Virtual Laboratory: https://phet.colorado.

edu/sims/html/capacitor-lab-basics/latest/capacitor-lab-
basics_en.html

A. Capacitance, Plate Charge, and Potential Difference

Procedures and Details:
1. Open the “capacitance”.
2. Tick on the top plate charge and stored energy.
3. Connect the voltmeter.
4. Move the voltage selector to the desired voltage to
complete the details of the table below. Voltage selector

Capacitance (µF) Plate Charge (pC) Voltage (V) Q/V

0.50
1.0
1.5

Guide Question:
1. What can be said about the indicated capacitance of the capacitor and the quotient
of charge/voltage?

B. Charging and Discharging

Procedures and Details:
1. Open the “light bulb”.
2. Tick on the top plate charge and stored energy. Write the
details in the table.
3. Move the voltage selector at maximum (1.5 V). Write the details in the table.
4. Disconnect the capacitor’s conducting wires. Observe.
5. Connect the capacitor’s conducting wires to the bulb’s conducting wires.
Observe.

Capacitance (µF) Plate Charge (pC) Voltage (V)

0
1.5

Guide Questions:
1. What is the indicated capacitance of the plate as seen in procedure 2? How about
the charge and the stored energy?
2. What happens to the value of these three quantities when the voltage is increased
to 1.5 V?
3. How does disconnecting the capacitor to the voltage source (battery) affects these
quantities?
4. What happens to the light bulb when the capacitor is connected to it? How about
the capacitor?