Lab Report
Coulomb’s Law
Purpose:
The purpose of this lab was to demonstrate that the force between two stationary charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely to the square of the distance between them. Coulomb's law tells us that the force between two charges depends (1) linearly on the strength of each charge, and (2) inversely on the square of the distance between them. Mathematically we would write this as .
Procedures
Part1
Begin by removing the right side guide block and setting it aside. Inductively charge the sphere attached to the left side guide block by doing the following the order of the steps is critical to success! Rub the wool square on the white vinyl strip to transfer charge to the strip. Bring the sphere on the guide block near to the charged strip but do not touch them together. With the sphere close to the strip, touch the sphere with your finger and then remove your finger. (When you touch it, you are acting as a ground – an escape route for electrons.) After you have removed your finger from the sphere pull the sphere away from the charged strip. The sphere on the guide block should now be charged.
Note: If you hear a crack or pop sound while the strip is close to the sphere, this means that they were too close to each other and charge jumped across the gap. The sphere is now uncharged and you will need to recharge the strip and repeat the process. Also, work carefully from this point: if you touch the charged sphere to anything it will immediately discharge and you will have to charge it again.
(Picture)
Recharge your sphere again for this next part.
Slowly slide the guide block with the charged sphere into the left side of the chamber and carefully observe the two spheres as they approach each other and just before they touch. Record your observations. If nothing happens
Purpose:
The purpose of this lab was to demonstrate that the force between two stationary charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely to the square of the distance between them. Coulomb's law tells us that the force between two charges depends (1) linearly on the strength of each charge, and (2) inversely on the square of the distance between them. Mathematically we would write this as .
Procedures
Part1
Begin by removing the right side guide block and setting it aside. Inductively charge the sphere attached to the left side guide block by doing the following the order of the steps is critical to success! Rub the wool square on the white vinyl strip to transfer charge to the strip. Bring the sphere on the guide block near to the charged strip but do not touch them together. With the sphere close to the strip, touch the sphere with your finger and then remove your finger. (When you touch it, you are acting as a ground – an escape route for electrons.) After you have removed your finger from the sphere pull the sphere away from the charged strip. The sphere on the guide block should now be charged.
Note: If you hear a crack or pop sound while the strip is close to the sphere, this means that they were too close to each other and charge jumped across the gap. The sphere is now uncharged and you will need to recharge the strip and repeat the process. Also, work carefully from this point: if you touch the charged sphere to anything it will immediately discharge and you will have to charge it again.
(Picture)
Recharge your sphere again for this next part.
Slowly slide the guide block with the charged sphere into the left side of the chamber and carefully observe the two spheres as they approach each other and just before they touch. Record your observations. If nothing happens