Capacitors

NAME: John Hafele Date: 7/12/2023

Lab Partner’s: Connor Pascual, Alexander Hernandez, Dylan Mandel

Access the University of Colorado’s PhET simulation:

Capacitor Lab

OBJECTIVES:

• To understand how capacitance varies with the separation between the plates
• To understand how capacitance varies with the area of the plates
• To understand how the dielectric affects the stored charge, energy, and voltage between the
plates of the capacitor, when it is connected or disconnected from the battery

BACKGROUND: When a capacitor is connected to an EMF (ℇ), the plates attain charge from the
terminals of the battery. The amount of charge is governed by the geometry of the capacitor. For
a parallel plate capacitor, the capacitance is given by

0 A
C=K
d

where A is the effective plate area (the area effectively overlapping,) d is separation of the plates,
 o is electric permittivity of free space, and K is the dielectric constant for the insulating material
in the inner plate region.

In this lab, you will investigate this relation. First you will keep the separation constant and vary
the area. In such case, a plot of C vs A should be a straight line with the slope given by

K 0
m1 =
d

1
Then, you will keep the area constant and vary the separation. Here, a plot of C vs should be
d
a straight line with the slope given by

m2 = K  0 A

INSTRUCTIONS: Use Excel to plot the graphs and insert or attach all graphs, plots, and tables to
this lab assignment. Convert values to SI units and show all your calculations.

PROCEDURE:

Open the simulator and select the middle tab: Dielectric.

PART I: Capacitance

1) Select “paper” from the choice of dielectrics in the menu on the right-hand side. Use the
horizontal double-tip arrow to insert the dielectric completely inside the capacitor. Check
“Capacitance” to see the capacitance meter. The battery could be either connected or
disconnected for this part.

2) Record the values of the plates’ area A0 (initially, it should be the smallest possible),
distance between the plates d0 (initially, it should be the largest possible), and
corresponding capacitance.

3) Use the diagonal double-tip arrow to slowly increase the plates’ area and measure the
corresponding capacitance 4 more times. Record your results in the table, include units.
It is recommended to use SI units for all measurements and calculations.

A C

0 100.0 mm^2 0.31*10^-12 F

1 149.5 mm^2 0.46*10^-12 F

2 250.3 mm^2 0.78*10^-12 F

3 350.9 mm^2 1.09*10^-12 F

4 400.0 mm^2 1.24*10^-12 F

4) Use Excel to plot capacitance as dependent variable against the area. Then, use linear
regression to draw the best-fit line (also called trendline) to approximate the data with the
linear model. Insert a screenshot of your graph below. It should contain:

• Labeled axes and units. Include chart title.

• Data points and best-fit line (remember that the best-fit line does not necessarily go
through all the points but approximates the trend).
• Record equation of the best-fit line.

2
5) Restore the area to initial value. Use the vertical double-tip arrow to slowly decrease the
separation between the plates and measure the corresponding capacitance 4 more times.
Record your results in the table below, along with the reciprocal of the separation. Include
SI units.

d 1 C
𝑑

0 10.0 mm 1/10 0.31*10^-12 F

1 9.1 mm 1/9.1 0.34*10^-12 F

2 8.1 mm 1/8.1 0.38*10^-12 F

3 6.5 mm 1/6.5 0.48*10^-12 F

4 5.0 mm 1/5.0 0.62*10^-12 F

6) Use Excel to plot capacitance as dependent variable against the reciprocal of the
separation between the plates. Then, use linear regression to draw the best-fit line (also
called trendline) to approximate the data with the linear model. Insert a screenshot of
your graph below. It should contain the features outlined in step 4.

7) Based on your graphs, summarize how the capacitance of a parallel plate

capacitor depends on area of the plates and the separation between the plates.
The capacitance of the parallel plate capacitor depends on the area of the plates because
the bigger you make the area the higher the capacitance becomes.

3
 8) Use the slope of one of the graphs to calculate K, the dielectric constant of
paper. Show your calculations below. Compare it with the value given by the simulator
and find the percent error.
𝑦(3 ∗ 10−15 )𝑥 − 2 ∗ 10−15
𝑦(149.5) = (3 ∗ 10 )(149.5) − 2 ∗ 10−15 = 4.465 ∗ 10−13
−15
𝐶𝐷 (4.465𝐸−13)(10∗10𝐸−3
𝐾 = 𝜀 𝐴 = (8.85𝐸−12)(1.603𝐸−4) *100 = 11.57% precent error
0

Part 2: Effect of the Dielectric on the Capacitor

1) Revert the values of the plates’ area and the plate separation to the original and remove
the dielectric entirely from the capacitor. Show the capacitance, charge, voltage, and
energy meters by checking off appropriate boxes on the right side of the simulator. (You
will have to “connect” the voltmeter – place the red electrode on the upper plate with the
positive charge, and the black electrode on the lower plate with the negative charge.)

2) Verify that the battery is connected and turn on the battery voltage to about 1 V (move up
or down the slider on the battery, see value on the voltmeter). You might have to zoom in
or out the scale of some of the meters to measure the values effectively.

3) Slowly insert the dielectric inside the capacitor. As the dielectric fills more space in the
capacitor, observe and record the changes in
• Capacitance
Immediately rises as dielectric is inserted.

• Charge
Once inserted the charge amount rapidly rises.

• Voltage between the plates

After inserted the voltage between the plates rises a large amount.

• Energy stored by the capacitor

Rises at a very steady rate along with the other readings with the dielectric rises.

4) Remove the dielectric entirely and disconnect the battery. Repeat step 3 and record the
changes in
• Capacitance
Capacitance rose as the dielectric was inserted rapidly from 0.89*10^-13 to 4.43 *10^-
13 F.

• Charge
The plate charge remained the same throughout the entire process.

• Voltage between the plates

Without the dielectric inserted the volts read 4.976, with the dielectric inserted the
volts read 0.995 with a very fast decline to get there as it was inserted.

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 • Energy stored by the capacitor.
Without the dielectric the stored energy reads 10.96 *10^-13, with it inserted the
stored energy reads 2.19*10^-13, this number changed quickly while being inserted.

5) Describe and explain your observations using the law of conservation of charge and the
properties of conductors and insulators.

The charge remaining the same was a demonstration of the law of conservation of charge
which states that the total electric charge in an isolated system is always constant. Our charge
of the plates remained constant throughout the trials. Free charges existing on the surface of
the conductor was shown with a rise and fall in the corresponding readings. The points of the
conductors maintained the same potential. The electric field of a conductor is zero.

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Queries:

1) If the battery is connected, is the energy of capacitor-battery system conserved

throughout the process of inserting the dielectric? Explain the changes of energy, if any.
When the dielectric the capacitance of the capacitor charges over a rate of K times initial
capacitance, meaning the energy stored will also increase by K times. The energy will not be
constant but will increase throughout the process of inserting the dielectric. Capacitance will
increase = More charge storage.
2) If the battery is disconnected, does the energy stored in the capacitor remain constant as
the dielectric is inserted? Explain the changes of energy, if any.
When the dielectric is inserted, the capacitance will be increased. Energy will decrease by
K times the initial energy. Capacitor energy is inversely proportional to capacitance of the
capacitor.
CONCLUSION
The lab performed was Lab 4, this lab’s topic was capacitors. Our objectives for this lab
were to understand how capacitance varies with plate separation. To understand how capacitance
varies with the area of plates, as well as understanding how the dielectric affects the stored
charge, energy, and voltage between the plates of the capacitor when connected or disconnected
from the charge of the battery. This lab was not an in-person lab but was an online lab therefore
our only equipment used was my laptop and the “Phet Capacitor Lab”. The lab was fairly easy with
no equipment really needed. With this lab being online the room for error based on equipment
was not possible. Running an online simulation allowed for our numbers to be exactly what they
should be.
The first set of data recorded involved me recording the values of the plates area against
the corresponding capacitance. This involved me changing the values of the area and with that
changing capacitance over a set of 5 points chosen by me. The next part involved me changing the
separation between the plates and measuring the corresponding capacitance 5 times. Scatter plot
graphs were created for both test sections with trend lines and R values. Part 2 of the lab involved
taking observations over capacitance, charge, voltage between the plates and the energy stored
by the capacitor. We did 2 runs of this 1 with the battery connected and the other with the battery
disconnected, both involved moving the dielectric in and out and seeing what changed through
the process.
That was all the trials and observations that the lab held. Overall, the lab went very
successful with no errors, except for a crash of the simulation website that happened while I took
some of the readings. I believe that all the lab objectives were accomplished throughout the
duration of the lab. Walking away from the lab I can say that I can fully define the Law of
Conservation of Charge and the overall properties of Conductors and Insulators. I also have an
overall better understanding of Capacitors as a whole, as well as the properties of capacitors and
their limits and quarks.