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    Week 8 Lab - Capacitors

    Uploaded by

    Rowen Prather
    This lab document outlines instructions for a virtual lab simulation that investigates the characteristics of capacitors, including how capacitance is affected by plate area and separation, the role of dielectrics in increasing capacitance, and how capacitors connected in series and parallel impact voltage and capacitance. Students are asked to complete data tables by running experiments in the simulation and then analyze the results and relationships between variables.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Week 8 Lab - Capacitors

    Uploaded by

    Rowen Prather
    185 views4 pages
    This lab document outlines instructions for a virtual lab simulation that investigates the characteristics of capacitors, including how capacitance is affected by plate area and separation, the role of dielectrics in increasing capacitance, and how capacitors connected in series and parallel impact voltage and capacitance. Students are asked to complete data tables by running experiments in the simulation and then analyze the results and relationships between variables.

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    Week 8 Lab- Capacitors

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    This lab document outlines instructions for a virtual lab simulation that investigates the characteristics of capacitors, including how capacitance is affected by plate area and separation, the role of dielectrics in increasing capacitance, and how capacitors connected in series and parallel impact voltage and capacitance. Students are asked to complete data tables by running experiments in the simulation and then analyze the results and relationships between variables.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    185 views4 pages

    Week 8 Lab - Capacitors

    Uploaded by

    Rowen Prather
    This lab document outlines instructions for a virtual lab simulation that investigates the characteristics of capacitors, including how capacitance is affected by plate area and separation, the role of dielectrics in increasing capacitance, and how capacitors connected in series and parallel impact voltage and capacitance. Students are asked to complete data tables by running experiments in the simulation and then analyze the results and relationships between variables.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 4
    At a glance
    Powered by AI
    The key takeaways are that capacitance increases as plate area increases and separation decreases, and that introducing a dielectric increases capacitance and stored energy. Capacitors were also investigated in series and parallel configurations.

    As the plate separation increases, capacitance and stored energy decrease. As the plate area increases, capacitance and stored energy increase.

    Increasing the dielectric constant increases capacitance and stored energy. It does not affect the amount of charge stored. The dielectric constant of air is approximately 1.

    Week 8: Capacitor Lab: Name: ________________________

    http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/capacitor-lab

    In the first part of this lab you will be looking at a basic capacitor and investigate
    dielectrics. In the second part of this lab you will be seeing capacitors are affected
    by being connect in series and parallel.

    Basic Characteristics of a Capacitor

    Open the capacitor lab:

    Set the plates to the minimum area (100.0 mm2), maximum separation (10.0 mm)
    and maximum positive battery voltage (1.5 V) to begin.

    Using the provided meters in the simulation complete the following data table:

    Electric Field
    Separation Plate Area Capacitance Stored Energy Plate Charge
    Trial between plates
    (mm) (mm2) (μF) (J) (C)
    (V/m)
    1 10 300
    2 9 300
    3 8 300
    4 7 300
    5 6 300
    6 5 400
    7 5 350
    8 5 300
    9 5 250
    10 5 200

    Analyze the data above and answer the following questions. You may want to create
    graphs to better explain relationships between variables. Attach any graphs or
    figures you create with the data to explain your responses.

    1. Which variables increase as the plates are moved further apart? What is the
    pattern of increase?
    2. As the plate separation decreases which variables increase? What is the
    pattern of increase?

    3. Which variables increase as the plate area is decreased? What is the pattern
    of increase?

    4. As the plate area increases which variables increase? What is the pattern of
    increase?

    Dielectrics

    Click on the “Dielectrics” tab in the Capacitor Lab.

    Set the plates to the area (200.0 mm2), separation (8.0 mm), maximum positive
    battery voltage (1.5 V) and minimum dielectric constant (1) with zero offset to
    begin.

    Using the provided meters in the simulation complete the following data table (keep
    the plate separation and area constant through all trials):

    Sum Electric
    Stored Plate Electric Field Electric Field
    Dielectric Capacitance Field
    Trial Energy Charge in Dielectric between the
    Constant (μF) between
    (J) (C) (V/m) plates (V/m)
    (V/m)
    1 1
    2 1.5
    3 2
    4 2.5
    5 3
    6 3.5
    7 4
    8 4.5
    9 5

    Analyze the data above and answer the following questions. You may want to create
    graphs to better explain relationships between variables. Attach any graphs or
    figures you create with the data to explain your responses.
    5. How does the dielectric constant affect capacitance?

    6. As the dielectric constant increases how does the total stored energy change?

    7. Does the dielectric constant affect the amount of charge stored on the plate?
    If so, what is the relationship?

    8. Based on the data from your two experiments and any further
    experimentation you wish to carry out, what do you think the dielectric
    constant of air (which is what separates the plates in the first experiment)
    would be?

    Series and Parallel:

    Click on three capacitor in series button.


    a. Move the voltage slide to maximum and measure the voltage across the
    battery with the voltmeter. Vmax=_____

    b. Change the settings on the 3 caps to :


    C1= 1.0 C2= 2.0 C3= 2.5

    c. Now measure the voltage across each capacitor.


    V1= ______ V2=_____ V3=____

    d. What is the relationship of voltages?

    e. Using the stated capacitance (1.0x10 -13 F, 2.0x10-13 F, 2.5x10-13 F) find the
    charge on each capacitor.
    q1=____ q2=____ q3=____
    f. What is the total capacitance in Farads? Read meter

    g. Use formula to find the total capacitance.

    2) Click on the three capacitors in parallel button.


    a. Change the settings on the 3 caps to :
    C1= 1.0 C2= 2.0 C3= 2.5

    b. Now measure the voltage across each capacitor.


    V1= ______ V2=_____ V3=____

    c. What is the relationship of voltages?

    d. Using the stated capacitance (1.0x10 -13 F, 2.0x10-13 F, 2.5x10-13 F) find the
    charge on each capacitor.
    q1=____ q2=____ q3=____

    e. What is the total capacitance in Farads? Read meter

    f. Use formula to find the Total capacitance.

    Thought Question:
    Which would you rather use and why? (I.e. which would be more economical if you
    were building, say, a computer?)

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