$$ ) of a Farad. Hence, the correct option is (C). $${{10}^{-12}}\text{ F}$$ **So, the correct answer is “Option C”.** **Note:** Other metric units are Mega ( $${{10}^{6}}$$ ), Kilo ( $${{10}^{3}}$$ ), Hecto ( $${{10}^{2}}$$ ), Decca ( $$10$$ ), Deci ( $${{10}^{-1}}$$ ), Centi ( $${{10}^{-2}}$$ ), Milli ( $${{10}^{-3}}$$ ) etc. Avoid calculation mistakes as it can render the prefix wrong. In order to move from a smaller part to a bigger part we divide, whereas when we move from a bigger part to a smaller part we multiply.