Lab2-The Electric Field

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Tarrant County College, Fort Worth *

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2425

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Physics

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Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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The Electric Field NAME: _____Sehajpartap Gill___________________ Date: ____7/16/2021_______ Lab Partner’s: ____________________________________________ Access the University of Colorado’s PhET simulation: Charges and Fields Objectives: To understand the magnitude and direction of the electric field produced by a point charge at different directions and distances around the point charge. To understand the magnitude and direction of the electric field produced by a dipole at different directions and distances around the dipole. INSTRUCTIONS: Use Excel to plot the graphs and insert or attach all graphs, plots, and tables to this lab assignment. Convert values to SI units and show all your calculations. Part 1: Electric Field from One Point Charge 1.) The strength of the electric field around a positive point charge Q at a distance r from the center of the charge is E = k Q r 2 ; k = 1 4 π ϵ 0 The direction of the electric field vector is radially outward. Sketch a E vs. r graph for a positive charge. Label the horizontal and vertical axes of the graph. 1
2.) Now open the simulation. Activate “Grid” and “Values”. Place a 1 nC positive (red color) charge on the grid. This is sometimes called a source charge since it’s the source of the electric field we are going to measure. To make a measurement of electric field, grab an E- field sensor (yellow dot) and place it where you want to measure the electric field. The arrow of the sensor indicates the direction of the E-field at that point and the length of the arrow is proportional to the strength of the electric field. Move the sensor around and observe how the electric field is different in magnitude and direction at different locations. Summarize what you observe about how the magnitude of the electric depends on location. If we double the distance the field of strength with ¼th of its original, the magnitude of the electric field is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the original and the original location. Summarize what you observe about how the direction of the electric field depends on location. The direction of the E field will be pointing away from the origin (because the charge is positive) along the line joining the location and origin. 3.) Make a measurement of the electric field 1.0 m away from the charge (scale is shown at bottom of the screen, or you can use the measuring tape on the right). Note that the units of electric field are V/m = N/C. Record the value. E = ¿ _____ 9 N/C____________ 4.) Predict what the strength of the electric field will be at the same point if you double the amount of charge. E = ¿ _____ 18 N/C____________ 5.) Place another 1 nC positive charge on top of the previous charge and again measure the electric field at the same place. Record your result and put back the added charge in the charge bucket. E = ¿ _____ 27 N/C____________ 6.) Did your prediction agree? What can you conclude about the dependence of electric field on the amount of charge? Explain . Yes, my prediction agrees, as we can see from equation, electric field is directly proportional to the source charge. More the charge, more will be the electric field at given distance. 2
7.) Now we want to investigate how the strength of the electric field depends on distance from the 1 nC positive charge. Make measurements of the magnitude of the electric field at different r values and complete the following table, where r is the distance measured in meters. 8.) Open Excel and Plot the E vs. r graph. Does your graph show the behavior of the electric field with distance as you predicted in problem 1? Explain . 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Electric Field Vs Distance Distance Electric Field 9.) Select a Power Law trend line to fit the data and display the equation. Does your power law fitting give the same dependence of the electric field with distance as you described in problem 1? Explain . Yes, even with the power law trend line fit on the graph, it gives the same dependence of th electric field with the distance as predicted. 10.) Find the equation of the trend line and record it below. Power Law Equation : ___Y = 4.3403x^-2.09 ___________ 3 r (m) E (N/C) 0.5 36 1 9 1.5 4 2 2.25 2.5 1.44
Now rearrange this equation to be in the same form as the theoretical equation and re- write it in the box below. Compare the equation you obtained with the theoretical equation of electric field around a point charge. From your comparison calculate your experimental determination of the electrostatic constant, k . ( Hint : Note that the coefficient of the power law equation is kQ .) Show calculations to find k and % error. k = 1 4 π ϵ 0 = ¿ 11.) Remove the positive charge and place a 1 nC negative (blue color) charge at the same place. What is different and what is the same about the electric field due to 1 nC negative charge compared with 1 nC positive electric charge? Explain. The Electric field due to a point charge follows the inverse square law that we see as: However, if we replace the 1nC positive charge by a 1nC negative charge the magnitude of the electric field at any point will be same as that of due to positive charge but the direction of the electric field will be changed. In case of positive charge, the electric field is outward direction (the field line should be coming out of the charge) while in case of negative charge the field is inward direction (the field line should be going inward to the charge. 4 Electric field around a point charge (theoretical) Electric field around a point charge (empirical) E = 4.3403/ r^2.09
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