Electrometer

An electrometer is an electrical instrument for measuring electric charge or electrical potential difference. There are many different types, ranging from historical hand-made instruments to high-precision electronic devices. Modern electrometers based on vacuum tube or solid state technology can be used to measure extremely small currents down to 1 femtoampere.

Capacitance electroscopes

Although appearing to sound similar to the simple electroscope described above, this type of instrument is usually calibrated to enable quantitative measurements. A capacitance electroscope is a type of electroscope in which a dielectric material is sandwiched between the leaves of the electroscope. As a result, the charge accumulated on the leaves is increased.

Related Topics:
Capacitance electroscope - Dielectric

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A special type of capacitance electroscope, in which the leaves were comprised of different metals, was commonly used to measure the Volta effect http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=2&url=http%3A//www.na.infn.it/Museum/eng/schede/64b.htm&ei=C6wCQ7fkB8bAQqqI-PQC

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~