In this lab activity, Capacitance 1, the students will investigate how increasing and decreasing the separation between the plates of a capacitor will change the capacitance, the charge and energy stored, the voltage and the electric field, after the capacitor has been charged, and later disconnected from a battery. The students can complete the entire science lab with and without the PhET Interactive Simulations: Capacitor Lab Basics application online. The pictures and data incorporated in th