Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

i was wondering how the volts are supposed to change for step 8 of procedure which says that you could insert a material, how will it change and how do i do it.
thanks

[Administrator: URL for project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p032.shtml]

The volts in your experimental set-up do not change. That is a constant and is determined by the output of your spark generator. The early steps of the procedure allow you to determine the volts output of your sparking device. Once you have found the maximum spacing of the conducting spheres that produce a reliable spark, you can calculate the voltage output of your sparking device with the formula

Volts = 3000 x sphere spacing in millimeters

The procedure step 8 is asking how does the maximum gap the spark will jump change when you put materials in the spark gap. That is, the voltage will remain constant, but the dielectric constant of the material in the spark gap has changed. Instead of being 3000V/mm as it is with pure air, it will change to a different number that you can calculate because you already know the value of "V".

I hope this helps.

Thank you!!