LAB-4

Part-1
This experiments demonstrates that electric current is nothing but the flow of charges in a
conductor. The setup consists of a conducting metal ball hanged by an inulating wire from a rigid
support between two conducting metal plates. These plates are connected to a DC power supply and
a spot galvanometer using connecting wires. An inductor is also used to stabilize the current. Now,
the Shuttling ball is slightly moved to touch one of the two plates and let go. It now bounces from
one plate to another in a periodic to and fro motion. When the ball touches on of the plates it
acquires a positive charge by conduction. It now gets repelled by the negative plate and is attracted
by the positive plate. When it touches the positive plate, the negative charge is destroyed and a
positive charge is added to the ball. It is now repelledby the positive plate. This process goes on as
long as there is a voltage difference between the plates. The distance between the plates is alterred
and the amount of current flowing and time period of oscillation is recorded. The time period is
recorded by counting the number of oscillations in a certain interval of time and dividing the time
by the number of oscillations.
The supply voltage was kept at 2V. Increasing the supply voltage would have increased the current.
This would in turn have caused the charge to increase and the time period to decrease.

Data analysis
Trial number

Distance (d) in Current (I) in

cm
mA

Time (t) in sec Charge transferred (Q)

in mC

1.7

5.1

3.5

4.75

1.85

8.79

6.5

2.0

13.0

4.5

11.5

2.45

28.17

16.5

2.9

47.85

The charge is related to the distance as shown in the image above. Clearly, they are directly
proportional to each other.
Error analysis
The charge vs distance graph is slightly curved instead of being a straight line. This suggests an
error in the value of Q. This error is because of factors like fluctuations in power supply, errors in
measuring the distance between the plates and reading the spot galvanometer.

Part-2
This experiment is to find the electric charge to mass ratio of an electron by studying an electron
beam in a magnetic field. This experiment requires an e/m apparatus which primarily consists of an
evacuated glass bulb, hellmoltz coils, an electron gun, accelerating voltage control and magnetising
current control. The apparatus is filled with neon gas. The electron gun shoots out a beam of
electrons in the bulb filled with neon gas. The neon gas gives a blue glow and illuminates the path
of the electrons. Current is passed through the hellmoltz coils which produces a magnetic field. This
current causes the electron beam to deflect. The current can be controlled using the accelerating
voltage control and magnetising current control . The electron beam and the magnetic field are to be
aligned such that the electron beam goes around in a circle. Keeping the current constant, voltage is
alterred and the diameter of the circle formed by the electron beam is measured for different values
of voltage. To get a circular beam, the magnetic field has to be perpendicular to the direction of
electron beam. The electron beam would go in a spiral path if not aligned properly. This is because
the velocity of the electrons has two perpendicular components. One which causes them to revolve,
the other which causes them to go in forward or backward direction.

Trial no.

Accelerating Voltage
(in V)

Magnetising current (in Diameter of electric

A)
beam (in cm)

120

1.1

6.5

140

1.1

7.3

160

1.1

7.4

180

1.1

7.7

200

1.1

Data analysis
e/m=7.58*106V/I2d2
theoretical value of e/m=1.758*1011C/kg
Calculated value of e/m=1.822*1011C/kg
Difference=0.64*1011C/kg

Error analysis
This difference bettween the values clearly is caused because of errors such as heating of the
apparatus, parallax error and inadequate least count.