Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening
written by
Jake S. Bobowski and Jaklyn De Vos
An experiment that investigates the transition from conductive to dielectric screening of electric fields by a tube of water has been designed for senior physics undergraduates. A parallel-plate capacitor is used to generate a uniform electric field. Two concentric acrylic plexiglass tubes pass perpendicularly through the electric field generated between the plates. The region between the tubes can be filled with air or water. An electrode, suspended within the inner plexiglass tube, is used to sense the electric potential at its location. The sensor is designed so that it can be rotated to measure the potential at a second symmetric position. From the difference in the two potentials, the frequency dependence of the magnitude and phase of the electric field can be determined. With deionized water between the tubes, the magnitude and phase of the interior electric field was measured from 100 Hz to 300 kHz. The high-pass filter frequency response expected for a dielectric tube with non-negligible conductivity was observed. Fits to the data yielded a very reasonable experimental value for the ratio of the water's conductivity to its dielectric constant.
2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College
Part of the BFY Conference series
College Park, MD: July 22-24, 2015
Pages 16-19
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<a href="https://advlabs.aapt.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=13796">Bobowski, Jake, and Jaklyn De Vos. "Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening." Paper presented at the 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD, July 22-24, 2015.</a>
J. Bobowski and J. De Vos, , presented at the 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD, 2015, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13796&DocID=4216).
J. Bobowski and J. De Vos, Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening, presented at the 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD, 2015, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13796&DocID=4216>.
Bobowski, J., & De Vos, J. (2015, July 22-24). Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening. Paper presented at 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD. Retrieved December 12, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13796&DocID=4216
Bobowski, Jake, and Jaklyn De Vos. "Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening." Paper presented at the 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, College Park, MD, July 22-24, 2015. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13796&DocID=4216 (accessed 12 December 2024).
Bobowski, Jake, and Jaklyn De Vos. "Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening." 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College. College Park, MD: 2015. 16-19 of BFY Conference. 12 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13796&DocID=4216>.
@inproceedings{
Author = "Jake Bobowski and Jaklyn De Vos",
Title = {Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening},
BookTitle = {2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College},
Pages = {16-19},
Address = {College Park, MD},
Series = {BFY Conference},
Month = {July 22-24},
Year = {2015}
}
%A Jake Bobowski %A Jaklyn De Vos %T Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening %S BFY Conference %D July 22-24 2015 %P 16-19 %C College Park, MD %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13796&DocID=4216 %O 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College %O July 22-24 %O application/pdf
%0 Conference Proceedings %A Bobowski, Jake %A De Vos, Jaklyn %D July 22-24 2015 %T Screening Electric Fields using a Tube of Water: The Transition from Conductive to Dielectric Screening %B 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College %C College Park, MD %P 16-19 %S BFY Conference %8 July 22-24 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13796&DocID=4216
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