11500 - The Petroleum Institute Department of Physics...

The Petroleum Institute
Department of Physics
PHYS241
Lab Report:
The plate capacitor: The capacitance as a function of the distance
Student Name: Ali Abdulla Ahmed AlYammahi ID: 920011500
Partner’s Name: Ali Hassan Ali Salim ID: 920011434
Date of submission: Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Lab Section: L03
“I pledge that I have neither given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this academic assignment,
exercise or examination”
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Semester: Spring 2009 Page 1

Abstract:
This experiment was done to find-out the relationship between the capacitance ( C ) and
the distance between the plates ( d ) when the air was used as the dielectric. Also, to know how
cans non-conductive material between the plates affect. First of all, the team has set the voltage
constant at 500V and changing the distance between the plates to measure the capacitance.
Furthermore, measuring the charge at each distance helps to calculate the capacitance. A diagram
for C - d
-1
was created and the result was a straight line passing through the origin which
demonstrated the direct proportional relationship between ( C ) and (1/ d ). The area of the
capacitor was A=0.707m 2 and the error should be taken into consideration. The results found
were compatible with the theories of the capacitance and therefore, the objectives of this
experiment were met.
Semester: Spring 2009 Page 2

Table of contents
Introduction and background:
Semester: Spring 2009 Page 3
Section Page number
Introduction and background 3
Experiment set-up 3
Procedure 4
Results 4
Discussion 6
Conclusion 7
References 7

A capacitor is an electric device in which electrical energy can be stored. The idea of any type of