Experiment 5 Pre-lab

What is a capacitor?

A component that stores charge

In procedure A1, we will

All of the above

How is the electrometer calibrated (or "zeroed") in Procedure A1?

By pressing the "Zero" button until the needle goes to zero

Current can be defined as

Change in charge over time

Why does the procedure A1 need to be done quickly?

Charges are small and they can easily discharge from the plates

If the voltage between two conducting plates increases, the capacitance

Decreases

The relative permittivity of a dielectric material is

Depends on the material (vacuum, laminated paper, wood...)

Which equation is referenced as Kirchhoff's Voltage Law?

Equation 8

In this experiment we will directly measure the capacitance.

False

The time constant depends on the voltage across the capacitor.

False

How is Equation 4 verified by Procedure A1?

Fitting a nonlinear mathematical model to the data

What is measured in Procedure B1?

Half-life of the RC combination

If you increase the resistant of an RC circuit by a factor of 2, what will happen to the time constant?

Increase by a factor of 2

In a parallel plate capacitor, how is the distance between the plates related to the capacitance?

Indirectly

What is Procedure A2 testing?

Keep the distance between the plates constant, insert and remove dielectric material and measure the voltage between the plates

Dielectric materials are

Non-conductive

According to Part B, what does VPP stand for?

Peak to Peak voltage

What units is the time constant measured in?

Seconds

How do we simulate charging and discharging of a capacitor?

Square Wave

What is the purpose of the experiment?

To study parallel-plate capacitors and how it changes depending on plate separation and dielectrics

How can you remove any charge from the capacitor?

Touch both plates at the same time with a wire

The oscilloscope will graph the voltage across the capacitor (vertical axis) as a function of time (horizontal axis).

True

According to Procedure A1, you will

Vary the distance between the two plates

When can the approximation of infinite of large plates be applied?

When the square root of the area of the plates is much greater than the separation distance

What are the cursors on the oscilloscope used for?

measure the half-life of the RC circuits