Gauss' Law and Microwave Experimentation

Today we worked with Gauss Law. We started by calculating the volume from the integral of the surface .

These are some constants that we can use to represent charge density. They are the same that we used to represent mass density.

We derived the electric field due to a charged sphere. The equation looks just like the one for particle charges. But, this is due to our assumption that point particles are spherical and having our Gaussian surface to be the same (4 pi r^2).

Then we started experimenting with the microwave and we microwaved different things. We saw a lot of effects like glowing and smelled a few scents from the heated objects.

Some of them changed colors.

But others weren't working as well as we wanted them to.

Prof. Mason was trying to warm up soap.

But nothing happened.

So we watched a video about what would happen if soap was more hydrated. The soap seems to expand and look like foam. This is due to the soap having a lot of water molecules. But our soap was very dried up, probably from overuse for many years.

Then we putted a small Christmas ornament. The opening was putted facing down on purpose so as to make the shape more symmetrical. But, nothing happened. The reason for this is that the charge can spread nicely and even among the surface and so there is no violent behavior.

Then we changed the orientation of the bulb so as to make it asymmetrical.

And, Prof. Mason microwaved it like shown in the picture below.

The bulb started glowing.

Then, it changed colors.

And its color went from pale to yellow.

This is due to having the surface asymmetrical. This makes the accumulation of charge uneven and so it glows.

Then we putted a light bulb in the microwave and it started glowing.

And then it illuminated a lot more.

Then we microwaved a grape.

But nothing happened.

So we tried again, but nothing happened.

Then we predicted what would happen if we putted a Caprisun pouch in the microwave oven. My team predicted that it would catch on fire.

Then, we solved a few problems from the computer. The answer are listed in the picture as Q1, Q2, etc.

Next we calculated the ratio of charges between two spheres. One of them has half the radius of the other.

We calculated the electric field due to a line charge. For this, we chose our Gaussian surface to be a cylinder and used Gauss Law.

Then we plugged in some numbers to see it work out.

Summary

Today we worked with Gauss' law and worked with several surface shapes. Also, we did lots of cool experiments with the microwaves and how electrons behave on surfaces.