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".
SEE RELATED MATERIALS for a lab on the same topic, also developed for the MIT Physics 8.02 course.
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.
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
<a href="https://www.compadre.org/introphys/items/detail.cfm?ID=9962">National Science Foundation. MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, May 2, 2008.</a>
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 2004), WWW Document, (http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm).
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>.
MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor. (2008, May 2). Retrieved September 7, 2024, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology: http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm
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 7 September 2024).
MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. 2 May 2008. National Science Foundation. 7 Sep. 2024 <http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/visualizations/electrostatics/capacitor/capacitor.htm>.
@misc{
Title = {MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor},
Publisher = {Massachusetts Institute of Technology},
Volume = {2024},
Number = {7 September 2024},
Month = {May 2, 2008},
Year = {2004}
}
%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
%0 Electronic Source %D May 2, 2008 %T MIT Physics 8.02: Electrostatics - The Capacitor %I Massachusetts Institute of Technology %V 2024 %N 7 September 2024 %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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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.)
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