Inexpensive high-precision capacitance measurements and their applications in undergraduate laboratories

An inexpensive system for precision capacitance measurement is presented. The system is appropriate for undergraduate laboratories is based on a newly available capacitance-to-digital integrated circuit that can measure picofarad capacitances to six significant figures. The circuitry software for controlling the integrated circuit with a personal computer via an I2C interface bus are described. Examples of experiments that make use of the circuitry are discussed, including a novel hydrostatic magnetometer that uses precision capacitance measurement to determine the magnetization of a small sample.