Lab Report Day 14 - Electric Potential

1. Estimate the potential from a charged ring

Excel vs. Formula:

We use Excel to calculate the electric potential of a charged ring divided to 20 pieces. The charge, distance, and potential are used for calculation. The charge for each piece is diving the total charge of 2.00x10^-5 by 20. The distance for each piece is 0.3606 m from point P to the edge of the ring. The total potential is 4.99 x 10^5 V by adding potential for each of the pieces. Then we use V=∫kdq/r and get 4.99 x 10^5. The answers are very similar and as a result, instead of making an excel spreadsheet and cutting the ring into many pieces, the ring can be treated as a point charge and the potential can be solved using the formula.

Derivation of Electric Field of a ring.

 

Equal Potential Line-on the line, the electric potential is the same.

 

 

 

For this lab, the electric potential is measured at various points in space due to a source of electric potential difference. Observations and questions were answered on the worksheets in the pictures below.

Lab Set Up

 

 

Data we get from the lab (1)

 

 

Data we get from the lab (2)

 

 

Graph of Voltage vs. Postion

 

 

 

Questions about the Lab (1) 

Questions about the Lab (2)

 

Summary

In today’s class, we learn electric potential, and we learn how to derive the electric field of a non-point object. We learn what an equal potential line is. We use Excel to prove that our derivation of equations of electric potential are valid.