Physics 44 Department of Physics, Stanford University Spring 2024

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Partner name: Section Date/Time:

Lab 3: Potentials and Electric Fields

The purpose of this lab is to
1) Understand how charges distribute on a conductor
2) Map electric potentials for various charge configurations and
3) Develop an intuitive understanding of the relationship between fields and potentials
In class you have been calculating and perhaps even drawing electric field vectors for various charge
configurations. You have also just been introduced to the concept of electric potentials. While an
electric field line is an abstract concept, potentials can be measured and mapped. The primary
goal of this lab is to give you a better understanding of what potentials are and how they can help
you understand where the field lines are going. Part I is a pre-lab that must be completed
before you come to class. It is on the long side but will help you get the most out of the lab.

1 Pre-Lab: Review of Fields, Forces, Potentials, and Po-

tential Energy
1. Consider the fixed positive point charge Q (solid dot in the center of the circles) in figure 1a
and 1b and imagine a test charge q placed at different points of the circles labeled A and B. Let q
be positive for figure 1a and negative for figure 1b.

(a) Positive Test Charge (b) Negative Test Charge

Figure 1

(a) Draw arrows to depict the magnitude and direction of the electric field at various points on
the right hand side of the point charge. On the left hand side draw arrows to depict the
magnitude and direction of the force on the test charge if it were placed at various points on
the circles, A or B.

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(b) How does the force or the electric field change as the test charge is moved to different points
on circle A?

(c) How much work does the electric field do on a positive test charge moving from a point on
circle A to a point on circle B? Explain.

(d) How much work does the electric field do on a positive test charge moving from a point on
circle A to a point on circle B and then back to the original point on circle A?

(e) Where does a positive test charge have a higher potential energy? on circle A or circle B?
Explain

(f) How much work does the electric field do on a positive test charge moving from one point
on circle A to another point on circle A?

(g) Is the potential energy higher at the first point on circle A or at a point diametrically opposite
the first point on circle A? Explain.

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(h) How is the potential related to the potential energy? Which of these quantities depend on
the sign of the test charge?

2. An equipotential curve is a curve for which the potential is the same everywhere. Alternately,
it is a curve on which the potential energy of a test charge is the same.
(a) What can you say about the work done by the electric field on a test charge moved from one
point to another on an equipotential curve? Explain.

(b) You can think of equipotential curves as contour lines on a topographic map. If each equipo-
tential curve has the same ∆V from the neighboring curve, does the closeness of successive
equipotential curves tell you anything about how fast the electric potential is changing in
that region? Explain.

(c) What would happen to the force, the electric field, the potential, and the potential energy at
any point if: (i) the charge on the point charge were doubled while the test charge remained
unchanged; or (ii) charge on the test charge were doubled while the point charge had the
initial charge, Q? Fill in the table below.
point charge = Q point charge = Q point charge = 2Q
test charge = q test charge = 2q test charge = q
electric field E
force
potential V
potential energy

(d) Which of these four quantities is an intrinsic property of the space around the charge Q and
which of these is a property of the whole system including the test charge?

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(e) Potential is a scalar, so what does it mean for the potential difference between two points to
be positive or negative?

(f) How is the electric field related to the potential?

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2 In Class: Equipment and Setup

In this lab you will be using a power supply, a digital multimeter (DMM; same as the one you
used for the Instrumentation Lab), and conducting paper. A brief description of each follows:
1) Power supply (the gray box in the photograph): You will be using the power supply to maintain
a potential difference between two points. The power supply has a COM terminal that we will call
the negative terminal and a positive terminal. You will connect the terminal via leads that are
provided on the lab benches. To simplify your life, it is better to connect the red or white lead to
the positive terminal and the black to the COM terminal. On the photograph, the power supply
leads are connected to alligator clips. You can adjust the voltage difference between the leads by
using the voltage adjust knob.
If you placed a negative charge on some point in between, would it move towards the point
connected to the red lead or the point connected to the black lead? Why?

2) Digital Multimeter (DMM): You will be using the same DMM that you used in Lab 2 (Instru-
mentation).
3) Conducting Paper: Each set-up has two sheets of black, conducting paper with silver paint on
it. The silver paint is even more conductive than the black paper and represents a conductor of a
particular shape.

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3 Predicting Fields and Mapping Potentials
By the end of this portion of the lab, you should have a better conceptual understanding of the
relationship between the electric field and the electric potential. Each bench has two or three sheets
of black, conducting paper with silver paint on it. The hand-drawn silver paint is conductive and
represents a conductor of a particular shape. Each group will work with either of the parallel
plate capacitor sheet or the parallel double line sheet. You will use a digital multimeter (DMM)
to measure the potential at different locations.

1. The Field and Potential for Standard Conductor Configurations

Find the paper that has two solid bands of silver paint (one at each end of the paper).
Copy the configuration on your conducting paper onto the grids supplied in this write-up (figure
2). Imagine connecting one band to the negative (COM) terminal of the power supply and the
other band to the positive terminal of the power supply.

a. If the power supply puts out 10V, on the left half of figure 2 predict and sketch the electric field
and potential for your configuration.

b. The DMM measures the potential difference between its own positive and negative leads.
Assume (or place) the black lead of the DMM in the same region that is connected to the negative
(COM) terminal of the power supply or battery. In the boxes below, sketch in your configuration:
indicate where the positive and negative terminals of the power supply are connected, and mark an
X in the spot (or area) where you would place the red lead of the DMM so the potential difference
was (i) 0V, (ii) 5V, or (iii) 10V. Explain your choice of location.

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Figure 2
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c. Use the DMM to map the potential for your standard configuration. As you map the potential,
on the right half of figure 2, draw in equipotential curves that are separated by 2V. Are these
curves equally spaced on your paper? Sketch the corresponding electric field lines, and, for a few
points, estimate the observed strength of the electric field.
NOTE: Over time, some of the conducting sheets have worse contact with the metal leads. This
will reduce the total potential difference as measured on the black paper. If that is the case, turn
up the power supply voltage to +20 V and map equipotential lines with 1 V or 0.2 V spacing
instead.

d. Repeat steps a-c with the paper that has two dots on it.

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Figure 3
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2. The field and potential from concentric cylinders
Find the paper that has two large concentric circles of silver paint. In this final activity you will
attach the leads of the power supply to the copper contacts on the inner and outer circles of
silver paint. Following a technique similar to that of the previous part, use the DMM to map the
3V, 5V, 7V equipotential lines. Sketch the corresponding electric field lines, and for each of the
equipotential radii, estimate the strength of the electric field.
Plot your experimental data on a graph of V(r) vs. r. From your data, can you infer the functional
form of the dependence of V(r) on r? What would you expect it to be? Why?

Before you leave, turn in a copy of your graph with the names of all group members
on it. Please make sure that all equipment is turned off and grounded; conducting paper
is replaced in a neat stack; all pins and alligator connections are removed and returned to their
boxes.

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