SEM 1213/I

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTRIK & ELEKTRONIK

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG
PEKAN, 26600, PAHANG.
BEE3113 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS THEORY
LAB 1 : DIELECTRIC CONSTANT OF DIFFERENT MATERIALS
Figure 1 below shows the experimental apparatus that can be used for measuring the charge on the
parallel-plates capacitor. You and your teammates have come out with brilliant idea on determining the
dielectric constants of several materials by using the existing set up. You believe that you will get
different readings if you put different materials in between the parallel plates.

Figure 1: Measurement set-up: Dielectric constant of different materials.

After discussing thoroughly with your professor and teammates, you decided that it is worth to give it a
try. Now, the problem was you do not really have the idea on how this equipment works. They somehow
look dangerous and challenging. Not to mention the unit kV written on the panel, pretty much you could
assume this stuff is really not to be messed with. You decided to keep on digging to find the functionality
of these equipments and then use them to fit your research objectives. At the end of the day, what do you
want to obtain is
1) The relationship between charge Q and voltage U,
2) The electric constant 0,
3) The charge of the plate capacitor to be measured as function of the inverse of the distance between the
plates,
4) The relation between charge Q and voltage U to be measured by means of a plate capacitor, between
the plates of which different solid dielectric media are introduced,
5) The corresponding dielectric constants are determined by comparison with measurement performed
with air between the capacitor plates.
As engineers, you are expected to include all the relevant calculation on how you arrive to your answers
and justification behind it. Everything must be well documented in a technical report so that your findings
are trustworthy and can be used for future research.