Warm Up:
Learning Goal: Understanding capacitors.
Today: Capacitors Simulation
Teams of two or three students experiment with capacitors using the online simulation to determine how the capacitance and charge on a capacitor varies with voltage, plate area, and plate spacing. They then explore the effects of adding a dielectric to the capacitor.
During this activity, students use physical arguments to construct written answers to questions such as these:
Assignment:
Learning Goal: Understanding capacitors.
Today: Capacitors Simulation
Teams of two or three students experiment with capacitors using the online simulation to determine how the capacitance and charge on a capacitor varies with voltage, plate area, and plate spacing. They then explore the effects of adding a dielectric to the capacitor.
During this activity, students use physical arguments to construct written answers to questions such as these:
- How does a battery charge a capacitor?
- How does the potential of each capacitor plate compare to the potential of the battery terminal to which it is connected?
- How do the positive and negative plates assume equal quantities of charge?
- Why does charge seem to flow through a capacitor?
- Students illustrate their understanding of the relationships they uncover by sketching graphs.
Assignment:
- Due Monday: Practice 17.6