Lab 3 Maps of Equipotential lines

Zeyuan Cao
Partner: None
TA: Kevin
03/04/15

Abstract
This experiment is to map the equipotential lines for 4 different charge geometries. They are
parallel plates, point and plate, point and cup and concentric circles. The maps are plotted by
connecting the mapping board, probe and a headset in series. When two points in side the
electric field are of equal potential, there is no flow of charge and thus there is no sound in
the head set. The equipotential curve is graphed after serval points are identified. A
quantitative measurement is done for the concentric circle. The numerical value of ln(Rn/Rb)
is calculate, where Rn is the nth equipotential lines plotted and Rb is the radius of the larger
concentric circle. These values are then plotted on a graph with the x axis being the values of
n, the number of resistors connected into the circuit. The linear relationship between these
two variables is confirmed by a best fit line of the graph, which also confirms that V(r)
depends linearly to ln(Rn/Rb). The equation for the best fit line is y=-0.2541x+0.0481.

Theory
When two points are of equal potential, there is no current flow between them. Hence, the
headset connected between these points should not make any sound. By locating different
points using this method, a map of equipotential lines can be plotted. There are seven sockets
on the mapping board which corresponds to seven resistors. Since resistance is proportional
to voltage according to ohms law, by changing the socket,seven different equipotential lines
can be mapped for each charge distribution. According to the equation:

The equipotential lines are perpendicular to the electric field lines, while electric field lines
are perpendicular to the surface of charge distribution. Therefore, the equipotential lines
should resemble the shape of the charge distribution. For the concentric circle distribution,
the shape is simple enough to get an analytical solution for potential as a function of the
radius of the circular equipotential lines. The

equation that describes this

relationship is as follows:

Ra is the radius of the inner circle, while Rb is the radius of the outer circle. Va is the
potential at the inner circle.

Apparatus and Procedure:

The apparatus for this experiment includes a mapping board which contains the resistors to
adjust the potential, several different plates with conducting paints on them, a probe which
can be used to search for the equipotential point, a power supply to generate the voltage to
run the circuit, and a head set used to detected the equipotential point.

po
wer
supply

Mapping board
probe

With resistors
inside

headset

Screw a plate under the mapping board, then place a piece of paper on the mapping board,
secure the paper by the four bumpers at the corner of the board. Place the probe on the board
and make sure the ball side is facing the downside of the board. Connect the banana plug into
on of the seven sockets on the board. Turn on the power supply and move the probe along the
board until a point where there is a minimum sound is located, put a mark on that point.
Continue until several point are identified and then connect these points. Switch to the next
socket and make another plot on the same paper. Switch to another plate with a different
painting of geometry on it.

Data Analysis
For the concentric circle geometry, a plot of ln(r/rb) versus n is shown below

Ln of r/rb versus n
0.00

ln of r/rb

-0.45

y = -0.2562x + 0.0481

-0.90

R = 0.9941
-1.35

-1.80

1.75

3.5

5.25

3 measurements are taken for each circle and a average is calculated since the drawings are
not perfect circles. Also, the error of the r value is calculated according to the standard error
of the mean formula, and the propagation error is calculated for the ln value. Clearly, this
graph shows a linear relationship between the ln of r/rb and n.

Result
The graphs obtained from the mapping confirmed the theory that equipotential lines should
resemble the shape of charge geometries. The graph also confirmed the prediction that ln(r/
rb) depends linearly on r.

Conclusion
Generally, this experiment is performed to a high degree of accuracy. The errors associated
with the calculated values are around 10%, which is not too large. Better result can be
obtained by having a greater number of plots, for example, by increasing ht number of
resistors.

Appendix

avg

St. dev of mean (error)

Rb
for
ln(r/rb)propagated
r
error for ln values

6.6

7.2

0.51

6.5

4.9

4.6

5.3

4.5

4.4

3.5

3.7

2.6

6
7

-0.22

0.07

0.72

-0.52

0.14

4.6

0.23

-0.66

0.05

3.3

3.5

0.14

-0.94

0.04

2.6

2.9

2.7

0.12

-1.2

0.05

1.7

2.4

2.0

0.25

-1.5

0.12

1.8

1.2

1.5

1.5

0.21

-1.8

0.14

Sample Calculations
average value for r: (6.6+7+8)/3=7.2
St. Dev of mean for r: Sqrt(((6.6-7.2)^2+(7-7.2)^2+(8-7.2)^2)/3)/Sqrt(2)=0.51
propagated error : 0.51/7.2=0.07