Graduate student Abhilash Nair and PERL co-director Vashti Sawtelle have published an article in The Physics Teacher about Real-time Visualization of Equipotential Lines Using the IOLab.

Abstract: Drawing equipotential and electric field lines is an activity commonly found in most second-semester introductory physics courses. Unfortunately, current commercial lab offerings are expensive and do not afford the opportunity for real-time graphical visualization of the trends in voltage in different regions. In this brief article, we describe a flexible alternative that utilizes the Interactive Online Lab (IOLab) device and easy-to-acquire supplies to create an experiment that yields robust results and has resulted in a positive response from our students.