LABORATORY ACTIVITY # 3.

1
DO IT YOURSELF CAPACITOR

Name: __________________________________________ Rating: ___________________/20

Grade & Section: __________________________________ Date: _____________________

Purpose: Determine the capacitance of an improvised capacitor

Investigate the factors affecting the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor

Materials: roll of aluminum foil different pieces of four types of paper

transparent tape paper clips
connecting wires multimeter with provision for measuring capacitance

Procedure and Observation:

1. Cut two 2.5cm x 5.0cm pieces of aluminum foil as conductors and 3.5cm x 6.0cm pieces of bond paper as the
dielectric material. Measure the thickness of the paper.
2. Using a transparent tape, paste the pieces of aluminum foil at the center
of paper, one piece on each side.
3. Straighten two metal clips. Paste one on each aluminum foil. The
capacitor should look like the sample on the right.
4. Using a multimeter, measure the capacitance of the paper capacitor.
5. Change the area of the aluminum foil and paper clip and measure the
capacitance.
6. Repeat Steps 1 to 5 using three or more types of paper, and compare the
capacitance of each. Record all your observations in table 1.

Data and Result

Capacitor 1 Capacitor 2 Capacitor 3 Capacitor 4

Area of foil

Type of paper

Thickness of paper

Capacitance
Post Lab Questions

RUBRIC
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 Complete Sentence  Complete Sentence  Incomplete Sentence OR  One or Two Word Answer
 Very Detailed (Reasons)  Detailed (Reasons)  Many Mistakes OR  Does Not Answer the
 Neatly Written  Neat  Hard to Understand OR  Question
 Almost No Mistakes  Might Have Some Mistakes  Partially Answers Question
 Good Answer to Question  Answers the Question

1. How does the area of the aluminum foil affect the capacitance of the paper capacitors?
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2. How does the thickness of the paper dielectric field affect the capacitance of the paper capacitor?
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3. Did you get the same capacitance using different types of paper? What do you think accounts for the
similarities or differences in capacitance?
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4. What are the possible sources of error in this activity?

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Documentation