ELECTRIC CHARGE AND ELECTRIC

FIELD
• The negatively charged
electrons are held within
the atom by the attractive
Electric forces exerted on
them by the
positively Charged
Nucleus
• The protons and neutrons are
held within the stable atomic
nuclei by an attractive
interaction, called the strong
 nuclear force, that overcomes the electric repulsion of the protons

• The charges of the electron and proton are equal in magnitude

• In a neutral atom the number of electrons equals the number of protons
in the nucleus, and the net electric charge (the algebraic sum of all the
charges) is exactly zero

• The number of protons or electrons in a neutral atom of an element is

called the atomic number of the element.

• If one or more electrons are removed, the remaining positively charged

structure is called a positive ion. A negative ion is an atom that has
gained one or more electrons
• Electric Charge Is Conserved
• The algebraic sum of all the electric charges
in any closed system is constant.
• The total electric charge on the two bodies
together does not change. In any charging
process, charge is not created or destroyed; it
is merely transferred from one body to
another.
• Important examples of the conservation of
charge occur in the radioactive
• decay of nuclei, in which a nucleus transforms
into (becomes) a different type of
• nucleus. For example, a uranium-238 nucleus
(238U) transforms into a thorium-
• 234 nucleus (234Th) by emitting an alpha
particle.
• 92U238 ------90Th234 + 2He4

• 1H1 + 17Cl35 ------16S32 + 2He4 in bothcases

net charge is constant Before and after
change
Quantization Of Charge
• The magnitude of charge of the electron or proton is
a natural unit of charge.
• Every observable amount of electric charge is
always an integer multiple of this basic unit. We say
that charge is quantized
• and electric charge can't be divided into amounts
smaller than the charge of one electron or proton
• i.e. electric charge on a body either +ve or –ve is
always integral multiple of electric charge of an
electron or proton
• Mathematically: q = ± ne
• Where n is called quantum no.
Conductors, Insulators, and Induced
Charges
• Some materials permit electric charge to
move easily from one region of the material
to another, while others do not.
• Most metals are good conductors, while most
nonmetals are insulators.
• Some materials called semiconductors are
intermediate in their properties between
good conductors and good insulators
• There are three ways that objects can be given a net charge.

• Charging by friction - this is useful for charging insulators. If you

rub one material with another (say, a plastic ruler with a piece of
paper towel), electrons have a tendency to be transferred from one
 material to the other. For example, rubbing glass with silk
generally leaves the glass with a positive charge;

• Charging by conduction - useful for charging metals and other

conductors. If a charged object touches a conductor, some charge
will be transferred between the object and the conductor

• Charging by induction - also useful for charging metals and other

conductors. Again, a charged object is used, but this time it is only
brought close to the conductor, and does not touch it.

Coulomb’s Law
The magnitude of the electric force (sometimes called the Coulomb force)
between two point charges is given by Coulomb’s law
• The physical constant ε0, commonly called the
vacuum permittivity, permittivity of free
space is the measure of the resistance when
forming an electric field in the free space.
• The permittivity of free space (or a vacuum),
e0, has a value of 8.9 × 10-12
 C2/Nm2
• The permittivity of a material is usually given
relative to that of free space, it is known as
relative permittivity, er.
• Relative permittivity, er
• Vacuum 1 (by definition) Air 1.0005
,Polythene 2.35, Perspex 3.3, Water 80
The Electric Field
• An electric field is said to exist in the region
or space around a charged object, the source
charge.
• When another charged object—the test
charge—enters this electric field, an electric
force acts on it
• the electric field vector E at a point in space is
defined as
E has the SI units of newtons per
coulomb (N/C)
• the direction of E is that of the
force F that acts on the positive test charge
• Electric field lines extend away from positive
charge (where they originate) and toward
negative charge (where they terminate)
Electric Field of Point Charge
 two charges that are equal in magnitude but of opposite
sign, a configuration that we call an electric dipole
Electric Field Due to a Point Charge

• To find the electric field due to a point charge

q at any point at distance r from the point
charge, we put a positive test charge qo at
that point.
 The direction of E is the same as that of the force on the positive test charge

the net force Fo from the n point charges acting on the test
charge is
 where the integration is over the entire charge distribution

Electric Flux
• This rate of flow through an area is a flux
• the total number of lines penetrating the
surface is proportional to the
product EA
 Electric flux is proportional to the number of electric field lines penetrating
some surface.

• Consider a general surface divided

• into a large number of small elements, each of
area ∆A
• The electric flux through the
element i
• Summing the contributions of all elements
gives an approximation to the total flux
through the surface:

is a surface integral, which means it must be evaluated over the

surface

Gauss’s Law
• we describe a general relationship between the net electric flux through a
closed surface (often called a gaussian surface) and the charge enclosed
by the surface.
 • Consider a positive point charge q located at the center of a sphere of
radius r
we know that the magnitude of the electric field
everywhere on the surface of the sphere is E= k q/r2

. The field lines are directed radially outward and

hence are perpendicular to the surface at every
point on the surface. That is, at each surface point,
E is parallel to the vector ΔA

FE = E. dA
= E dA cos f
= E dA = E dA
 = E (4p R2) = (1/4p eo) q /R2) (4p R2)
= q / eo .
So the electric flux FE = q / eo. Now we can write

Gauss's Law:
o
.
FE = E dA =
|EdA| cos f =Qencl /e
Electric FLUX
through a sphere
centered on a point
charge q.
the net flux through any
closed surface surrounding
a point charge q is given by
q/ϵ0 and is independent of
the shape of that surface.
• The mathematical form of Gauss’s law is a generalization of
what we have just described and states that the net flux
through any closed surface is
 where E represents the electric field at any point on the surface and qin
represents the net charge inside the surface

In above Equation the charge qin is the net charge inside the gaussian
surface, E represents the total electric field, which includes contributions
from charges both inside and outside the surface

Application of Gauss’s Law to

Various Charge Distributions
• Gauss’s law is useful for determining electric fields
when the charge distribution is highly symmetric
• Spherically Symmetric Charge Distribution
An insulating solid sphere of radius a has a uniform volume
charge density ρ and carries a total
positive charge Q Calculate the
magnitude of the electric field at a point
outside the sphere
• Because the charge is distributed
uniformly throughout the sphere, the
charge distribution has spherical
symmetry and we can apply Gauss’s law
to find the electric field
• Let’s choose a spherical gaussian surface of radius r,
concentric with the sphere
• Everywhere on the surface and E .dA= E dA(E // to dA)
By symmetry, E is constant everywhere on
the surface
• Find the magnitude of the electric field at a
point inside the sphere.
In this case, let’s choose a spherical gaussian
surface having radius r < a, concentric with the
insulating sphere Let V’ be the volume of this
smaller sphere. To apply Gauss’s law in this
situation, recognize that the charge q in
within the gaussian surface of volume V’ is less
than Q
This says that the feld is zero at the center and increases linearly as we
Go out toward the edge
Therefore, the value of the field is the same as the surface is
approached from both directions

A Cylindrically Symmetric Charge

Distribution
• Find the electric field a distance r from a line of
positive charge of infinite length and constant
charge per unit length λ
 Because the charge is distributed uniformly along
the line, the charge distribution has cylindrical symmetry and we can
apply Gauss’s law to find the electric field
This result shows that the electric field due to a cylindrically symmetric charge
distribution varies as 1/r, whereas the field external to a spherically symmetric
charge distribution varies as 1/r2

Planar Symmetry
• Planar symmetry means that the charge
distribution is same on the sheet.
At each point, E is
perpendicular to the
sheet
having same magnitude
at any given distance
on either side of the
sheet.
• The charged sheet passes through the middle of the
cylinder's length, so the cylinder ends are equidistant from
the sheet

• At each end of the cylinder, E is perpendicular to the

Surface the flux through each end is + EA
E is parallel to the curved side walls of the cylinder, so there is no flux
through these walls. The net charge within the Gaussian surface is
the charge Per unit area multiplied by the sheet area‘σ’ is charge
density

Since we are considering an infinite sheet with uniform charge density,

this eqn holds for any point at a finite distance from the sheet.

Field between two parallel charge

plates
• The fields due to the two sheets of charge
(one on each plate) are E I and E2, both of
these have magnitude /2 є0

• The total (resultant) electric field at any

point is the vector sum E = E I + E 2
• Since the plates are conductors, when we
bring
them into this arrangement, the excess charge
on one plate attracts the excess charge on the
other plate, and all the excess charge moves onto
the inner faces of the plates • Since
no excess charge is left on the
outer faces, the electric field to the
left and right of the plates is zero.
• With twice as much charge
now on each inner face, the
new surface charge density
on each inner face is twice