Design and manufacture of a didactic tool through the use of 3D printing technology to teach the capacitor charging and discharging phenomenon

This paper reports the design and manufacture of an easy-to-use and accessible teaching system by using 3D printing as a tool for the teaching of the capacitor charging and discharging phenomenon. The didactic system developed, is structured in modules-built piece by piece with 3D printing technology. They are made in a relatively low-cost polymer that could facilitate both teachers and students to improve the teaching-learning processes. This didactic system is reliable, easy to use and low cost. As a way to improve the functionality, the built system is complemented by the use of a free access software and a simple generator of signals that allows to simulate a virtual oscilloscope. This is an additional strategy that would allow the didactic system to enrich the study of the phenomena and eliminate the use of high cost devices that generally limit the experimentation developed traditionally in the teaching of physics. The practical application and implementation of 3D printing technology can be incorporated into a wide variety university subjects in the development of experiments in circuit theory, electricity and magnetism, among others, for its advantages in facilitating the comprehension and assimilation of difficult theoretical concepts and the learning of the physical tangibility of the phenomena under study. (paper)