Professional Documents
Culture Documents
10-2006
Gregory N. Hassold
Kettering University
Recommended Citation
Ludwigsen, Daniel O. and Hassold, Gregory N., "A Simple Electric Field Probe in a Gauss's Law Laboratory" (2006). Physics
Publications. 3.
https://digitalcommons.kettering.edu/physics_facultypubs/3
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A
for Teaching Physics
pparatus
Erlend H. Graf, Column Editor
Department of Physics & Astronomy, SUNY–Stony Brook,
Stony Brook, NY 11794; egraf@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
times struggle with the abstraction of the equipotential lines, they can draw
a vector field. They have less familiar- qualitative electric field lines. To re-
ity with the phenomena associated inforce the quantitative relationship 1 cm
with electric fields, and the connec- between electric field and electric 4 cm
tion between phenomena and math- potential, students can also calculate
ematical formalism is weaker.1 Our the average electric field between 8 cm 6 cm
very next topic is Gauss’s law. While two points: the ratio of potential dif-
this provides an elegant approach to ference to the distance between the
finding electric field in special cases, points. Taking a pair of points in the
the expression involves additional radial direction, in an example with
mathematical baggage that may fur- concentric conductors, one can find Fig. 1. A diagram of the concentric
ther obscure the electric field. These the component of electric field in the circles applied to the conducting paper.
Gray shaded areas show electrodes of
students aren’t yet comfortable with radial direction and compare it to
silver paint, and the concentric circles
dot products and surface integrals. theoretical prediction.7 Computers for flux calculations and Gauss’s law
The usual symmetries are invoked in can assist in this effort, especially in are shown with dashed lines.
example problems but require stu- processing the data to create contour
dents to visualize flux in three dimen- plots or three-dimensional surfaces in more familiar N/C is provided:
sions. It is possible to reach this point perspective.8 1 V/cm -> 100 V/m -> 100 N/C.
in the introductory sequence without For a first experience with elec- The exercise is written to engage stu-
venturing outside of two-dimensional tric field in the laboratory, however, dents in direct measurement of the
problems. electric potential has not yet been vector electric field and to give them
To address these weaknesses with introduced. Students are comfortable a way to explore Gauss’s law before
Gauss’s law and visualizing flux, we with the digital voltmeter, so we use learning about electric potential. A
have adapted familiar laboratory electrodes with a fixed distance of follow-up laboratory exercise also
exercises using conducting paper.2 one centimeter to measure the vector uses the conducting paper to relate
In these exercises (several examples electric field on conducting paper. electric potential and field, and at
are available online)3-6 students We do not mention the calculation that point students develop a more
measure potential at various points with difference in potential, but only complete understanding of how the
in a two-dimensional space contain- state that the voltmeter reads electric electric field is measured on conduct-
ing charged conductors. Then they field in units of volts per centimeter. ing paper.9
connect these points with the same Then a simple conversion to the
470 DOI: 10.1119/1.2353596 THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, October 2006
Apparatus
connected to the voltmeter ground, L. (Our engineers see that this “ex-
then “walk” the other pin (connected truded” circle is a cylinder.) They
to the +V port) in a circle around can then derive the flux of the field
this point until the voltmeter read- through this circular cylinder of area
ing is most negative. We have found 2πrL:
that students adapt readily to this
procedure, which is comparable in = 2πrLE , (1)
difficulty to orienting a Hall probe
(the Hall element is perpendicular to where E is the average field for this
the magnetic flux when the reading circle of radius r and L = 1 m for
Fig. 2. The experimental apparatus fea-
tures the electric field probe: a small is greatest). The direction from the easy calculation. The field measure-
block of wood with two electrodes fixed, grounded pin to the other pin ments are repeated for a circle of a
made from upholstery pins. For scale, is the direction of the electric field. different radius, and the calculation
the grid spacing on the conducting
As we like to tell the students, the of the flux is repeated. The two
paper is 1 cm. The power supply (Heath
2732) and multimeter (Meterman 38XR)
electric field points “downhill”—to- values of flux are compared to see
are standard lab equipment. ward lower potential, so we look for if they agree within experimental
the most negative voltmeter reading. uncertainty (propagated from the
Laboratory Equipment The absolute value of that reading is uncertainty in the measurement of r
taken to be the magnitude of the av- and the uncertainty in E , taken as
The equipment involved in this erage field between the pins. the standard deviation of the mean).
exercise is similar to the PASCO The heart of Gauss’s law relates
Field Mapper Kit. A standard lab Using the Probe to flux to enclosed charge; both circles
power supply provides charge sepa- Discover Gauss’s Law enclose the same charged electrode,
ration between conductors of silver We first ask students to investigate so we expect the flux through both
paint on conducting paper. Our con- the electric field between the concen- cylinders is equal.
ducting paper is prepared with con- tric conductors. They are readily able
centric circles of conducting paint. A to determine that the electric field is Using Gauss’s Law to
solid circle in the center has a radius radial, directed away from the center Find Electric Field
of roughly 3 cm; the outer circle is electrode connected to the positive Finally, the coaxial cable is a
located at about r = 10 cm, as in Fig. terminal of the power supply. When standard example in lecture, as cy-
1. For our laboratory, these are meant asked to measure the strength of the lindrical symmetry can be used with
to represent a cross-sectional slice of field at several locations equidistant Gauss’s law to find the electric field
a coaxial cable. from the center, they find that the between the conductors. The result,
The simple electric field probe was magnitude does not vary signifi-
designed to provide a known distance cantly. This is in agreement with the λ 1
Er = ,
between two electrodes, carefully cylindrical symmetry of the system. 2πε r (2)
set to 1.0 cm. These electrodes must We then take the opportunity to
make good contact with the paper. use this system to lead the students predicts the radial electric field com-
The probe we use is assembled from a to “discover” Gauss’s law. Students ponent Er should depend on the in-
small block of wood and two uphol- measure the electric field at several verse of the radial distance. The effec-
stery pins with smooth round ends equally spaced points around a circle, tive linear charge density λ is related
to preserve the integrity of the paper. which lies between the electrodes. to the charge on the center electrode.
The probe is pictured in Fig. 2. Since the definition of flux involves In the last part of the lab, students
Students determine both mag- a surface in three-dimensional space, derive this expression, make several
nitude and direction of the electric we ask the students to imagine ex- measurements of electric field along
field using the probe. They are in- tending the circle perpendicular to a radial line, and use logarithmic
structed to fix the location of the pin the plane of the paper a distance plots of Er vs r to verify the inverse-