Complete Experiments: Electromagnetism
Capstone 'EX' experiments include all the apparatus, sensors (when needed), manuals, and PASCO Capstone files you'll need in your student physics lab. For your convenience, we've listed all the downloadable files for each experiment below.
Grade Level: College
Subject: Physics
Activities
01) Electrostatic Charges
The purpose of part A of this activity is to compare and contrast the results of three different methods of charging: 1) rubbing two objects together; 2) touching a charged object to a neutral one (charging by contact); and 3) grounding a neutral object while it is polarized (charging by induction). Part A will also demonstrate the law of conservation of charge. The purpose of part B of this activity is to investigate how charge distributes on the outer surfaces of a spherical conductor.
02) Coulomb's Law
The dependence of the Coulomb force on charge and distance is explored and the Coulomb Constant is determined.
03) Charge of an Electron
This is Millikan's experiment to determine the charge of an electron. The electric charge carried by an oil drop is calculated by measuring the force experienced by the particle in an electric field of known strength.
04) Ohm's Law
The purpose of this experiment is to verify Ohm’s Law. The equivalent resistance of series/parallel circuits is also examined. This may be performed as a single lab or two short stand-alone labs.
05) Resistivity
The resistivity of different metals is determined by finding the resistance of wires of a known diameter as a function of their length. It is also shown that the resistance of a wire of fixed length is inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area.
06) Kirchhoff’s Circuit Laws
Kirchhoff’s Laws form the basis of all circuit analysis. Here we verify the laws for a resistive circuit using a DC input and for a time varying RC circuit.
07) Capacitance
The purpose of this experiment is to investigate how the capacitance of a parallel-plate capacitor varies when the plate separation is changed and to qualitatively see the effect of introducing a dielectric material between the plates. A computer model of the system will be developed and the student will observe some of the power of computer modeling.
08) RC Circuit
The manner by which the voltage on a capacitor decreases is studied. The half-life for the decay is measured directly and also calculated using the capacitive time constant.
09) LRC Circuits
The phase differences between the output voltage, the voltage across the inductor, the voltage across the capacitor, and the voltage across the resistor will be examined at resonant frequency, and the half-power frequencies above and below resonance.
10) Earth's Magnetic Field
The magnitude and direction of the Earth's magnetic field are measured using a Magnetic Field Sensor mounted on a Rotary Motion Sensor. The Magnetic Field Sensor is rotated through 720 degrees in a horizontal plane and then 720 degrees in a vertical plane by rotating the Rotary Motion Sensor pulley by hand. This allows a determination of the horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic field, the total field and the dip angle.
11) Ampere’s Law
In this experiment, we will verify Ampere’s Law experimentally by graphing the magnetic field strength that is tangent to the path taken along a closed path that encloses a current source.
12) Magnetic Fields of Coils
The magnetic fields of various coils are plotted versus position as the Magnetic Field Sensor is passed through the coils, guided by a track. The position is recorded by a string attached to the Magnetic Field Sensor that passes over the Rotary Motion Sensor pulley to a hanging mass.
13) Magnetic Fields of Coils - Wireless
The magnetic fields of various coils are plotted versus position as the Magnetic Field Sensor is passed through the coils, guided by a track. The position is recorded by mounting the Wireless Magnetic Field Sensor to a Wireless Smart Cart which uses an optical encoder in its wheel.
14) Faraday's Law of Induction
A voltage is induced in a coil swinging through a magnetic field. Faraday's Law and Lenz' Law are examined and the energy dissipated in a load resistor is compared to the loss of amplitude of the coil pendulum.
15) Faraday's Law of Induction - Wireless
A voltage is induced in a coil swinging through a magnetic field. Faraday's Law and Lenz' Law are examined and the energy dissipated in a load resistor is compared to the loss of amplitude of the coil pendulum.
16) Magnetic Forces on Current-Carrying Wires
The magnitude and direction of the force on a current-carrying wire in a magnetic field is measured. Four variables are explored: The magnitude and direction of the current; the strength of the magnetic field; the length of the wire; and the angle between the field and the wire.
