A parallel plate capacitor is charged by connecting it to a battery through a resistor. If I is the current in the circu…

While the capacitor charges, the conduction current \(I\) in the external circuit produces a changing electric field between the plates. Maxwell’s displacement current \({I}_{D}={\epsilon }_{0}\frac{d{ϕ}_{E}}{dt}\) equals this conduction current at every instant (\({I}_{D}=I\)) to maintain continuity. Its direction is the same as that of the conduction current, effectively “completing” the circuit through the gap.