MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics

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MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor

supported by the National Science Foundation
educational validator: John Belcher
technical implementer: Andrew McKinney
published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This Java simulation depicts the interaction of charged particles inside the two plates of a capacitor. The user may place up to 12 charges in each capacitor plate and set the magnitude of particle charge. The simulation initiates with a view of the charges distributing themselves around the outer edge of the plates. The resulting electric field can then be viewed as electric potential lines or "grass seeds".

This item is part of a collection of visualizations developed by the MIT TEAL project to supplement an introductory course in calculus-based electricity and magnetism.
Lecture notes, labs, and presentations are also available as part of MIT's Open Courseware Repository:
MIT Open Courseware: Electricity and Magnetism

Please note that this resource requires Java Applet Plug-in.

http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostati...

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Electricity & Magnetism - Capacitance = Capacitors - Electric Fields and Potential = Electrostatic Potential and Potential Energy	- Lower Undergraduate - High School	- Instructional Material = Interactive Simulation

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Learners - Educators	- application/java - text/html	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Access Rights:: Free access
License:: This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:: MIT Open Courseware (OCW): http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/terms/terms/index.htm
Keywords:: Coulomb, Coulomb force, Pauli force, electric field, electric potential, interactive simulations, parallel plate capacitor, point charges, representations, visualization
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created April 14, 2010 by Caroline Hall
Record Updated:: November 25, 2011 by Caroline Hall
Last Update when Cataloged:: May 2, 2008
Other Collections:: The Physics Front

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=9962">National Science Foundation. MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 2, 2008.</a>

AIP Format

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 2004), WWW Document, (http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm).

AJP/PRST-PER

MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 2004), <http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm>.

APA Format

MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor. (2008, May 2). Retrieved May 1, 2025, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology: http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm

Chicago Format

National Science Foundation. MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 2, 2008. http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm (accessed 1 May 2025).

MLA Format

MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. 2 May 2008. National Science Foundation. 1 May 2025 <http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm>.

BibTeX Export Format

@misc{ Title = {MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor}, Publisher = {Massachusetts Institute of Technology}, Volume = {2025}, Number = {1 May 2025}, Month = {May 2, 2008}, Year = {2004} }

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%T MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor %D May 2, 2008 %I Massachusetts Institute of Technology %C Cambridge %U http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm %O application/java

EndNote Export Format

%0 Electronic Source %D May 2, 2008 %T MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor %I Massachusetts Institute of Technology %V 2025 %N 1 May 2025 %8 May 2, 2008 %9 application/java %U http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm

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The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

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MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor:

Supplements http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Physics/8-02TSpring-2005/C9039201-1204-435E-A2FF-412A588DFB39/0/exp02.pdf

A related lab experiment by the same authors on measuring electrostatic force using parallel plate capacitors, insulating perf board, aluminum foil. (High voltage power supply required.)

relation by Caroline Hall

Supplements MIT Physics 8.02: Experiment - Electrostatic Force

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