This document describes a laboratory activity to build homemade capacitors and measure their capacitance. Students will construct capacitors using aluminum foil, paper clips, and different types of paper as dielectrics. They will measure the capacitance of each capacitor and record the results. The purpose is to investigate how the area of the foil and thickness of the dielectric affect capacitance. Students will then answer questions about their observations and the factors that influence capacitor capacitance.
This document describes a laboratory activity to build homemade capacitors and measure their capacitance. Students will construct capacitors using aluminum foil, paper clips, and different types of paper as dielectrics. They will measure the capacitance of each capacitor and record the results. The purpose is to investigate how the area of the foil and thickness of the dielectric affect capacitance. Students will then answer questions about their observations and the factors that influence capacitor capacitance.
This document describes a laboratory activity to build homemade capacitors and measure their capacitance. Students will construct capacitors using aluminum foil, paper clips, and different types of paper as dielectrics. They will measure the capacitance of each capacitor and record the results. The purpose is to investigate how the area of the foil and thickness of the dielectric affect capacitance. Students will then answer questions about their observations and the factors that influence capacitor capacitance.
This document describes a laboratory activity to build homemade capacitors and measure their capacitance. Students will construct capacitors using aluminum foil, paper clips, and different types of paper as dielectrics. They will measure the capacitance of each capacitor and record the results. The purpose is to investigate how the area of the foil and thickness of the dielectric affect capacitance. Students will then answer questions about their observations and the factors that influence capacitor capacitance.
Purpose: Determine the capacitance of an improvised capacitor
Investigate the factors affecting the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor
Materials: roll of aluminum foil different pieces of four types of paper
transparent tape paper clips connecting wires multimeter with provision for measuring capacitance
Procedure and Observation:
1. Cut two 2.5cm x 5.0cm pieces of aluminum foil as conductors and 3.5cm x 6.0cm pieces of bond paper as the dielectric material. Measure the thickness of the paper. 2. Using a transparent tape, paste the pieces of aluminum foil at the center of paper, one piece on each side. 3. Straighten two metal clips. Paste one on each aluminum foil. The capacitor should look like the sample on the right. 4. Using a multimeter, measure the capacitance of the paper capacitor. 5. Change the area of the aluminum foil and paper clip and measure the capacitance. 6. Repeat Steps 1 to 5 using three or more types of paper, and compare the capacitance of each. Record all your observations in table 1.
Data and Result
Capacitor 1 Capacitor 2 Capacitor 3 Capacitor 4
Area of foil
Type of paper
Thickness of paper
Capacitance Post Lab Questions
RUBRIC 5 4 2 1 Complete Sentence Complete Sentence Incomplete Sentence OR One or Two Word Answer Very Detailed (Reasons) Detailed (Reasons) Many Mistakes OR Does Not Answer the Neatly Written Neat Hard to Understand OR Question Almost No Mistakes Might Have Some Mistakes Partially Answers Question Good Answer to Question Answers the Question
1. How does the area of the aluminum foil affect the capacitance of the paper capacitors? ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How does the thickness of the paper dielectric field affect the capacitance of the paper capacitor? ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Did you get the same capacitance using different types of paper? What do you think accounts for the similarities or differences in capacitance? ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What are the possible sources of error in this activity?
