Lab: Electroscope

Goal: To observe static charge

Materials and Procedure

1. Read up on electrostatic charges and the electroscope at the physics classroom. Check out historical electroscopes to get a better idea of your options for building one: Kenyon University site.
2. Make an electroscope:

   Follow this link to learn how to make a very simple electroscope.. You may want to think about how you could change the container to make quantitative measurements of the separation of the leaves.

   If you want to make a more accurate electroscope, try these instructions: 1955 Popular Electronics article.

   If you have the physics kit, it will contain a gold leaf for this experiment.

   This simple device will allow you to detect charge in various household objects.

3. Calculate the force necessary to raise your electroscope "wings" to 10, 20, 30, and 40 degrees of separation against the pull of gravity. [where 0 is vertical and 10 degrees of separation is a 5 degree swing sideways for each wing.]
4. Estimate the charge necessary to create the force for each calibrated distance above.
5. Record the separation caused by bringing the electroscope near at least three different charged objects.

Data Handling

1. Estimate the actual charges on the objectes you measured.

Report

1. Describe your materials, equipment, an procedures in sufficient detail that your fellow students could repeat your experiment.
2. Report your data. Be sure to indicate the amount of error in your measurements. For example, if you can only measure a mass of 25 gms within 1 grm, your error would be 25 ± 1, or 1/25 = 4%.
3. Present your data in an organized form, preferably in a table, in such a way it is easy to compare results as you repeat trials or vary a specific contributing factor.
4. Show a sample calculation, if you have calculated values.
5. If you did a series of experiments, varying something by increasing or decreasing a factor, try to plot your data (y-axis) as a function of the factor (x-axis).
6. You may use a spreadsheet to calculate your information and create your table.
7. Summarize your results.
8. Draw conclusions about what is happening.
9. Suggest at least one way to improve your experiment.

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