Plotting voltage and electric field graphs from potential measurements

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Homework Statement


Alright, this is a Lab Exercise, so it's light on an actual introduction and data, but I'll do my best to put into words the whole thing. The gist of it is that we have a Vat with water, a millimetre paper at the bottom, and we put two Equipotential surfaces inside. We charge them, and then we take the splinter and measure the V in various places. Here's the "default" version:

Schematic of a lab setup: a DC source box on the left connects through a voltmeter V to a square tank with a circular electrode, a circular splinter, and a second electrode. Labels are in Greek and English.


Version One: Metal Plaques

Diagram of a black rectangular electrode at the top with two vertical lines hanging down, and a left-pointing arrow labelled Metal Plaque on the right.

As an FYI, it's about 10cm between the plaques, and we measure 5cm on the left, and 5cm on the right, outside of the plaques.

First up, we have to take measurements of V across the x = 0 line (meaning left and right only), outside of the metal plaque on the left, between the two plaques, and outside the metal plaque on the right. Here are the findings:

Handwritten table of potential measurements on lined paper: X (cm) against V (volts), headed x = 0, with Right Plaque and Left Plaque labels marking the rows around the plaques.


Then, we have to pick a certain number for V (whatever we want), and find the co-ordinates x & y that correspond to said V. We have to do that three times; once close to the left, once in the middle, and once close to the right. Here's what I have:

Handwritten table of x (cm), y (cm) and V (volts) readings for three regions: outside the left plaque, between the plaques, and outside the right plaque, labelled with curly braces.


Version Two: Metal Cyllinders

Diagram of two concentric ellipses drawn over a set of x and y axes, with the label Metal Cylinder and a hollow arrow pointing left toward the outer curve.

Again an FYI, from the center (it's why I drew the x/y axis, to make it clearer, the cross is not part of the "ensemble"), it's about 5cm from each side till we hit the small circle, then 7cm until we hit the big circle, and then we take measurements 5cm outside of it.

In the second version, we do exactly the same things. But, due to the symmetry, we technically only had to measure one side (we chose the right on the First Exercise with the x-axis) and quarter(the one with a certain V; this time we measured the right and down quarter). So, for the V Measurements, we have:

Handwritten table of potential V(x) in volts against x in cm for x from 0 to 17 cm on the left and right of a central axis, with annotations 'small circle' and 'big circle' and a sketch of two concentric circles with x and y axes at top right.


And for the V = Stable one, we have:

Handwritten table of potential measurements V against x and y positions for the small circle equipotential setup, with the same data repeated for the mirrored side.

This is for the small arch, closer to the small cylinder.

Handwritten lab data tables with columns for x, y and V (in volts) across four sections of a notebook page, with values such as x = -8.5, -8.1, -7.7, -6, -0.5 and V = 0.87, 0.86, 0.88, 0.84.

This is for the center arch, inbetween the two cylinders.

Handwritten table of x, y and V measurements on lined notebook paper, with x and y coordinates in centimetres and V values such as 1.99, 1.98, 1.94, 1.88, 1.86 and 1.88.

This is for the big arch, closer to the bir cylinder.

Alright, so good so far, but here's what I have to do now:

1) Construct the V=V(x) graphs for each Version.
2) Construct the E=E(x) graphs for each Version.
3) Construct the Equipotential and Dynamic Lines

Homework Equations


E→ = -dV/dr*r∧

The Attempt at a Solution


Okay, so, I need help the Graphs. All of them. I'm completely lost and I don't know what to do. We were supposed to do the first 4 there, but for some reason this particular professor has some sort of grudge against my partner, so he kicked us out of the work station, even though we still had about 30 minutes of Lab-Time left. I tried reaching my partner, but he's not responding, so...

Anyway, I could really use some help on all the Graphs. We're supposed to do them on Origin, if anybody has it, so that'd be preferable. I obtained it last week (the less said about that the better; some Uni...), so I don't know how to use it that good just yet, so in case you take that route, I'd appreciate a walk through on what you did. By hand is also acceptable, no problem.

He had us draw some stand-in graphs, which I'll be posting here, but I'd like someone to explain to me WHY they look like this. I missed my whole 3rd Semester (illnesses, hospitals, you name it), so now that I'm on the 4th, and Lab IV is based on curriculum from Physics III, I'm having a bit of trouble.

First up, we have the V=V(x) ones.
Hand-drawn graph of V against V(x), with V on the vertical axis and V(x) on the horizontal axis; the curve is flat on the left, rises linearly through the origin, then levels off to the right.

This is for the Plaques.

Hand-drawn graph of V against V(x): a flat-topped curve that is high at the far left, falls steeply to a flat middle section, then rises back to a high flat level at the far right, with the V axis vertical and V(x) axis horizontal.

This is for the Cylinders.

For starters, can someone tell me what the graph "means"? Is it just a representation of the correlation of Voltage and the distance? As if we're saying V=f(x)? It's a tad of a silly question, but my book doesn't have Graphs.Then we have E=E(x).
Hand-drawn sketch of a potential graph: vertical axis labelled E, horizontal axis labelled E(x), with several thick horizontal segments drawn along and above the axis.

This is for the Plaques.

Hand-drawn graph of E(x) against x with axes labelled E and E(x), showing a horizontal line with short thick horizontal segments at several points and an upward-shifted and downward-shifted segment.

This is for the Cylinders.

From what I gather, E is kinda like the a to the u when talking about velocity and acceleration. So if say, u is stable, then a is 0, and if u is rising steadily, then a is stable. My problem is that the leaflet's instructions on constructing the E=E(x) are:

"Construct the V=V(x) graph. Be careful, V on top of the conductors (metal plaques/cylinders) is entirely different than in the water (sidenote: the vat contains water). This spot constitutes a spot ofdiscontinuity on the graph. From the sloop of the graph, by bringing the tangent on various places, compute the Electric Field E and construct the E=E(x) graph."

From what I'm getting, he means that I should go to each "section" of V, find the sloop if it's decreasing/increasing, mark that as E, or if it's stable mark E as 0, and the construct a graph that looks like the ones above.

As for drawing/sketching the Equipotential Surfaces & Dynamic Lines, I whipped up some 1-minute "graphs" (no numbers and whatnot, just basic drawings) just to see if my thinking is correct (the Surfaces are the dotted lines, and the Dyanmic Lines are the "straight" black ones):

Hand-drawn sketch on graph paper of horizontal arrowed lines between two dashed vertical boundaries, with a dot near the center and a small circle at top left labelled 0 and 3.00 at top right.

What I'm curious about here is; the book says that all Dynamic Lines are perpendicular to the surfaces, going from Positively Charged, to negatively. So, like the pic above. However, the Professor told us that the Dynamic Lines would be "parallel" to the Equipotential Surfaces, which I don't see how it works. Did he just make a blunder or am I missing something?

Hand-drawn equipotential contour lines on millimetre graph paper, nested closed loops around two points labelled cylinder 0 V and cylinder 5 V.


-----

Look, I realize this whole thing is a bit of a mess, but I could really use the help. The exercise is due on the 22nd, so "technically" tomorrow for me (it's 00:40 on the 21st for me), or really I just have one more day left. Anyway, like I said, I missed the previous Semester and I'm getting my buttocks kicked, so I could greatly use any help to keep going until the summer where I can catch up. So I'd really love it if alongside the graphs you could throw some explanations in.

I'd ask my Lab Partner, but he's working nights to make ends meet, and has failed this Lab once before, so the poor guy ain't of much help. He tries, but he misses emails and such. It's my fault for not uploading it here sooner, but I totally forgot about it since I had other Labs to attend to as well. All in all, it's a Uni that's not really fit to teach, so you guys are my only chances here.

Thanks for the help, it's greatly appreciated!
 
Attachments
  • Schematic of a lab setup: a DC source box on the left connects through a voltmeter V to a square tank with a circular electrode, a circular splinter, and a second electrode. Labels are in Greek and English.
    4xuqqYv.jpg
    28.2 KB · Views: 499
  • Diagram of a black rectangular electrode at the top with two vertical lines hanging down, and a left-pointing arrow labelled Metal Plaque on the right.
    xzN1sg6.png
    1.8 KB · Views: 465
  • Handwritten table of potential measurements on lined paper: X (cm) against V (volts), headed x = 0, with Right Plaque and Left Plaque labels marking the rows around the plaques.
    FR6APPk.jpg
    16.4 KB · Views: 495
  • Handwritten table of x (cm), y (cm) and V (volts) readings for three regions: outside the left plaque, between the plaques, and outside the right plaque, labelled with curly braces.
    he4v4Dy.jpg
    19 KB · Views: 441
  • Diagram of two concentric ellipses drawn over a set of x and y axes, with the label Metal Cylinder and a hollow arrow pointing left toward the outer curve.
    flBDqy5.png
    7.5 KB · Views: 571
  • Handwritten table of potential V(x) in volts against x in cm for x from 0 to 17 cm on the left and right of a central axis, with annotations 'small circle' and 'big circle' and a sketch of two concentric circles with x and y axes at top right.
    FgHWNgY.jpg
    18.4 KB · Views: 417
  • Handwritten table of potential measurements V against x and y positions for the small circle equipotential setup, with the same data repeated for the mirrored side.
    2oSoYFI.jpg
    27 KB · Views: 427
  • Handwritten lab data tables with columns for x, y and V (in volts) across four sections of a notebook page, with values such as x = -8.5, -8.1, -7.7, -6, -0.5 and V = 0.87, 0.86, 0.88, 0.84.
    BRDaOmw.jpg
    28.7 KB · Views: 461
  • Handwritten table of x, y and V measurements on lined notebook paper, with x and y coordinates in centimetres and V values such as 1.99, 1.98, 1.94, 1.88, 1.86 and 1.88.
    whZ0BeO.jpg
    18.5 KB · Views: 473
  • Hand-drawn graph of V against V(x), with V on the vertical axis and V(x) on the horizontal axis; the curve is flat on the left, rises linearly through the origin, then levels off to the right.
    IlMFvC2.png
    1.3 KB · Views: 430
  • Hand-drawn graph of V against V(x): a flat-topped curve that is high at the far left, falls steeply to a flat middle section, then rises back to a high flat level at the far right, with the V axis vertical and V(x) axis horizontal.
    AppO2N3.png
    2 KB · Views: 474
  • Hand-drawn sketch of a potential graph: vertical axis labelled E, horizontal axis labelled E(x), with several thick horizontal segments drawn along and above the axis.
    tF8dWM8.png
    1.2 KB · Views: 453
  • Hand-drawn graph of E(x) against x with axes labelled E and E(x), showing a horizontal line with short thick horizontal segments at several points and an upward-shifted and downward-shifted segment.
    Pzvypcy.png
    1.4 KB · Views: 458
  • Hand-drawn sketch on graph paper of horizontal arrowed lines between two dashed vertical boundaries, with a dot near the center and a small circle at top left labelled 0 and 3.00 at top right.
    HLKTNvI.jpg
    40.1 KB · Views: 440
  • Hand-drawn equipotential contour lines on millimetre graph paper, nested closed loops around two points labelled cylinder 0 V and cylinder 5 V.
    IxIovIj.jpg
    42.8 KB · Views: 427
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I just saw this, so I know your deadline is gone. I'm on my phone so I did not read everything. Thank you for your the "long" heads up. Sometimes you just have to write up what you can from what you observed. I would suggest trying to get in a study group with some more people so you can talk through ideas with each other