01 Equipotential Surfaces

Page |1
SCHOOL NAME SCHOOL NAME SCHOOL NAME

ADDRESS WITH PINCODE AND PHONE NUMBER
Submitted by Guided by
Student Name [ Teacher Name ]
XII Sc ……
Board Roll No. Designation
-----------
www.ammhu.com A categorized blogging website and an Online Resource Centre For CBSE, RBSE, and
Other State Boards — Raj Kumar Parashari, Head Science @ JPHS, Jaipur-302021
Page |2
INDEX
1. CERTIFICATE
2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
3. AIM
4. APPARATUS REQUIRED
5. PRINCIPLE / THEORY
6. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP & PROCEDURE
8. OBSERVATIONS
9. CALCULATIONS
10. RESULT
Page |3
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that _______________________
student of ______ school name _______, class XII Sc __
has carried out his work for the investigatory project
entitled _______________________________________
under my guidance and supervision.
Signature of the Teacher

Name Of The Teacher
Designation
Page |4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I __________________________________ a student of
____________________________________,______________
would like to pay my sincere gratitude to my Physics teacher
Mr./Mrs. __________________________ for helping and
guiding me throughout the completion of the project report. I
would like to thank Mr./Mrs. _______________________ our
school principal/Director for making school such a wonderful
place of learning. I also would like to thank Mr.
______________ our lab assistant for the timely assistant in
completion of the project.
Page |5
AIM
To produce & verify cylindrical equipotential surfaces.
APPARATUS REQUIRED
A battery eliminator, aluminum foil, a cylindrical container,
an optical bench needle, water and a multi-meter.
THEORY
1. Equipotential Surfaces
It is a surface whose every point has same electric
potential. The equipotential surface may be surface can be
both real as in case of a charged conductor or an imaginary
as in case of a point charge or a dipole. Following are a few
examples of equipotential surfaces.
(a) Due to isolated point charges (b) Due to an electric dipole
Page |6
(c) Due to like charges (d) Due to a Sheet of Charge
2.Important Properties of Equipotential Surfaces.
(a). Work done in moving a test charge over an

equipotential surface is zero.
Let A an B be two points over an equipotential

surface, as shown in figure. If the test charge q is moved 0
from A to B, the work done will be

W  Charge × potential difference
AB
Page |7
 q0 VB  VA 
As the surface is equipotential, so V B  VA   0 . Hence

WAB  0 .
(b). Electric field is always normal to the equipotential

surface at every point. If the field were not normal to the
equipotential surface, it would have a non-zero component
along the surface and it should move the charges on the
surface. But it is not the case as charges on the surface are
static. There is one more argument, if tangential force will
push charges along surface, so will do work and hence there
should be potential difference. Which is contrary to the
observed fact (i.e. no potential difference between any two
points on an equipotential surface and consequently no work
is required to move a test charge on the surface). Hence the
electric field must be normal to the equipotential surface at
every point.
(c). Equipotential surfaces are closer together in the

regions of strong field and farther apart in the regions of
weak field. We know that electric field at any point is equal
to the negative of potential gradient at that point.
V V
E r  
i.e., or r E
For the same change in the value of V i.e., when V =

constant , we have
1
r 
E
Page |8
Thus the spacing between the equipotential surfaces

will be smaller in the regions, where the electric field is
stronger and vice versa.
(d). Normal drawn to an equipotential surface gives
direction of electric field at that point. If they intersect, there
will be two directions of electric field at the point of
intersection which is not possible. Also there will be two
values of potential at the point of intersection, which is not
permitted.
(e) Using Gauss theorem, the electric field at distance r
c
E= ……… (1)
r
So potential difference
𝒓𝒄 𝑹
∆𝑽 = − 𝑹𝒓
𝒅𝒓 = −𝒄 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒆 𝒓 𝒓
𝑹 = 𝒄 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒆 𝒓
Or, V = V1 +c logeR – c loger
Or, V = a – c loger ……… (2)
Page |9
3. Experimental Setup & Procedure

Following is the experimental setup.
P a g e | 10
(a) Wrap aluminum foil all around the curved wall of the
cylindrical container as shown above.
(b) Place an optical bench needle in the middle and apply
potential difference between the two using the battery
eliminator.
(c) Use a multi-meter to measure potential of any point
within water taking with respect to periphery as the lower
potential surface.
OBSERVATIONS:—
S.No. Radius Of The Height Electric potential with
Cylinder respect to needle
VA VB(volt) VC(volt) VD(volt)
volt)
1 cm 2.42 2.38 2.41 2.42
1. r= 4 cm 2 cm 2.41 2.36 2.41 2.45

3 cm 2.41 2.38 2.44 2.44
1 cm 1.63 1.62 1.62 1.66
2. r= 6cm 2 cm 1.62 1.66 1.66 1.62

3 cm 1.61 1.65 1.64 1.64
1cm 0.72 0.72 0.76 0.72

3. r = 8 cm 2 cm 0.72 0.74 0.72 0.72
3 cm 0.72 0.74 0.72 0.75
P a g e | 11
Result-
(1) Equipotential surfaces are nearly coaxial.
(2) Difference in potential decreases more

rapidly as radius increases, which clearly
suggests that as we move radially outwards,
separation between the two equipotential
surfaces should increase.
(3) Electric potential decreases linearly loge(r),
which has been clearly verified by the V vs
loger graph.
P a g e | 12
Precautions: —(a) All the connection should be

tight.
(b) Aluminum foil should be wrapped on the
walls of the container carefully.
(c) Data may be insufficient for accurate
inference.
P a g e | 13
Bibliography
1. Video Lecture on Electrostatics by H.C. Verma on
www.youtube.com
2. NCERT
3. Fundamentals Of Physics Halliday & Resnick
Note: — Hand written Investigatory Project Report

should be submitted. Work should be neat and clean.
Avoid unnecessary fancy decoration of the project
report.
Note: — Learn theory, working and related viva for
board practical examination.
Wish you all the best.
Raj Kumar Parashari

Head Science
JPHS, Jaipur-21

01 Equipotential Surfaces

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

01 Equipotential Surfaces

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Page |1

SCHOOL NAME SCHOOL NAME SCHOOL NAME

Student Name [ Teacher Name ]

Board Roll No. Designation

Signature of the Teacher

(a) Due to isolated point charges (b) Due to an electric dipole

(c) Due to like charges (d) Due to a Sheet of Charge

2.Important Properties of Equipotential Surfaces.

(a). Work done in moving a test charge over an

Let A an B be two points over an equipotential

from A to B, the work done will be

As the surface is equipotential, so V B  VA   0 . Hence

(b). Electric field is always normal to the equipotential

(c). Equipotential surfaces are closer together in the

For the same change in the value of V i.e., when V =

Thus the spacing between the equipotential surfaces

Or, V = V1 +c logeR – c loger

Or, V = a – c loger ……… (2)

3. Experimental Setup & Procedure

1. r= 4 cm 2 cm 2.41 2.36 2.41 2.45

1 cm 1.63 1.62 1.62 1.66

2. r= 6cm 2 cm 1.62 1.66 1.66 1.62

1cm 0.72 0.72 0.76 0.72

(2) Difference in potential decreases more

Precautions: —(a) All the connection should be

Note: — Hand written Investigatory Project Report

Raj Kumar Parashari

You might also like