Experiment No.305: Electric Fields and Equipotential Lines Raagas, Michelle Mae G. School of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry Mapua Institute of Technology, 658 Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila City, Philippines
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OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this experiment is to analyze the electric fields by nature through mapping the equipotential lines which is a region wherein all points have the same energy. This experiment also guide the students to be familiar with the effect of conductor to equipotentials and electric field and it helps to understand their relation. When a charged object experience an electric force, it is said that electric field is present.The electrical field is responsible in producing a force that acts between two charges. Though we cannot see it with our eyes, we can determine it by mapping which is the main goal of this experiment. METHODOLOGY:
Figure 1. materials that are used in this experiment First thing to do in this experiment is to mark the conductive paper with the silver ink pen on the coordinates (0,10) and (0,-10) because it will take some time drying it.
In this experiment, different materials is used. As is said earlier, we cannot see the equipotential points but it can be determine through mapping and there are equipments that helps for us to easily determine the equipotential points which will be useful to attain the objectives of the experiment. Below are the materials used: 1 1 1 6 2 1 1 1
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conductive paper silver ink pen corkboard surface push pins connecting wires circular template digital multimeter battery Figure 2. marking the conductive paper on coordinates (0,10) and (0,-10).
When the silver ink is finally dry, attached in on the cork board using the four push pins and the other two push pins on the area where the silver mark is located.
Figure 3. Setup – preparing the set-up for the experiment.
DATA and SAMPLE COMPUTATIONS A. Dipole of unlike charges Multimeter Reading Coordinates, (x,y) (.9,8) (2,9) (1,8.2) (2.3,9.3) 1.489 volts (1.4,8.3) (2.8,9.9) (1.8,8.4) (2.9,10.5) (0.3,7) (2.9,7.9) 1.88 volts (1.2,7.1) (3,8.1) (1.9,7.3) (3.3,8.5) (2.2,7.6) (3.4,8.6) (0.2,6) (2.9,6.5) 2.12 volts (0.9,6.1) (3.4,6.8) (1.4, 6.2) (3.9,7.1) (2.1, 6.3) (4.6,7.5)
GRAPH
By the use of connecting wires, connect the push pins and the battery. Then, take the one probe of the multimeter one of the push pins while the other one is used to determine the point where the potential are equal.
Figure 4. Finding/ plotting the equipotential points After plotting the first equipotential lines, plot again for another two and adjust 1 cm from the previous line each. After plotting the points, the electron field can now be observed.
Graph 1. Dipoles of unlike charges
ANALYSIS OF DATA By the concept of equipotential lines, the flow of energy of an electric field can now be observed. Notice that the graph is symmetrical, we can see that energy can flow in the two points for they bahave the same. Notice that the equipotential points are in parabolic shape instead the expected circle for it is because there are two charges and it reacts with each other. There are some errors that occurred during our experiment. One is the human error which is the miss-measurement of some of the points. Another one is the interference of the metal in the conductive paper. This may have caused our mapping to be slightly off. Be sure that there are no other things that is placed on your conductive paper other than the materials that are needed in this experiment to avoid such errors.
CONCLUSION The objective of this experiment which is to analyze the nature of electric fields through mapping its equipotential lines was attained. In this experiment, the potentials that exist between charged regions were measured and observe that they behave the same because the unlike charges shows symmetry but it differs in direction. I observed that the flow of electricity is from positive charge to negative charge. In addition, I notice that as I move the distance away from the previous point, the voltage is decreasing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my gratitude to our professor Sir Ricardo De Leon for guiding us to have better understanding through out the experiment, for giving us a good explanation on how this experiment can actually be done, and for making this experiment easy to do by teaching us
while performing. Also, I would like to thank my group mates for being cooperative. Lastly, I would like to thank the two lab assistant in the physics department for assisting us what to do and how to do properly the laboratory equipments.
REFERENCES [1] Gelotin, R. (2015). Identifying the equipotential lines surrounding two equally and opositely charged conductors using digital multimeter. [2] Warne, F. (2002). Technology and engineering – electric fields and equipotential lines.
