DIY ELECTROSCOPE

Fundamentals of electric circuits and Differential Equations:

TASK PERFORMANCE

JAVIER, VINZ DOMINIC

JUAN, ADRIAN PAUL
RELOSA, SHAWN MATTHEW
PADILLA, JOSHUA
FAINA, CHRISTIAN

SIR ROMNIK CARTISIANO  /BSCPE 211

MATERIALS:
Transparent JAR
14 Gauge Wire
Paper
Pencil
Scissors
Tin Foil
Protractor

SUMMARY:
We made sure to perform this experiment on a dry day because dry days
tend to produce much better results. Excess moisture in the air will
prevent a charge from building up because electricity is able to
escape into humid air, or air that has a lot of water vapor in it.

Let’s think about why we constructed our electroscope the way we did.
We’ll start with why we coiled the copper wire: we did this because we
wanted to create a lot of surface area for electrostatic induction—the
transfer of electrons from one surface to another without touching.
The more area there is for electrons from our object to enter the
wire, the faster energy will flow down into our electroscope. This is
also why thicker wire is better: the bigger the radius of the wire,
the more room electrons have to move.

It is necessary to have two pieces of foil or Paper with lead touching

so that they can repel each other when the electrons flow into them.
Negative charges repel each other, so there must be two negatively
charged pieces of foil for us to be able to visualize what is
happening! Of course, electron transfer is still happening if there is
one piece of metal, but we can’t see the particles themselves—we need
to be able to see something that they do.
DATA GATHERED:
PAPER # OF STROKES ANGLE
10 6°
20 15°
30 21°
40 27°
50 30°

FOIL # OF STROKES ANGLE

10 9°
20 16°
30 24°
40 32°
50 45°

Conclusion:
Based on the observations and data gathered we can conclude that even
with the number of strokes we can differ the angle of the strips of
paper and foil. Due to reasons foil has a more conductivity than of
the of the paper.
Electrons are transferred from one surface to another by physical
contact, which is why it is important to rub the test materials with a
material like a comb or your hand. By rubbing vigorously, you are
transferring electrons from to the material you’re testing. Your hand
and the comb become positively charged, while the test material
becomes negatively charged. The electrons, which are negatively
charged, can then travel through the copper wire of the electroscope
down to the pieces of foil and paper, which both become negatively
charged. These negative charges push against each other, causing the
pieces of foil and paper to repel. Remember, while opposites attract,
a negative-negative or positive-positive combinations of charges
always repel!