Torin Kilpatrick, John Hoffman

Potential and Electric Fields Lab Report

Introduction:

The purpose of this lab was to gather enough data to create an accurate
representation of the electric field in three separate systems. In one of the systems
involving concentric circles, it was also necessary through data analysis and critical
thinking to decide which theory applied to the system and why.

Lab Set-up:

The experiment was set up by connecting a power supply to a conducting sheet,

creating an electric field. A voltmeter was used to determine the electric potential at each
point marked on the conducting sheet. This was done by holding the high potential cord
of the voltmeter (indicated by the color red) on the thumb tack used to secure the high
potential wire for the power source, and moving the black wire of the voltmeter to
various points on the conducting paper which caused the electric potential at the black
wire to be displayed. A layout of the experiment is shown below.

Three trials were conducted using different silver paint designs on each one. Each design,
shown below, created a different electric field.
Each charged sheet was marked with a grid of points, and we measured the electric
potential at each of these grid points. The first sheet (sheet A) simply had two dots with a
wire of high potential attached to one and a ground wire attached to another. The second
sheet (sheet B) had two parallel lines marked on it that had points between them and
outside of them. These lines would be connected separately to the power supply with the
grounded wire on the bottom line. The final sheet (sheet C) contained a dot surrounded
by a circle with the outside circle connected to the ground wire and the high-potential
wire connected to the dot in the center.

Theory:

After data points for each sheet were collected, an image of the electric fields could
be crafted. Equipotential lines indicate places which have the same electric potential. For
this reason they are perpendicular to electric field lines, which indicate changes in
electric potential.

For the system in sheet A, there are two point-like locations—one with high
potential, and one with low potential. This potential difference creates a field with
electric field lines running from the point of high potential to the point of low potential
(the upper point to the lower point).

For the system in sheet B, the two lines of different potential (the upper being the
higher potential and the bottom being the ground) create an electric field with field lines
running primarily from the upper line to the lower line in straight lines, slightly curved at
the ends of the lines.

For the system in sheet C, the theory differs depending on whether or not the
circle and dot represent a cross section of a cylinder or a cross section of a sphere. For
both systems, since the ground is placed on the outer circle, there will be no electric field
outside of the circle, and the location of greatest potential will be at the center dot inside
the outer ring. If the system is a cylindrical cross section, the electric field would be
determined by the function (λ/(2πεor)), but if the system is a spherical cross-section, the
electric field would be determined by (kQ)/r. This means, if the system is a cylindrical
cross-section, the potential will weaken logarithmically (as a function of (highest
potential) – (λ/(2πεo))ln(r))) but if it is a spherical cross section, the potential will weaken
as a function of (highest potential) – kQ / r.

The electric field was dependent upon the potential difference between the
electrodes since a stronger potential difference creates a stronger electric field.

Lab Results:

3D graphical representations of the electric potential as a function of distance were

created using Excel’s 3D graphing capabilities and are shown below.
3D Potential Graph of Electric Potential as a
Function of Radius on Sheet A

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Electric 14
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Potential (in 12
11
Volts) 10
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43
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 3D Graph of Electric Potential as a Function of
Radius for Sheet B

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Electric 15
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Potential (in 13
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Volts) 9
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3 12
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1
0 23

3D Graph of Electric Potential as a Function of

Radius for Sheet C

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Electric 14
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Potential (in 12
11
Volts) 10
9
87
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43
2
1
0
1
5

9
13
17

21

25

Equipotential lines can easily be created using Excel’s 3D graphing capabilities and
changing the 3D perspective and rotation settings until the view is topographic. The areas
indicated by different colors depict areas which have approximately the same potential.
Topographic View of Electric Potential in Sheet A

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Topographic View of Electric Potential in Sheet B

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 Topographic View of Electirc Potential in Sheet C

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Lab Analysis:

The electric field lines match almost perfectly with the predictions in the theory section.
The limits of the theory lie in the fact that there are an infinite amount of electric field
lines but a limited amount of space to draw them on paper, so the accuracy of the electric
field drawing is limited. Also, small inconsistencies, especially evident in the circular
sheet (C), illustrate that there might be imperfections in the conducting sheet (slight non-
uniform resistance) or slight inaccuracies in the voltmeter. The theory predicts the
behavior of electromagnetism in an ideal setting, but the real-world is not an ideal place.

The concentric circles sheet best represents the cross section of a cylinder. This makes
logical sense, because the conducting silver paint has a slight amount of thickness making
the painted system seem very slightly cylindrical. This theory is also backed up by the
data. If our predictions are correct, then the potential difference should change as a
function of 23.4 – (constant) ln(r). We find that this is true. Taking the center row of data
and plotting that as a 2-dimensional function yields a graph that is most consistent when
the constant for the function is approximately 12 (which would mean that the linear
charge density is ~6.7(10)-10 C/m).

Conclusion:

This lab provided an extremely beneficial visual representation of the concepts learned in
the past few weeks. It was also cathartic, but besides that it caused us to understand, point
by point throughout the conducting paper, how the potential difference changed, and
later, how the whole map of different levels of potential difference looked in 3D and in
2D. Being required to describe and draw the relation of the electric field lines to the
equipotential lines reinforced the understanding of the connections and the differences
between electric field and electric fields.