Laboratory

 report  –  example  report  for  PHY10004  students,  taken  from  Lab  1  

This  is  not  a  “perfect”  report,  but  it  includes  most  of  the  important  features.  
 
PHY10004  Lab  report  for  Experiment  4  –  Coulomb’s  Law  
 
Aim:  This  experiment  was  an  investigation  of  the  force  between  two  charged  
objects.  It  examined  the  relationship  between  the  electric  force  and  the  
separation  of  the  charges,  and  compared  it  to  the  expectation  of  Coulomb’s  Law.  
 
Theory  
Electric  charge  comes  in  two  types,  described  by  the  signs  positive  and  negative,  
and  objects  with  a  net  charge  exert  a  force  on  each  other.  If  two  objects  have  the  
same  sign  of  charge,  then  they  repel  each  other,  and  if  they  have  opposite  signs  of  
charge  they  attract  each  other.  
Keep  the  theory  
The  magnitude  of  the  force  between  point  charges  depends  on  the  size  of   section  as  
each  charge  (q1  and  q2)  and  the  distance  they  are  separated  (r).  This  is   relevant  to  the  
mathematically  described  by  Coulomb’s  Law:     experiment  as  
𝑘𝑞! 𝑞! possible  
𝐹= 𝐹 =   (especially  
𝑟! concepts  that  
where  k  is  the  Coulomb  constant,  in  SI  units  k  =  9  ×  109  Nm2/C2.   will  be  used  in  
analysis).  
This  is  an  example  of  an  inverse-­‐square  law,  which  occurs  in  many  
interactions  in  physics  (e.g.  the  gravitational  force).  
If  the  relationship  between  quantities  is  expected  to  be  a  power  law,  then  a  
useful  way  to  analyse  experimental  data  is  to  use  properties  of  logarithms,  as  
shown:  
  if    𝑍 = 𝑋𝑌 !  then  log 𝑍 = log 𝑋 + 𝑁log 𝑌  
so  plotting  log(Z)  vs  log(Y),  keeping  X  constant,  would  produce  a  linear  graph  
with  gradient  N.  
Method  
The  main  apparatus  used  consisted  of  two  identical  spheres,  about  30  mm  in  
diameter,  coated  with  a  conductive  material.  One  of  the  spheres  is  attached  to  a  
torsion  balance,  and  the  other  is  on  a  sliding  mount  that  can  be  moved  closer  or  
further  away.  The  general  set-­‐up  is  shown  in  the  diagram  below:  
  torsion  
Diagrams  are  
moveable     spheres   adjustment  
almost  always  
mount   useful  in  the  
  method.  They  can  
  be  hand-­‐drawn,  
distance   computer-­‐drawn,  or  
  torsion   even  a  photograph  
scale   balance   (but  it  must  be  
  clearly  labeled)  
 
The  general  procedure  was  as  follows;  
• move  the  spheres  to  maximum  separation  
• use  the  high-­‐voltage  probe  to  charge  each  sphere  using  6.0  kV  
 Using  point-­‐
• switch  the  high-­‐voltage  source  off  immediately  after  charging   for  to  
describe  steps  
• carefully  slide  the  moveable  sphere  mount  to  the  desired  separation   is  fine,  but  
• turn  the  torsion  adjustment  knob  to  return  the  torsion  balance  to   avoid  simply  
equilibrium  (i.e.  the  two  marks  on  the  balance  are  aligned)   copying  the  
• write  down  the  the  separation  distance  and  the  angle  of  the  torsion   instructions  
from  the  lab  
knob  
notes.  
• repeat  for  the  next  separation  distance  
The  angle  of  the  thread  in  the  torsion  balance  is  directly  proportional  to  the  force  
it  applies  to  the  sphere,  and  therefore  it  is  proportional  to  the  electric  force  felt  
by  the  sphere.     There  is  no  
need  to  
Results  
reproduce  the  
The  data  collected  is  shown  in  the  table  on  the  attached  worksheet.   information  
Uncertainties  are  relatively  small,  and  can  be  approximated  as  +/-­‐  0.5  degrees   from  the  lab  
for  angle  and  +/-­‐  0.5  cm  for  separation  distance.   worksheet,  but  
you  should  
Two  graphs  were  drawn,  also  on  the  attached  worksheet.  The  graph  of   clarify  any  
separation  vs  angle  clearly  shows  a  non-­‐linear  relationship,  but  the  graph  of   important  
log(distance)  vs  log(angle)  seems  quite  linear,  and  a  line  of  best  fit  has  been   details.  In  some  
drawn.   cases  you  may  
want  to  
Analysis   construct  
The  slope  of  the  log(distance)  vs  log(angle)  graph  should  reveal  the   additional  
graphs.  
relationship  between  the  electric  force  and  separation.  Here  is  the  calculation  
of  the  slope:  
two  well-­‐separated  points  on  the  line  of  best  fit  are  (2.48,  3.00)  and  (2.90,  2.025)  
this  gives  a  gradient  of  !.!"#!!.!! = −2.3.  
!.!"!!.!" The  
An  estimate  of  the  uncertainty  in  the  gradient  is  given  by  the  steepest  and  least-­‐ calculation  of  
the  extreme  
steep  lines  that  reasonably  fit  the  data,  as  shown  by  the  dotted  lines  on  the   lines  of  best  
graph.  The  difference  in  the  gradients  of  these  lines  is  0.26,  giving  an   fit  should  
uncertainty  in  the  gradient  of  +/-­‐  0.13.   have  been  
shown  here.  
This  result  gives  the  relationship  between  force  and  separation  as  𝐹 ∝ 𝑑 ! ,  with  
an  experimental  value  of  n  =  –2.3  +/-­‐  0.13,  which  is  about  a  5%  uncertainty.  
The  expectation  from  Coulomb’s  Law  is  n  =  –2,  that  is,  an  inverse  square  law.  
This  experimental  result  is  not  in  agreement  with  Coulomb’s  Law,  giving  a  value  
of  n  that  is  15%  too  large.  Our  results  indicate  that  the  electric  force  between  the  
charges  decreases  faster  than  expected  by  Coulomb’s  Law.  Some  possible  
explanations  for  this  include  the  slow  discharge  of  the  spheres,  the  finite  size  of  
the  spheres,  and  unaccounted  external  forces.  These  possibilities  are  discussed  
in  the  next  paragraph.  
It  is  
The  spheres  will  gradually  lose  their  charge  through  interaction  with  the  
important  to  
surrounding  air.  It  is  possible  that  the  timing  of  the  experiment  was  not   give  as  m uch  
controlled  properly,  and  that  there  was  less  charge  on  the  spheres  when  the   detail  as  
larger  distances  were  investigated.  The  spheres  are  not  well  modeled  by  point   possible  when  
charges,  and  it  may  be  that  the  finite  size  of  the  spheres  causes  a  small   discussing  
potential  
deviation  from  an  exact  inverse  square  law.  Finally,  there  are  many  external  
sources  of  
forces  that  are  difficult  to  control  completely,  such  as  air  currents  or  charge   uncertainty.  
interactions  with  the  experimenters’  hands.  These  might  alter  the  size  of  the  
force  measured  by  the  torsion  balance.  Another  thing  to  consider  is  the  small  
number  of  data  points  that  have  been  used  for  the  analysis.  Four  points  is  
probably  too  few,  and  the  range  of  the  data  is  also  small  (i.e.  the  range  of  
distances  does  not  ever  cover  a  factor  of  2  in  separation  change).  
Conclusion  
This  experiment  was  able  to  investigate  the  nature  of  the  electric  force  between  
two  charged  objects.  By  using  two  identical  spheres,  with  identical  charges  on  
them,  the  only  quantity  that  should  have  affected  the  size  of  the  force  was  the   The  
distance  between  the  two  charges,  which  was  varied  in  a  controlled  manner.  The   conclusion  
should  
electric  force  was  not  measured  directly,  but  a  torsion  thread  was  used  to  apply  a   provide  the  
force  that  balanced  the  electric  force,  and  the  angle  of  torsion  thread  could  be   reader  with  a  
carefully  controlled.  Although  no  exact  measurements  were  made  of  the   concise  
important  physical  quantities  (i.e.  the  size  of  the  force,  the  amount  of  charge  on   summary,  
the  spheres),  the  mathematical  relationship  between  force  and  separation  was   and  relate  
the  original  
able  to  be  determined.   aim  and  
Our  results  showed  a  clear  non-­‐linear  relationship  between  force  and  separation,   method  to  the  
results  and  
as  expected  from  the  inverse  square  law  in  Coulomb’s  Law.  However,  when  a  log-­‐
discussion.  
log  plot  was  analysed,  the  results  showed  a  deviation  from  an  exact  inverse  
square  law.  The  data  gave  force  proportional  to  dn,  with  n  =  –2.3  +/-­‐0.13.  Whilst  
this  is  close  to  agreement  with  Coulomb’s  Law,  a  larger  data  set  would  be  useful  
to  reduce  the  uncertainty.  There  are  also  several  factors,  such  as  air  currents  and  
external  forces,  that  could  be  better  controlled  to  improve  the  experiment.  
 
   
 Lab 1 – WORKSHEET PHY10004
 
LAST  NAME:  T ry-Hard   FIRST  NAME:  A nonym ous  

STUDENT  ID:  5 55128x   TABLE  #:  5   TIME: 2:30   DAY: Friday  

• Experiment  4  –  Coulomb’s  Law    

• (a)  Charge  the  two  spheres  with  the  same  voltage,  and  measure  the  force  
between  them  as  a  function  of  separation.  Torsion  angle  is  directly  proportional  
to  force.  
Separation, d [cm] Torsion angle, θ Log(d) Log(θ)
[degrees]
12 19 2.48 2.94

14 14 2.64 2.64

16 10 2.77 2.30

18 8 2.89 2.08

 
θ˚ Log(θ)  
20   3.0   x  
x  

2.8  

x  
x  
2.6  

10   x  
2.4  

x  
x   2.2  

x  
0   2.0  
10   12   14   16   18   d  (cm)   2.40   2.50   2.60   2.70   2.80   2.90  
Log(d)  
 
 
 
Make  sure  everything  is  
completed  on  the  worksheet  –  
leave  no  unexplained  gaps.  
Importantly,  graphs  should  
have  axes  that  are  clearly  
labeled,  with  units  indicated  
and  appropriate  choice  of  scale  
to  use  as  much  of  the  available  
space  as  possible.