Section:B51

Experimental General Physics for Engineers II

Laboratory Report

Experiment Name: Dielectric Constant

 Section:B51

1. AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT & THEORY SUMMARY

- Studying the effect of dielectric materials on the capacitance of a capacitor.
- Measuring the dielectric constant of a dielectric material.

Capacitor: an electrical component used to store electrical energy temporarily. It consists of

two parallel electrical conductors separated by a dielectric material.

Dielectric material: an insulator which gets polarized due to the application of external
electric field

Capacitance = Q/V (1)

C = εA/d (2)

K (Dielectric constant) = C/C0 = ε/ ε0 (3)

2. PROCEDURE
Equipment:

- Parallel plate capacitor

- Dielectric material (Plastic sheets)
- Capacitor meter
- Wires

Instructions:
1. Connect the circuit shown below and switch on the power

2. Insert one of the plastic sheets provided to you and read the capacitance off the meter.
Read also the distance between the plates and fill in the table
3. Add another sheet, one a time, record the corresponding capacitance, read the total
distance between the plates and complete the table.
4. Repeat step 3 until 4 sheets have been measured.

3. RESULTS
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Part 1 : measurements with Plastic

1. Table of results

Number Distance Error d 1/d (mm-1) δ1/d ) Capacitance C δC (nF)

of d (mm) (nF)
sheets ( δd) (mm-1)
(mm)

1 3.0 0.1 0.33 0.01 0.572 0.001

2 9.0 0.1 0.111 0.001 0.260 0.001

3 14.7 0.1 0.0680 0.0005 0.202 0.001

4 15.1 0.1 0.0662 0.0004 0.182 0.001

2. Give in detail δ1/d )

√ ( ()
) √(
2
1
d
) ()
2 2
δ(1/d ) = d −1 1
×δd = 2
×δd =
d
×δd ¿
d (d ) d
¿
Example from first row:

δ(1/d ) = (1/3)2 x 0.1 = ±0.01

Part 2 : measurements with air

Number Distance δd 1/d (mm-1) δ1/d ) Capacitance C0 δC0 (nF)

of d (mm) (mm) (nF)
sheets (mm-1)

1 3.0 0.1 0.33 0.01 0.219 0.001

2 9.0 0.1 0.111 0.001 0.114 0.001

3 14.7 0.1 0.0680 0.0005 0.093 0.001

4 15.1 0.1 0.0662 0.0004 0.090 0.001

4. Data analysis
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1. Plot C versus 1/d using Excel and draw the errors bars. Do not forget the units and titles.
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2. Fit linearly your data and get the slope and the intercept.
Part 1: Plastic
Slope = 1.42 nFmm
Intercept = 0.098 nF

Part 2: Air
Slope = 0.478 nFmm
Intercept = 0.060 nF

3. Using the Excel function linest get the errors on the slope and intercept.
Part 1: Plastic
δ (slope) = ±0.04 nFmm
δ (intercept) = ±0.008 nF

Part 2: Air
δ (slope) = ±0.006 nFmm
δ (intercept) = ±0.001nF
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4. Does your data represent the model given by Eq. 1? (Look at the fit quality variable R2).
In part 1: R2 = 0.9983
In part 2: R2 = 0.9997
This shows the linear fit of the graph and proves the theory in Equation (2) that
capacitance is directly proportional to the reciprocal of the distance. The direct
proportionality is shown through the R2 values in both parts being very close to 1.

5. Calculate K and δK.

K = ε/ ε0

Slope = εA

So K = S(plastic)/S(air) = εA/ ε0A = ε/ ε0

K = 1.42 / 0.478 = 2.97

Error Propagation:

√( )( )
2
1
2
−S ( plastic )
δK = ×U ( S ( plastic ) ) + ×U ( S ( air ) )
S ( air ) S ( air )
2

√( ) ( )
2 2
1 −1.42
δK = ×0.04 + ×0.006
0.478 0.4782

δK = ± 0.09

6. K for plastic is 3 ± 1. How does your result compare with this value? (Use the 2 method). Do
they agree?

X2 = (theoretical – experimental)2 / (δtheoretical 2+ δexperimental 2)

= (3 – 2.97)2 / (12+ 0.092)
= 0.0009
The value is way below 3, therefore showing create accuracy and precision in the
experiment. The experimental value is in high agreement with the theoretical value.

Conclusion and discussion

Overall, the experiment was successful in the way that the results showcased what was
expected based on the theory. The X2 values were way below 3 and very low, this showed
success in the accuracy and precision in the experiment. Very little experimental and
systematic errors can be seen. The theory of the equation relating capacitance and the
reciprocal distance between the plates was proven by the graphs, their slopes and their
ratios. The R2 values were agreeable as well since they were very close to 1, which shows
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the linear relationship between the 2 variables. The experiment proved that as distance
between the conductors increases, the capacitance decreases.