Lucite Acrylic Dielectric Constant

Results for dielectric constant measurement

The dielectric constant as determined by the method below is: 2.6. 2.6 is the capacitance of the lucite capacitor (0.053 nF) divided by the capacitance of the air capacitor (0.020 nF).

The test was made using a parallel plate capacitor where the plates were aluminum of dimensions .8mm x 101.6mm x 101.6mm. The spacing between the plates was 5mm. To calculate the dielectric constant two capacitors were made: one with lucite for the dielectric, the other with air for the dielectric. The dimensions of the lucite was 122mm x 122mm x 5mm. The air gap for the air capacitor was 5mm. The capacitance of each was measured using the capacitance measuring feature of a Fluke 187 True RMS Multimeter. The measurements made are detailed in the pictures below.

Lucite capacitor

Capacitance on meter when not measuring capacitor is 0.077 nF. The meter was then zeroed (put in Relative mode) so that it would automatically subtract 0.077 nF from the measurements it makes.
Getting relative capacitance value before making lucite acrylic capacitor measurements.
The measurement varied at different points from 0.052 nF...
Measuring capacitance of lucite acrylic capacitor.
... to 0.053 nF. Most were 0.053 nF.
Measuring capacitance of lucite acrylic capacitor.

Air capacitor

Capacitance on meter when not measuring capacitor is 0.077 nF.
Getting relative capacitance value before making air capacitor measurements.
The measurement varied at different points from 0.020 nF...
Measuring capacitance of air capacitor.
... to 0.021 nF. Most were 0.020 nF.
Measuring capacitance of air capacitor.

Luctive capacitor construction details

The labels that were attached to the lucite acrylic.
The labels that were attached to the lucite acrylic.
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