Experiment No.

305: Electric Fields and Equipotential

OBJECTIVE:
To determine the behaviour of electric fields
on the conductive paper by mapping
equipotential lines and then draw the electric
lines of force. Equipotential lines are
contour like lines on the conductive paper.
The lines are always perpendicular to the
electric field. Doing this experiment. We
investigate it by trial and error and to
differentiate the places of coordinates that
the voltage was almost the same from what
we decide to get for the multimeter reader.
In this experiment we aimed to study the use
of equipotential lines of an electric field and
how would it be looked like. The experiment
can abstract the concept of an electric field.
The source of current is a DC based current
which is a battery. Conductive paper was
used to study the equipotential lines and
electric field. An equipotential lines are
points of equal potentials or charges, and an
electric field line is a line going from the
positive to the negative end.
METHODOLOGY:

In Figure 1 and Figure 2 shows the different

materials to be used in the experiment. The
conductive paper would be used to trace the
points of electric charge which is that they
have the same amount of voltage. The silver
ink pen would be used to mark the two
points on the conductive paper. The
corkboard surface was used to the paper for
it to be fixed to the surface while using the
multimeter, pushpins was needed to the
paper so it would not move. This is also
used for the electric wire for it to be

connected to the conductive paper.

Connecting wires was used for the
multimeter and to the paper to conduct
electric charge. The circular template can be
useful to draw the parabola, digital
multimeter tester is used in finding the
points in the conductive paper that has the
same amount of voltage and lastly the
battery was the source of electric charge.

In Figure 3 we put the push pins on the

corners of the paper and for the marks after
the silver ink is dry. The push pin would
secure the paper for it not to move while
conducting the experiment. The conductive
paper had clipped wires that the battery
would conduct electricity. This electric force
would be then applied to the paper and that
would create the electric field.

In Figure 4 im doing the experiment with

my group mate alternately. After one
parabola was made, we then pass it to the
other member. In this part we are starting to
find the constant voltage throughout the
conductive paper. Its hard to find because of
sudden movement of your hand can have
great effect in finding the best voltage to get
the parabola.

In Figure 5 weve manage to get the exact

voltage in other coordinates we then even
draw the parabolas across the negative and
positive charge points. The voltage is
different for every trials like this picture we
wanted to set the voltage in 0.300.

In Figure 6 we find the necessary

coordinates and draw the whole parabola
and electric field lines. The silver marking
was the original point of negative and
positive charge.

X vs Y
9.1 9.4 9.7 10.110.611.312.112.8
Y- axis

X- axis

DATA and SAMPLE COMPUTATIONS

Multimeter
reading
0.400 volts

0.300 volts

0.200 volts

GRAPH

X vs Y

COORDINATES (x, y)
1.7
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.2
2.1
1.8
1.5
3.4
3.7
4.2
4.7
4.9
5.6
5.7
5.9
4.6
4.8
5.1
5.6
6
6.4
7.2
7.8

9.1
9.4
9.7
10.1
10.6
11.3
12.1
12.8
8.8
9.2
9.8
10.4
11.2
12.1
12.6
13.5
7.8
8.1
8.4
8.8
9.2
9.7
10.3
11.1

ANALYSIS OF DATA
Voltage was the difference in every
coordinates that the conductive paper has. It
depends on how it distance to the main point
where the source of charge was. It is the
potential difference between points in the
paper. The data gathered in the conductive
paper can be analyze that the farther the
coordinate from the fixed point of electric
source. The higher is its voltage. The curve
that we draw in the conductive paper is
obviously that the voltage within the curve
is always the same throughout the whole
circle or parabola, that line was called
equipotential line.
Electric field is defined as the electric force
per unit charge. The direction of the field is
taken to be the direction of the force it
would exert on a positive test charge.
The electric field is radially outward from
a positive charge and radially in toward
a negative point charge.
In the data we gathered I encountered some
error. The field generated in the experiment
was produced by the conductive paper so
when I accidentally pushed the tester too
hard to the paper for that I put a hole in it.
Having this problem. I began checking again
that hole and it does not have the same value
as it was before I make that hole.

CONCLUSION
The objective of the experiment was to
know the nature of electric fields by
mapping the equipotential lines in the
conductive paper. The coordinates that was
test by the multi-meter was observed the
same voltage through that curve. While we
connect the points with the same voltage the
line turned to be a parabola. We can say that
the distances of the equipotential lines are
proportional to its distance to the point of
source.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank my Professor for

sharing information about this very
interesting experiment. He teaches us before
we conduct it so that we dont have many
errors or problem with the experiment. I also
thank the lab assistants that support us for
the experiment and giving some advices that
will be helpful for us while doing this.

REFERENCES
1

Halliday, Resnick, Walker, Principles of

Physics, Ninth Edition,