The capacitance of two parallel plates depends on the plate separation, on the area of the two plates and on the dielectric constant of the material between them. The purpose of this lab is to

• investigate the quantitative nature of the dependence of capacitance on plate separation and on the area of the two plates.
• determine the dielectric constant of text book paper.

Make two sheets of Aluminum foil of equal size and place them in your physics text book separated by a reasonable number of pages. The sheets should not extend past the edges of the book except for small tabs for making the connection with the capacitance meter. You can measure the capacitance directly with the capacitance meter.

Start by giving a quantitative relationship between capacitance and each of the variables under investigation and give a physical explanation for why you expect these relationships to be valid. You may refer to your notes, but you must explain carefully why the relationships hold.

Design an experiment that allows you to collect enough data to test the theory. Use graphical analysis to quantitatively analyse the relationship between capacitance and each of the variables you are investigating. You should also be able to use each of these graphs to determine the dielectric constant of paper.