Virtual Activity: Equipotential Surfaces Like you did in the virtual activity on Electric Fields, you will drag charges out of the charge bin and place them in virtual space. After your charges are in place, you can drag the equipotential box (and target) to any location in the field and press the "plot" button. You will see the 2-dimensional equipotential line appear. Set up the configurations listed below and answer the questions. Record all your work in your lab notebook. 1. Place one positive charge in the virtual space. Choose a location with the equipotential box and plot an equipotential line. Note the magnitude. Move the equipotential box to a second and third location and plot more lines, each time noting the new magnitude. What is the shape of each of these 2-D equipotentials? What equipotential shape would form if you were using 3-D space? What equation would allow you to determine the magnitude of each equipotential? Place an E- Field sensor on each equipotential line. Move the sensor to different potentials on each line. What do you notice about the orientation of the E-field in relation to the equipotential line? 2. Clear the virtual space and repeat part 1 with a negative charge. How do your answers change and how do they stay the same? 3. Clear the space again, then place one positive charge and one negative charge in the space. Use the equipotential box to construct an equipotential field map. Make sure you find the equipotential line that is equidistant from each charge. Draw this map in your lab notebook. 4. Clear the space again. Prior to putting two negative charges in the space, draw a predicted equipotential map in your lab notebook. Once complete, construct the map on the virtual space. Compare your drawing to the simulation's map. 5. Repeat part 4 with a more complicated arrangement of charges.