Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 162 views

    Lab 3 Electric Fields

    Uploaded by

    eagle9333
    This document describes an experiment to map electric potential and electric field between parallel conducting plates with and without a conducting ring. Students will: 1. Measure electric potential at various points between parallel plates without a ring to trace equipotential lines and determine electric field from the potential difference over distance. 2. Add a conducting ring and again map equipotential lines, finding zero electric field inside the ring. 3. Observe that the electric field is perpendicular to equipotential lines in both setups, consistent with the relationship between electric potential and electric field.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Lab 3 Electric Fields

    Uploaded by

    eagle9333
    162 views3 pages
    This document describes an experiment to map electric potential and electric field between parallel conducting plates with and without a conducting ring. Students will: 1. Measure electric potential at various points between parallel plates without a ring to trace equipotential lines and determine electric field from the potential difference over distance. 2. Add a conducting ring and again map equipotential lines, finding zero electric field inside the ring. 3. Observe that the electric field is perpendicular to equipotential lines in both setups, consistent with the relationship between electric potential and electric field.

    Original Title

    Lab 3 Electric Fields(1)

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document describes an experiment to map electric potential and electric field between parallel conducting plates with and without a conducting ring. Students will: 1. Measure electric potential at various points between parallel plates without a ring to trace equipotential lines and determine electric field from the potential difference over distance. 2. Add a conducting ring and again map equipotential lines, finding zero electric field inside the ring. 3. Observe that the electric field is perpendicular to equipotential lines in both setups, consistent with the relationship between electric potential and electric field.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    162 views3 pages

    Lab 3 Electric Fields

    Uploaded by

    eagle9333
    This document describes an experiment to map electric potential and electric field between parallel conducting plates with and without a conducting ring. Students will: 1. Measure electric potential at various points between parallel plates without a ring to trace equipotential lines and determine electric field from the potential difference over distance. 2. Add a conducting ring and again map equipotential lines, finding zero electric field inside the ring. 3. Observe that the electric field is perpendicular to equipotential lines in both setups, consistent with the relationship between electric potential and electric field.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Electric Potential and Electric Field I

    Introduction In this lab you will map out electric potential (V) around electrodes in a water bath. This is done by measuring the voltage drop between one fixed location and a large number of varying locations in the water. From these measurements we can also determine the associated electric field. Text Reference: Young and Freedman 23.2 and 23.4-5. Theory In this lab, you will study the relationship between electric potential V and the electric field E. The electric field always points from high potential to low potential, and in this lab you will learn that, roughly speaking, the electric field strength E at any point of interest can be easily calculated from a map of the electric potential by taking the potential difference between two closely-spaced points on either side of the point of interest and dividing by the distance between those two closely-spaced points. This description on the relationship between E and V is quite rough; but after completing this lab, you should be able to explain exactly how to calculate the electric field strength (E) and direction from any detailed potential map.

    Procedure You will use a set of charged conductors in a water tank to create an electric field in the water. You will use a digital multimeter (DMM) to measure the RMS voltage drop between a selected fixed location and a number of varying locations in the tank. You will then draw the appropriate equipotential lines (lines of constant potential). A sketch of the apparatus, with connections, is shown in the figure below. We use an AC source to generate the field in the water tank; a DC source would result in a buildup of charge near the electrodes. The figure shows two parallel metal bars with a metal ring in between; your first set-up will be similar to this one but without the ring.

    Page 1 of 3

    Part 1: Parallel Conductors Create the set-up shown in the figure, but dont use the metal ring; there should be a piece of graph paper under the tank from which you can read coordinates. Use the signal generator (f = 200 Hz, amplitude maximum) to generate an AC signal between the bars. Pick one of the two bars as the fixed location for the black lead from your digital multimeter (DMM); this location becomes the SELECTED location at which the potential is zero. Use the red DMM lead to measure the RMS voltage at various locations within the tank. Begin by recording the RMS voltage at the other bar (note that this voltage is independent of the placement of the red lead on the bar; try it!). Record your data on a separate piece of provided graph paper. Your objective is to trace six equipotential lines in half of the tank; take advantage of the symmetry of the set up to deduce what the lines look like in the other half of the tank. Each line will have a distinct voltage; you must find enough locations having that voltage to trace the equipotential line throughout your selected half. Indicate your actual data points with small circles, and label each line with its RMS voltage. Ignore errors for this part. Using the single lead probe measure the potential of a number of equally spaced points in between the two electrodes. Record the voltage measurements from the DVM directly on a sheet of paper that is a copy of the investigated system. In GA make a graph of V vs. x. What does the slope of the linear fit represent? Using a ruler measure the separation between the parallel plates. Also, using the DVM measure the potential difference between the plates, then calculate the average value of the electric field between the plates. How does this value compare to the slope you determined above? Now select a location between two equipotential lines, away from the tank center and about halfway between the ends of the bars. Determine the approximate RMS electric field at this location (the difference in potential divided the distance between the two lines), based on your data for equipotential lines (the field direction will be determined by your selected location of zero potential the actual field is reversing direction 400 times per second). Now measure the field at the same location, using a two-point probe; this is simply a set of DMM leads clamped together at a fixed small separation distance. The two points of the probe should be on either side of your selected point of interest. To determine the direction of E, you will have to rotate the probe until the DMM reads the largest possible RMS voltage. The RMS electric field strength is this largest RMS voltage divided by the distance between the pins. Compare the values in your discussion. Though we are ignoring errors for this part, you still must write your discussion in a precise scientific manner; agreement to better than 5% is reasonable. How does the direction of E relate to the direction of the nearby equipotential lines? Part 2: Parallel Conductors and a Ring We now wish to investigate the effect of adding a neutral conducting ring halfway between the bars. Three rings are provided; use the medium-sized ring. Your objective is again to trace the equipotential lines in the tank; trace six lines in one half of the tank. Be sure to measure the RMS voltage at the center of the tank and at several other locations within the ring. What is the electric field strength inside the ring? Check the electric field outside the ring at two or three interesting point. In this case, how does the direction of E at various locations relate to the direction of the nearby equipotential lines? On your tracing of the equipotential lines for this case, make a
    Page 2 of 3

    qualitative drawing the electric field lines; please use different colored ink or pencil so that the two sets of lines are easily distinguishable. Notes and Hints At a minimum you should address the following in your lab report: For part 1: With the data you have taken you should be able to determine whether or not a conductor is an equipotential (surface). What is the direction of the E - field just outside the inner edge of the plates? Is your data consistent with what you know about conductors? Is the electric field between the plates uniform? Are the values of calculated electric field in the good agreement? For part 2, what do your measurements of the rms voltage inside the ring tell you about the E - field inside the ring? For both parts, are electric field lines perpendicular or parallel to the equipotential lines?

    Page 3 of 3

    You might also like