Electricity & Magnetism: Charge and Electric Fields

Determine the shape of the electric field around charge configurations on a piece of conductive paper.

Motion Sensors

Students create a visual map of the electric field for various charge distributions, to help them develop their understanding of how charged particles interact.

Lab Summary:

Students will use the Voltage/Current Sensor to investigate the shape and direction of electric field lines around different charge configurations.

Students will use a conductive ink pen to create charge configurations (such as two unlike dipoles) on carbon-impregnated conductive paper. They will use a DC power supply to energize the charge configurations.

They will determine the shape and direction of the electric field around each charge configuration using the leads of the Voltage/Current Sensor and the DataStudio software program. They will compare their results to their predictions for the shape of the electric field around a particular charge configuration.

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(student version)

Method:

Use a Voltage-Current Sensor to measure the voltage between equidistant points on conductive paper.

Here's What You Need:

Probeware

Other Materials

Lab Manual:

This activity is included in Explorations in Physics (PS-2810), complete with Teacher Information pages, student instructions and handouts, and sample data for a total of 35 probeware-based labs. For your convenience, we offer bundles which provide the probeware necessary for the activities in the manual. For more information on these resources and bundles, click here.