Capacitor Lab
Name_______________ Date_________________
Purpose: To recognize how a capacitor charges and discharges and to explain why this occurs in
terms of moving charges.
Theory:
Circuit Diagram:
Procedure:
Data:
Questions:
1. What are the shapes of the graphs? What can you conclude about the rate at which the
capacitor charges and discharges?
2. In terms of what you know about how charges are placed on the capacitor, explain why the
voltage readings change so slowly at the end?
3. If this were a parallel plate capacitor, draw the electric field lines and equipotential lines
between the plates of the capacitor.
4. Knowing the value of the capacitance of the capacitor to be 1F, use the formulas in the theory
section to calculate the value of the resistor that you placed in series with the capacitor.
5. Calculate the percent error for your resistor.
6. If an electron was released from rest at the negatively charged plate of the parallel plate
capacitor, draw its path. Assuming that the potential difference between the plates of the
capacitor when it is fully charged is 10 V, what is the velocity of the electron when it reaches
the opposite plate of the capacitor? (The mass of an electron is 9.11*10-31 kg.)
7. List the possible sources of error in your experiment.