We describe a simple procedure for the preparation of graphite-based conductive paint and determine
its basic transport properties when applied, comparing them to those of pencil strokes. Ohm’s law
was fulfilled on the applied paint, which makes it an ideal strategy to teach the relations between
a resistor’s length, width and resistance. The conductive paint was used in the construction of RC
circuits on paper in a simple and didactic format. Using only the paint and a piece of cardboard, a
completely functional parallel plate capacitor can be constructed with different plate geometries;
in particular, we painted circular and rectangular plates. The charge and discharge cycles of the
two RC circuits painted were observed in the oscilloscope. We obtained characteristic times and
estimated the value of the dielectric constant of paper, which serves as a dielectric between the
plates of the capacitors. We found conductive paint to be a useful and easy method to teach basic
electri…