Dielectric Constant of different material

Ivan Dutta
Roll No: 19134001
General Physics Lab
NISER, SPS
23 September, 2019

1 Objective:
• To find the relation of Charge Q and voltage U of a parallel
plate capacitor.
• To find the relation between charge Q and distance between
the plates.
• Measurement of the electric constant 0 .
• The relation between charge Q and voltage U for dielectric
media and to find its dielectric constant  .

2 Abstract:
If a voltage Uc is applied between two capacitor plates, an electric
→
−
field E will prevail between the plates, which is defined by,
Z 2
→
− →
−
Uc = E .dr (1)
1

Assuming the field lines of the electric field always to be perpendic-

ular to the capacitor surfaces of surface area A ,
Q 1
= E.A = Uc .A. (2)
0 d
d = distance between two plates,
Q = Charge in each capacitor plate
Q vs Uc and Q vs d1 will be a straight line. So, the charge of the

1
capacitor plate is proportional to the applied voltage. The propor-
tionality constant C is defined as,
1
C = o .A. (3)
d
This C is called Capacitance.
If the d,A,Q and Uc can be measured then we can easily determine
the o , which is called dielectric constant for free space.
d.Q
o = (4)
A.UC
Now if we insert a dielectric material of dielectric constant , then
a oppositely directed electric field will be created within the plates
due to the bound charges.The electric field within the dielectric is
defined as,
→
−
→
− Eo
E = (5)

→
−
Where, E o is the electric field generated only by the real charges Q.
So we can also write,
Uvac
UC = (6)

similarly one obtains from the definition of capacitance,
C = .Cvac (7)
So,
A
Q = .o . .Uc (8)
d
As a result,
Qmaterial
= (9)
Qvacuum
By measuring the Q in case of both material and vaccum we can
calculate the dielectric constant of material placed within the plates.

3 Apparatus Required:
• Plate Capacitor
• A plastic plate and a glass plate

2
 • High Value resistor 10M Ohm
• High Voltage Supply 0-10 kV
• Capacitor
• Voltmeter
• Connecting Cords
• Dryer

4 Tables and Calculations:

4.1 Table I: Table to calculate the dielectric constant for
different distances between the plates:
A = 0.0531 m2 , Uc = 1.5 kV , C = 218 nF
1
U U(V) d d
Q o
1 − C
(V) avg. (cm) cm
(nC) (×10 12 V.m )
4.2 4.3 0.10 10 937.4 11.7
4.4
1.6 1.88 0.20 5 409.84 10.2
2.16
1.4 1.39 0.30 3.33 303.02 11.4
1.38
0.9 1.05 0.40 2.5 228.9 11.5
1.2
0.96 0.99 0.50 2 215.82 13.5
1.02

3
4.2 Table II: Table to calculate the dielectric constant for
a fixed distance and different applied voltage between
the plates:
A = 0.0531 m2 , d = 0.2 cm , C = 218 nF

Uc U U(V) Q o
− C
(kV) (v) avg. (nC) (×10 12 V.m
0.5 0.8 0.8 174.4 13.14
0.8
1.0 1.6 1.58 344.44 12.97
1.56
1.5 2.28 2.28 497.04 12.48
2.28
2.0 3.0 3.1 675.8 12.72
3.2
2.5 3.8 3.7 806.6 12.15
3.6
3.0 4.6 4.6 1002.8 12.59
4.6
3.5 5.0 5.1 1111.8 11.96
5.2
4.0 6.4 6.2 1351.6 12.72
6.0

4
4.3 Table III: Table to measure dielectric constant of plas-
tic:
A 0.0531 m2 , d = 0.98 cm , C = 218 nF

Uc U U(V) Q  Uvac Uvac (V ) Qvac 

(kV) (V) avg. (nC) Equ.8 (V) avg. (nC) ( QQvac )
0.5 0.36 0.36 79.2 3.29 0.24 0.21 45.78 1.73
0.36 0.18
1.0 0.72 0.69 150.42 3.12 0.48 0.45 98.1 1.53
0.66 0.42
1.5 1.26 1.29 281.22 3.89 0.84 0.9 196.2 1.43
1.32 0.96
2.0 1.62 1.62 353.16 3.67 1.08 1.08 235.44 1.5
1.62 1.08
2.5 2.16 2.13 464.34 3.86 1.2 1.17 255.06 1.82
2.1 1.14
3.0 2.28 2.31 503.58 3.49 1.26 1.26 274.68 1.83
2.34 1.26
3.5 2.4 2.4 523.2 3.11 1.44 1.41 307.38 1.70
2.4 1.38
4.0 2.8 2.7 588.6 3.06 1.62 1.59 346.62 1.70
2.6 1.56

5
4.4 Table IV: Table to measure dielectric constant of glass:
A = 0.0531 m2 , d = 0.57 cm , C = 218 nF

Uc U U(V) Q  Uvac Uvac (V ) Qvac 

Q
(kV) (V) avg. (nC) Equ.8 (V) avg. (nC) ( Qvac )
0.5 1.26 1.26 274.68 6.59 0.54 0.48 104.64 2.62
1.26 0.42
1.0 1.62 1.59 346.62 4.15 0.72 0.75 163.5 2.12
1.56 0.78
1.5 1.98 1.98 431.64 3.45 0.96 0.96 209.28 2.06
1.98 0.96
2.0 2.04 2.07 451.26 2.70 1.2 1.2 261.6 1.72
2.1 1.2
2.5 2.16 2.16 470.88 2.26 1.44 1.38 300.84 1.56
2.16 1.32
3.0 2.34 2.37 516.66 2.06 1.4 1.4 305.2 1.69
2.4 1.4
3.5 3.8 3.9 850.2 2.91 1.8 1.7 370.6 2.29
4 1.6
4.0 4.4 4.3 937.4 2.81 2.4 2.4 523.2 1.79
4.2 2.4

6
5 Graph:

Figure 2: Plot of Q vs Uc

7
Figure 3: Plot of Q vs Uc for glass and air

Figure 4: Plot of Q vs Uc for plastic and air

8
6 Calculations and Results:
Q
• From graph 1 1 = 91.94 nC.cm putting the value in equation
d
4, o = 11.54 ×10−12 C.V −1 .m−1
• From graph 1 UQc = 326.79nC.kV −1 putting the value in equa-
tion 4, o = 12.3 ×10−12 C.V −1 .m−1
• From graph 3, glass = 1.73 and from graph 4 , plastic = 1.82

7 Discussion:
• As, the area is not completely vacuum, so the value of  is not
proper. There is also humidity in the laboratory.
• the variation of stored charge with applied voltage and inverse
distance is approxly linear, which is verified from experiment.

8 Error Calculation:
δ δV δUc
= + (10)
 V Uc
by putting a specific value of Uc = 1.5 from table 4, the error will
be 4.85 in percentage.

9 Bibliography:
• Halliday Resnick , Fundamental of Physics
• Lab Mannual