group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Number of Paths

E&M Conservative Fields Surfaces

Student discuss how many paths can be found on a map of the vector fields \(\vec{F}\) for which the integral \(\int \vec{F}\cdot d\vec{r}\) is positive, negative, or zero. \(\vec{F}\) is conservative. They do a similar activity for the vector field \(\vec{G}\) which is not conservative.

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Vector Integrals (Contour Map)

E&M Path integrals

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Work By An Electric Field (Contour Map)

E&M Path integrals

Students will estimate the work done by a given electric field. They will connect the work done to the height of a plastic surface graph of the electric potential.

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Electric Field of Two Charged Plates

• Students need to understand that the surface represents the electric potential in the center of a parallel plate capacitor. Try doing the activity “Electric Potential of a Parallel Plate Capacitor” before this activity.
• Students should know that
  1. objects with like charge repel and opposite charge attract,
  2. object tend to move toward lower energy configurations
  3. The potential energy of a charged particle is related to its charge: \(U=qV\)
  4. The force on a charged particle is related to its charge: \(\vec{F}=q\vec{E}\)

group Small Group Activity

60 min.

Gravitational Potential Energy

Mechanics Gravitational Potential Energy Zero of Potential Introductory Physics

Students examine a plastic “surface” graph of the gravitational potential energy of an Earth-satellite system to explore the properties of gravitational potential energy for a spherically symmetric system.