Name:

SR.No.
Group:
Date:

Electrostatic ping-pong/Franklin’s Bell

CAUTION: The source used for this for this experiment can supply up to 20kV.Do not touch
the metal plates with bare hands or with any metallic objects once the supply is turned on.
DO NOT forget to turn off the supply once the measurements have been completed.

A brass sphere is suspended. For a small angle displacement find the frequency of the
oscillations.

Now introduce two parallel plates such that the brass sphere is in between the plates. The
brass sphere shuttles between the two parallel plates that have a high potential difference
between them. One plate is at high positive voltage and the other plate is grounded.

1) Make the sphere to touch the grounded plate and allow it to oscillate between the
plates. Does the sphere get charged when it touches the grounded plate? Discuss
why or why not.
2) Calculate the frequency of oscillation and compare it with the value that you obtained
when the parallel plates were not present. Is the frequency larger than ?
Discuss. What are the factors that affect the frequency?
3) Are the oscillations sinusoidal? Discuss why or why not.
4) For a given voltage, does the frequency change with time? Why/why not?
5) Record the period of the oscillations for different high voltages starting with 4.5kVand
increasing in steps of 1kV at constant distances between the plates
6) Record the period of the oscillations for different distances between the plates at
constant potential above 10kV and increasing in steps of 1cm.
7) Find the frequency of oscillation and plot a graph of Frequency vs. Voltage.
8) Does the sphere lose its charge during its motion between the plates?
9) Using the results of your experiment obtain the equation for the equation for
frequency.

Calculate the coefficient of restitution by allowing the sphere to hit one of the plates and
measuring the initial distance of release and the distance after hitting. Record a video for
the measurement. Why is this method so different from the case where the ball is
dropped vertically on to the plate? Explain.

TABLE and GRAPHS:

1. Frequency of oscillations vs Voltage applied on the plate, with at least 7 data points
and appropriate error bars.

USEFUL LINKS:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0143-0807/35/1/015022/meta