Name: Emily A.

Gatlin
Partner: Whitney H.
Date Performed: 14-Jan-2000
Section 004; T.A. John Carruth
Electric Fields Experiment

OBJECTIVES
In order to understand the concept of an electric field, this lab teaches how to measure the electric

field strength, while gaining a conceptual hold on the relationships between electric field

strength and electric potential . This experiment utilizes differing electrode configurations

and accomplishes electric field patterns by demonstrating them in an experiment.

INTRODUCTION
An electric field is any space that will exert force on a present test charge whose magnitude is

shown with this equation:

, where force and q = magnitude of charge.

Electric fields are vector quantities that move in a particular direction, from positive charge to

negative charge. Thus, electric fields are created within a space by producing charges of opposite

signs that remain separated. Within this experiment, the electromagnetic field (EMF) is applied to

two separate electrodes to create an electric field through the tap water medium in the glass tray.

Another integral component to the calculations required within this experiment is

Coulomb’s law. Coulomb’s Law allows the computation of the magnitude of the electric field,

using the charge distributions present from the two separate electrodes placed within the

conducting medium, in this case—tap water. However, these charge distributions are often difficult

to measure, but using the relationship to the electric potential can be used to calculate the

magnitude of the electric field the electric potential is easily obtainable by using a probe

connected to a digital meter displaying the voltage.

The electric potential equal to the quotient of the work over the magnitude of the point

charge as follows: Ѵ= . Therefore, the relationship of the electric potential , to the magnitude of

the electric field, is shown below:

Emily A. Gatlin

Hence, the electric field strength at a point is calculable with the potential difference between

nearby points that lie along the same line in the direction of the electric field and dividing the

distance between these two points.

Procedure
The apparatus of the experiment consisted of a glass tray with a small layer of tap water

that had two fixed electrodes sitting inside of it that were hooked up to a power supply in order to

create an electric field within the tap water. Under the glass tray was a coordinate system that

allowed the plotting of data points as the varying voltages were obtained. The voltage was read

using a voltmeter connected to a freely moving probe to collect the necessary data. In the first part

of the experiment, the voltage readings were used to collect data for 1.0 volts, 2.0 volts, etc while

the position of each reading was recorded on graph paper.

In the second component of the experiment, the same apparatus was used with a change.

The probes now stood ~8-cm apart on a line along the tray’s axis in order to create a point charge

within the glass tray. The same experiment was now repeated with this set-up and the same

voltage reading data was collected and plotted along a second graph.

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Emily A. Gatlin

Data

Experiment 1 Experiment 2 DATA POINTS

Voltage X Y Voltage X Y Experiment #1 X Y
1.0 0.4 2.5 1.0 3.0 8.9 A 2 9
1.0 0.4 4.5 1.0 5.0 8.0 B 6 9
1.0 0.3 6.7 1.0 3.0 7.0 C 9 9
1.0 0.2 8.5 1.0 2.4 8.0 Experiment #2 X Y
1.0 0.3 9.8 2.0 3.0 7.7 A 1 11
1.0 0.2 14.8 2.0 3.8 8.0 B 1 12
2.0 0.6 12.8 2.0 3.0 7.0 C 1 14
2.0 1.0 2.5 2.0 2.8 8.0
2.0 0.9 5.5 3.0 3.0 9.0
2.0 0.8 8.8 3.0 4.3 8.0
2.0 0.9 9.9 3.0 3.0 6.0
3.0 1.9 0.9 3.0 2.0 8.0
3.0 1.9 5.9 4.0 4.8 8.0
3.0 1.6 13.0 4.0 3.0 9.0
4.0 2.8 0.9 4.0 2.0 6.0
4.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 1.8 8.0
4.0 2.9 6.8 4.0 1.8 8.7
4.0 2.9 11.9 5.0 2.5 9.0
4.0 2.9 13.0 5.0 5.0 6.5
5.0 4.0 1.0 5.0 1.1 8.0
5.0 3.9 5.9 5.0 2.0 9.0
5.0 3.8 11.8 6.0 0.5 7.8
5.0 3.7 14.8 6.0 3.0 10.0
6.0 4.7 0.6 6.0 0.5 7.8
6.0 4.8 3.0 6.0 4.0 4.0
6.0 4.8 9.5 6.0 6.0 8.0
6.0 4.9 14.9 7.0 0.0 8.5
7.0 6.0 0.9 7.0 1.0 9.5
7.0 6.0 5.0 7.0 3.0 10.0
7.0 5.9 10.0 7.0 6.0 8.0
7.0 5.8 15.2 7.0 5.5 6.0
8.0 7.0 0.8 8.0 2.1 1.0
8.0 7.1 5.2 8.0 13.8 0.9
8.0 7.0 11.8 8.0 7.0 10.0
9.0 8.0 0.5 8.0 0.0 11.0
9.0 8.1 4.5 9.0 2.5 12.0
9.0 8.0 9.0 9.0 12.0 8.0
9.0 8.9 13.2 9.0 15.0 5.0
9.0 5.0 3.0

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Emily A. Gatlin

Experiment 1
16.0
1.0 v
14.0
12.0 2.0 v
10.0 3.0 v
8.0 4.0 v
A B C
6.0 5.0 v
4.0
7.0 v
2.0
0.0 8.0 v

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 9.0 v

16.0 Experiment #2 16.0

14.0 A 14.0
12.0 B 12.0
C 3.0 v
10.0 10.0 5.0 v
7.0 v
8.0 8.0
4.0 v
6.0 6.0 8.0 v
9.0 v
4.0 4.0
2.0 2.0
0.0 0.0
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0

Results
To find the electric field, the difference in the electric potential was used.

Experiment #1:

Experiment #2:

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Emily A. Gatlin

The results show that it is expected that the electric field lines run perpendicular to the electric

potential lines in experiment 1 that has a uniform electric field. Additionally, the data points along

the electric field line show how the magnitude of the electric field is calculated from the electric

potential. Experiment 2 demonstrated how the electric field lines shift with the electric potential

when surrounding a point charge.

The possibilities for error within this experiment are the possibility of a faulty voltmeter, inaccurate

plotting of the data points, the potential for charge to be transferred by touch to the probe with the

measuring probe, the evaporation of water and all other sources of human error could produce less

reliable data. However, this lab demonstrated the concepts behind electric potential and the

magnitude of an electric field.

Conclusion

This experiment adequately addressed the relationships between electric field magnitudes and

electric potential. The experiment allowed computation of the electric field magnitude using the

gathered data from the experiments. The experiment also showed how the different types of

charges associated with the electric field produce very different electric field lines and electric

potential lines. In the first experiment, the separate charge distribution produces a uniform electric

field that has nearly straight vertical lines and the nearly straight perpendicular electric field lines

associated with them. In contrast, the second experiment shows the circular pattern produced

from a point charge by the electric potential lines. Thus, the electric field lines lie perpendicular to

the electric potential lines radiate from the point charge—all around it. This lab clearly shows how

the electric potential is a very applicable method to compute electric field magnitude.

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