The PASCO Coulomb's law apparatus has a very sensitive torsion balance on which a sphere capable of holding a static charge is suspended. Rapid motion in the vicinity of the balance, breathing directly on the sphere, or air currents from ventilation will all move the sphere around significantly. This motion makes it very difficult to obtain meaningful data. In fact, the sphere moves so much under the influence of the ventilation in our lab that it was not possible to obtain repetitive results.

Topics
Measuring instruments, Electrostatics, Atmospheric dynamics
1.
Instruction Manual and Experiment Guide for the PASCO Scientific Model ES-9070 Coulomb Balance (PASCO scientific, 1989), p. 8.
This content is only available via PDF.
© 2003 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2003
American Association of Physics Teachers
AAPT members receive access to The Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.