Research Paper > PHYS 217 - 517 | Lab #2 Report | Electric Potential and Electric Fields

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PHYS 217 - 517 | Lab #2 Report | Electric Potential and Electric Fields Brendon Banasik, Khalid Hassan, Jackson Stanley, William Wolfenberger Basic Physics Principles The first physics principle used in this lab involved equipotential surfaces. Equipotential surfaces have the same electric potential at any point along the surface of the object. Also, on an equipotential surface, the electric field is perpendicular to the surface.

The second physics element used was the electric potential of each shape. Electric potential is the amount of work to move a charge from one point to another point in the electric field.

The last principle used involved calculating the electric field around each surface. The electric field is the electric force given off by a particle and can act on other particles. Electrons have the electric force moving towards the particle while protons are the exact opposite with the force moving away from the particle. To calculate the electric field for this lab, the formulas below can be used:

Where

is the electric field in the x direction,

is the change in electric potential between points, in the x direction, and

is the electric field in the y direction, is the change in position between points

is the change in position between points in the y direction.

Procedures The first step for this lab was to set up the power supply used for each trial. The power supply was set to an electric potential of 5 V and a current of 0.100 A. Next, on the conductive paper, the ground wire was placed on the paper using a magnetic banana cable connected to the power supply. For the dipole configuration only, the power cable from the power supply was also connected to the conductive paper using a magnetic banana cable. For the other configurations (point-plate, spherical conductor, sharp point, and the arbitrary configuration bow and arrow), the power cable was attached to each equipotential surface using a magnetic banana cable. Also, the different shapes were held to the conductive paper using push pin magnets to prevent the CNC from moving the configurations. After setting up each trial, the power supply was turned on and the CNC mounted voltage probe controlled by MobaXterm

began collecting the electric potentials for the x and y positions in a snake-like movement across the conductive paper. The CNC was run for each configuration to collect data across each equipotential surface.

After collecting all of the electric potentials and positions, the data contained in the csv file had to be manipulated due to the movement of the cnc not starting back at the original y position which would alter the calculations for the electric fields. To do this, in Microsoft Excel, the first 14 rows were copied and separated out into three different columns: x positions, y positions, and electric potential in volts. Next, the second batch of 14 rows was copied and flipped to put the data in the correct order. Then, the 14 sorted rows was added to the assigned columns. This process was repeated for every other 14 rows. After sorting out all of the data, the electric field can then be calculated with respect to x and y using the formula for electric field.

Plots The CNC mounted voltage probe was used in order to measure the electric potential in each of the five configurations. Also, the power supply was used in conjunction with the DAQ in order to provide both a charge and a ground. The following are CAD drawings that represent the setup of each of the configurations: (Note: Grey – Conductor Plate, Black – Magnetic Support Pin, Red – Charge, Blue – Ground)

Point-Plate Charge

Dipole

Spherical

Sharp Point

Bow and Arrow

The following are the electric potential plots for each of the five configurations. The red areas represent higher electric potential and blue areas represent low electric potential.

Electric Potential Plots:

Point-Plate Charge

Dipole

Spherical

Sharp Point

Bow and Arrow

Electric Field Plots:

Sharp Point Configuration

Dipole Shape Configuration

Conclusion Overall, our experimental setup and results may have differed from theoretical results, in that outside charges/factors in the air, table, or environment in which the experiment was held quite possibly skewed the results slightly. Additionally, the electric potential or electric field results may have been affected by the lab equipment being used to measure up and down the various shape configurations. The measured voltage from the DAQ being displayed in the form of a heat map helped to further our understanding of how electric fields behave in a semi controlled environment. I would’ve predicted the Electric field plots would have had shorter/ more noticeable arrows in the shape of the metal sheets used, but instead the measurements caused a dramatic shift in the arrows trajectory and sometimes magnitude.

Other sources of deviation in expected data can be attributed to the DAQs sometimes skipping voltage measurements, getting stuck on the metal surfaces, and some trouble with the track being unable to constantly move to the same locations at a constant pace.