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
