Karla Ramirez

0409469
PHYS 2124
2/2/2015
Lab #1: Electric Fields
During this lab, we explored the nature of electric fields by charging two
conductive sheets, one with two circles and one with two parallel plates, both with
unlike charge, and measuring the potential of each of the dots on the sheets with a
multimeter. With the recorded data, we formed a graph and analyzed the
relationship between equipotential lines and electric field lines.
The objectives of this exercise were to:

Find values for electric potential in different electric charge configurations

Make use of electronic resources, such as Microsoft Excel, to input data and
organize it graphically for a better visualization
Analyze the relationship between equipotential and electric field lines

To work with electric fields, we need to understand the concept of electric

charge. Electric charge is a fundamental property of matter that cannot be defined
substantially, much in the way we cannot really define what mass is, and we just
know it exists by how matter behaves due to these properties. All matter possesses
a value of charge, ranging from positive to negative. An electric field is defined as a
space where electric force acts on charges, or the force per unit charge. In an
electric field, we have a charge configuration with a negative side and a positive
side at each end of the space.
Through the use of a device to measure electric potential energy at each
point charge (electric potential), we can map the electric field. The electric
potential energy of a charge is at its highest when the charge is closest to the
positive charge: therefore, the positive charge moves from areas of high potential to
areas of low potential, which also indicates the negative charge is closer. Areas of
the electric field where the potential is equal are called equipotential lines. With the
help of the equipotential lines and the location of the positive and negative charges,
we can find the field lines, which begin at positive charges, end at negative charges
and are perpendicular to equipotential lines.
For the experiment, we used: two conductive sheets of different charge
configuration (one with two-circles and one with parallel plates),a conductive sheet
holder, a power supply, banana jacks, and a multimeter. First, we placed the
conductive sheet with the parallel plate configuration on the holder, proceeded to
set up the power supply and attached the probe-end of the banana jack to the
charges at either end of the conductive sheet. We used a 12 volt DC on the power
supply. Once the sheet had current, we took the multimeter, set it up at 20 volts,
and started measuring the electric potential energy at each charge (dot) on the
conductive sheet. We obtained a set of 221 values that we keyed in on Microsoft

Excel for later graphical analysis. After finishing with the first conductive sheet, we
mounted the one with two circles as charges the same way and inputting the values
into Excel as well.
When we had two full sets of data, we highlighted the first set of values,
clicked on the Insert tab on Excel and the Other Charts button on the Charts
section, and selected the 3-D surface area chart. To properly visualize the data for
our analysis, we modified the perspective through which the data was presented:
we clicked on the table until the Chart Options menu appeared, and under the
Effects tab, we selected the 3-D Rotation drop-down menu and modified the
values as follows:
X-Rotation = 0, Y-Rotation = 90, and Perspective = 0.1.
Then, we clicked on the vertical axis to get the Axis Options menu, where we
modified the units for the major and minor axes to 0.5 for the former and 0.25 for
the latter. Following these modifications, we could see that the chart formed
resembled the configuration of the parallel plate conductive sheet, but with colored
areas. We repeated the same process for the other set of values, and obtained
similar results, only this time the graph resembled the two-circle configuration.
The colored areas in the graphs represented the equipotential lines, and with
the help of these we were able to draw the field lines. The equipotential lines are
practically parallel to each other, and, as previously mentioned, the field lines go
from the positive charge to the negative charge, perpendicular to the equipotential
lines.
Moving a positive charge along an equipotential line means no work is done
because the potential is the same along that area. Only when the charge changes
equipotential lines does it do work.
This lab was useful to become familiar with the basic terms used in
electromagnetism, such as charge, potential and field, and to use resources such as
Excel to analyze and visualize data in an efficient manner.