PHY132

ElectricFieldsandElectricPotential
BrennanMohr,BrandonTieu,PatrickHayes
Section:72053 Group:1
TA:TuckerManton
9/5/16

Abstract:
Theobjectiveofthislabistostudyelectricfieldsandelectricpotential.Usingawaterbath,
voltageismeasuredatmultiplepointsthroughseveralexperimentsrangingfromtwoparallelcharged
platestoconcentricrings.Mappingthevoltageattestpointsallowsforavisualrepresentationofthe
electricfieldandhowitchanges,movingaroundsurfacesorawayfromthesourceofthecharge.
First,electricpotentialdifferencesaremeasuredbymovingthepositiveprobeaboutthecharged
andgroundedbarsadistance14.200.005cmapart.Itwasfoundthatthefurtherthedistancesbetween
theprobes,thelargertheelectricpotentialdifferences.Thiscorrespondswiththenotionthatelectric
fieldsrunperpendiculartochargedsurfaces.Additionally,movingthepositiveprobeparalleltotheplates
resultedinidenticalelectricpotentials,confirmingthatequipotentiallinesareparalleltochargedsurfaces
however,equipotentiallinesarealsoinfluencedbyconductors.Forinstance,aconductingringofradius
2.500.005cmwasplacedcenterbetweentheparallelbars.Whenmeasuringelectricpotential,values
didnotremainconstantwhenmovingtheprobeparalleltothechargedplatesinstead,theyremained
constantwhentheprobewasmovedalongtheequipotentiallineswhichcontouredaroundtheconducting
ring.Moreover,potentialmeasuredwithintheringwas0V,demonstratingthatelectricfieldsareunable
topassthroughconductors.
Second,electricpotentialdifferencesaremeasuredbymovingthepositiveprobebetweenthetwo
concentricrings,theouterwithapositivechargeandtheinnerdesignatedasthegroundwithzero
potential.Theradiusofthelargerringis8.600.005cmwhilethatoftheinnerringis1.000.005cm.
Theresultsofthispartoftheexperimentconfirmedthatelectricfieldsrunperpendiculartothecharged
surfacesandthatequipotentiallinesrunparalleltothechargedsurfaces.Forinstance,electricpotential
increasedthefarthertheprobemovedfromtheground,yetremainedthesamewhenmovingtheprobe
aroundthegroundinacircle.
Furthermore,todeterminethevalidityoftheinvestigatedconcepts, wasfoundfromtheslopes
oftwographsmadeusingdataascertainedfromthevoltagereadings:Vrmsvs.ln(r)andEvs.r1.
Respectively,theslopesare2.6250.017 Vm and1.320.08 Nm
C ,andfromthosevalues, was
10 C
11 C
determinedas(1.460.01) 10 m and(7.40.4) 10 m .Theoretically,thesetwovaluesshould
bethesame,butbecausetheyarenot,thisindicateseitherdiscrepanciesintheinvestigatedconcepts,or
faultylabprocedures.Thiswillbefurtherdiscussedintheconclusion.

ExperimentalData:

Part1:

Distancebetweenparallelconductors:14.200.005cm
Metalringradius:2.500.005cm
Ringorigin:(12.5,9.5)
SignalGenerator:200HzAC,MaxAmplitude

a)
RMSvoltagedropacrossparallelconductors
(6,12)=3.90V

(10,16)=5.87V

(9,12)=4.00V

(10,14)=4.86V

(12,12)=4.02V

(10,12)=4.06V

(14,12)=3.96V

(10,10)=3.25V

(16,12)=3.89V

(10,8)=2.51V

(19,12)=3.79V

(10,6)=1.80V

Equipotentiallinediagram:

b)
RMSvoltagedropacrossparallelconductorswithconductingring
(6,13)=4.12V

(5,11)=3.55V

(8,13)=4.20V

(7,11)=3.54V

(10,13)=4.11V

(9,11.5)=3.56V

(12,13.2)=4.11V

(11,12.2)=3.60V

(14,13.2)=4.12V

(13,12.4)=3.56V

(16,13)=4.10V

(15,11.7)=3.55V

(18,13.4)=4.09V

(17,11.5)=3.52V

(20,14.2)=4.11V

(19,11.7)=3.53V

EquipotentialLineDiagram:

Part2:
Outerringradius:8.600.005cm
Innerringradius:1.000.005cm

Equipotentiallinediagram:

a)
RMSvoltagepotentialaboutradialdistancesfromtheorigin
R=3cm

R=5cm

R=7cm

(11,10)=5.58V

(9,12)=6.18V

(7,10)=6.63V

(17,10)=5.59V

(14,15)=6.18V

(14,17)=6.61V

(14,13)=5.58V

(19,10)=6.16V

(21,10)=6.61V

(11.7,12.1)=5.59V

(10.5,13.5)=6.16V

(9.3,14.9)=6.60V

(16.2,12.2)=5.58V

(17.5,13.5)=6.12V

(19,15)=6.61V

b)
RMSvoltagepotentialalongthexaxisabouttheorigin
(6,10)=6.59V
(7,10)=6.13V
(8,10)=5.73V
(9,10)=5.26V
(10,10)=4.65V
(11,10)=3.88V
(12,10)=2.86V

c)
RMSvoltagepotentialalongxandyaxisesaboutoriginusingfixedprobe

(8,10)=0.225V

(14,16)=0.229V

(9,10)=0.228V

(14,15)=0.279V

(10,10)=0.348V

(14,14)=0.340V

e)
RMSvoltagepotentialonethreepointswithinfirstquadrantusingfixedprobe

(3,0)=0.366V
(5,0)=0.253V
(7,0)=0.132V

Results:

Part2bCalculations:

Part2cCalculations:

Discussion:
Eachofthestepstakenduringtheexperimentweredesignedtoteachthebasicsofelectricfields.
Inexperiment1a,findingthevoltageparalleltothechargedplateshowedtheequipotentiallinesandhow
thechargeevenlyflowsfrompositivetothenegativebetweenthetwoparallelplates.Likewise,finding
theelectricpotentialperpendiculartothechargedplateshowedhowvoltagedecreasedasthedistance
fromtheelectricfieldsourceincreased.Whengraphingthevoltagecomparedtotheposition,theresulting
slopeofthegraphprovidestheelectricfieldoftheexperiment.Electricfieldiscommonlycalculatedto
beE=dV/drwhichistheslopeofthegraphVvs.r.
Experiment1ballowedavisualrepresentationofhowanelectricfieldinteractswithconductors
withinthefield,bendingtheequipotentiallinesaroundtheobject.Becauseoftheconductiveringinthe
centerofthetank,theelectricfieldbendsaroundtheringcausingtheelectricfieldwithintheringtobe
zero.Forexperiment1c,asetofconnectedleadswasusedtotestforthegreatestRMSvoltage.The
greatestvoltageoccurswhentheleadsareperpendiculartothechargedplateaswellastheequipotential
lines.

Inexperiment2a,thelargeandsmallringwereplacedcoaxiallyandthesmallerinnerringwas
madethepointofzeropotential.Basedonthepreviousexperimentsitcouldbehypothesizedthatthe
equipotentialfieldswouldbeconcentricwiththetworings.
Experiment2bhadtheRMSvoltagemeasuredatseveralpointsbetweenthetworings.When
graphedinaplotofVrmsvsln(r),thelineofbestfitresultedinaslopeof2.6250.017 Vm anda
yinterceptof13.110.05547V.Shownaboveinexperimentaldata,lambdafortheinnerringwas
calculatedtobe(1.460.1) 1010 mC .
Inexperiment2c,thedoubleleadprobewasusedtofindthemaximumvoltageatthreepoints.
Thesevaluesweredividedbythedistancebetweenthetwoleads(1cm)tofindtheelectricfieldatthe
point.WhengraphedinaplotofEvs1/r,thelineofbestfitresultedinaslopeof1.3230.07657 Vm and
ayinterceptof1.0681.596V.Shownaboveinexperimentaldata,lambdafortheinnerringwas
calculatedtobe(7.40.4) 1011 mC .
Inexperiment2d,thetwovaluesoflambdagivenbyparts2band2cwerecompared.Thevalue
from2bwasnearlytwicethevaluefrom2c,suggestingapossibleerrorinrecordingdata.Thiswillbe
discussedfurtherintheconclusion.
Nodatawasrecordedforexperiment2e,butwereitperformeditisexpectedthattherecorded
electricfieldwillbenonzero.

Conclusion:
Theresultsofthelabdemonstratethetheoriesbeingstudiedthroughtheexperiments.In
experiment1b,theelectricfieldbendingaroundtheconductiveringandhavingzeropotentialwithinthe
ringdemonstratesanelectricfieldsinabilitytopassthroughaconductor.Throughtheexperiments
performedinparttwo,thedirectionofelectricfieldscanbefound.Whenmovingalongagivenradius
betweenthechargedrings,thevoltageremainsconstantshowingequipotentiallines.Whenmoving
perpendiculartothechargedringfromthecommoncentertotheouterring,thevoltageincreases.This
provesthattheelectricfieldmovesperpendiculartothechargedsurfaceastheelectricpotentialincreased
asthedistancefromthegroundincreases.
Thereareseveralrealworldapplicationsofelectricfieldandelectricpotential.Knowingthe
directionanelectricfieldmovesaidsinthingssuchaselectroplatingandmanufacturingbatteries.In
electroplating,metalionsinsolutionarecarriedbytheelectricfieldtoagroundedobject.Asthefield
travelstowardsthegroundedobject,themetalionsadheretothesurface,electroplatingtheobject.
Whileitisunclearwhythetwocalculatedvaluesof didnotmatch,thereexistafewpossible
reasonswhytherearediscrepanciesinthedata.Onereasoncouldbewrongcoordinatesforthemeasured
datapointswererecorded.Forinstance,thiscouldmeanswitchingxandycoordinates,affectingdata
entryinloggerpro.Additionally,anothersourceoferrorcouldbethatthegroundwasnotsecuredtothe
innerringinpart2Band/orC.Asaresultofthis,thevoltmeterwouldnotmeasureanaccuratevoltage
differencebetweenthepositiveprobeandtheground,possiblyaccountingfordiscrepanciesinslope.
Thelabprovidedthematerialforbasicunderstandingofelectricfieldsandelectricpotential.
Goingthroughthestepsanddeterminingtheelectricfieldintheexperimentshelpstovisualizeelectric
fields,anonvisualphenomenon.

Note:Theabovescanofthegraphswasinaccuratepleaserefertothethreegraphsabovethispageforthe
correctvalues.