BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY

Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics

Sci Ed 133: ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

LEARNING MODULE 1
Topics:
1. Introduction to the subject
2. Electric charge and electric field
Lab Activity 1: Electrostatics (Attraction and Repulsion)
Number of hours: 6 hours (lecture) + 3 hours (laboratory) [for the period August 17 – 28, 2020]
Learning Outcomes:
The student can:
1. articulate the vision, mission, goals and objectives (VMGO) of BSU.
2. relate the VMGO to the course objectives.
3. share significant experiences as student of BSU, in relation to the Goals or Objectives of BSU, CTE
or your curricular program
4. enumerate the course requirements, class policies and guidelines.
The student can:
1. give examples of manifestations of electric charge
2. explain concepts involving electric charge and electric field
3. solve numerical problems involving electric charge and electric field
4. cite applications of electric charge and electric field in daily life
Requirements (see page 9 of this Learning Module): All or any of the following
1. Reaction paper
2. Solutions to numerical problems
3. Lab report for Activity No. 1
References:
1. SCHNICK, J. 2006. Calculus-Based Physics II.
2. GIANCOLI, D. 2005, Physics Principles with Applications, 6th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, USA.
3. SERWAY, R. and JEWETT, J. 2010, Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics, 8th
edition, Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning, USA.

1.1. INTRODUCTION TO THE SUBJECT

Course Code: Sci Ed 133 (lecture); Sci Ed 133.1 (laboratory)
Course Title: Electricity and Magnetism
Course Description: This course involves the basic relationship between electricity and magnetism. It
includes topics on electrostatics and magnetism, electric and magnetic fields, and
electromagnetic waves. It provides the students the mathematical relationship
between current, voltage and resistance in an electric circuit. Students must gain
skills in solving problems needing high mathematical analysis apart from the
principles comprising this area of physics. Upon knowing the relationship between
electricity and magnetism students must be able to apply the concepts and principles
to real life situations for life-long learning.
Pre-requisite: Mechanics
Period Offered: One semester (1st semester, 2020-2021)
Credit: 4 units (3 units lecture; 1 unit laboratory)
Total number of hours: 108 hours (54 hours lecture; 54 hours laboratory)

II. Institutional Vision and Mission:

Vision: A Premier State University delivering world-class education that promotes sustainable
development amidst climate change.
Mission: To provide education to enhance food security, sustainable communities, industry
innovation, climate resilience, gender equality, institutional development and partnership.
III. Goals:
A. Institutional:
1. To develop proactive programs to ensure relevant quality education.
2. To develop proactive programs for quality service.
3. To enhance responsive systems and procedures for transparent institutional development.
4. To develop relevant and gender sensitive research and extension programs for institutional
development, sustainable communities, climate resilience, industry innovation, and partnerships.
5. To strengthen and expand public-private partnerships.
Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 1
 BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics
B. College of Teacher Education (CTE):
To educate and train globally competent and service-oriented teachers imbued with virtues and
principles
Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE):
The BSE program aims to develop high school teachers who can teach in one of the different learning
areas: Mathematics; Physical Science; Biological Science; English; Filipino; Values Education; Social
Studies; Technology and Livelihood Education and Physical Education; Health; and, Music and Arts.
C. Course:
At the end of the course, the student regardless of gender or ethnicity should be able to:
1. explain concepts relating to electricity, magnetism and electromagnetism.
2. solve numerical problems in electricity, magnetism and electromagnetism.
3. connect correctly electrical devices.
4. use correctly instruments such as galvanometers, ammeters, voltmeters, and ohmmeters.
5. show appreciation of concepts in electricity, magnetism, and electromagnetism by relating
these to everyday life.

DETAILS OF THE SUBJECT

Learning Outcome Content Time
allotment
The student can: BSU VGMO, functions, and core (for
1. articulate the vision, mission, goals and objectives values lecture
(VMGO) of BSU. CAS philosophy, goals and part)
2. relate the VMGO to the course objectives. objectives
3. s share significant experiences as student of BSU, in Course requirements, policies 1 hrs
relation to the Goals or Objectives of BSU, CTE or your and guidelines
curricular program
4. enumerate the course requirements, class policies and Electric charge
guidelines.
5. give examples of manifestations of electric charge
The student can: Electric charge and electric field
1. explain concepts involving electric charge and field 5 hrs
2. solve numerical problems involving charge and field Lab Activity 1: Electrostatics
3. cite applications of electric charge and field in daily life (Attraction and Repulsion)
The student can: Electric potential and potential
1. explain concepts involving electric potential/ potential energy; Capacitance 6 hrs
energy and capacitance
2. solve numerical problems involving electric potential/ Lab Activity 2a: EMF due to dis-
potential energy and capacitance similar metals in an acid
3. cite applications of electric potential/ potential energy Lab Activity 2b: Voltage across a
and capacitance in daily life capacitor
4. use voltmeters correctly
The student can: Electric Current
1. explain concepts involving electric current Lab Activity 3: Measurement of 4 hrs
2. solve numerical problems involving electric current Current
3. cite applications of electric current in daily life Lab Activity 4: Measurement of
4. use correctly galvanometers, voltmeters, ammeters, Resistance
and ohmmeters Lab Activity 5: Internal
Resistance of a Cell
Lab Activity 6: Resistance of
carbon-type resistors
The student can: DC Circuits
1. explain concepts involving DC circuits 18 hrs
2. solve numerical problems involving DC circuits Lab Activity 7: Ohm’s law
3. cite applications of DC circuits in daily life Lab Activity 8: Resistors in series
4. use correctly a galvanometer, an ammeter, and an Lab Activity 9: Resistors in
ohmmeter parallel
5. connect correctly electrical devices using series and Lab Activity 10: Resistors in
parallel connections series-parallel
MIDTERM EXAMINATION 2 hrs
The student can: Magnetism
1. explain concepts involving magnetism Lab Activity 11: Mapping 2 hrs
Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 2
 BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics
Learning Outcome Content Time
allotment
2. cite applications of magnetism in daily life magnetic fields
The student can: Electromagnetic induction and
1. explain concepts involving electromagnetic induction Faraday’s Law; AC circuits 12 hrs
and AC circuits Lab Activity 12: Electromagnets
2. solve numerical problems involving electromagnetic Lab Activity 13: Electromagnetic
induction and AC circuits induction 1
3. cite applications of electromagnetic induction and AC Lab Activity 14: Electromagnetic
circuits in daily life induction 2
The student can:
1. explain concepts involving electromagnetic waves Electromagnetic waves 2 hrs
2.cite applications of electromagnetic waves in daily life
FINAL EXAMINATION 2 hrs

SELF-CHECK:
As a student of BSU, what experience can you share involving the BSU VMGO, the CTE
or the BSE goals?

1.2. ELECTRIC CHARGES AND ELECTRIC FIELD

1.2.1. Electric Charge (Schnick, 2006)

The laws of electricity and magnetism play a central role in the operation of such devices as MP3
players, televisions, electric motors, computers, high-energy accelerators, and other electronic devices. More
fundamentally, the interatomic and intermolecular forces responsible for the formation of solids and liquids
are electric in origin. A number of simple experiments demonstrate the existence of electric forces. For
example, after rubbing a balloon on your hair on a dry day, you will find that the balloon attracts bits of
paper. The attractive force is often strong enough to suspend the paper from the balloon. When materials
behave in this way, they are said to be electrified or to have become electrically charged. You can easily
electrify your body by vigorously rubbing your shoes on a wool rug. Evidence of the electric charge on your
body can be detected by lightly touching (and startling) a friend. Under the right conditions, you will see a
spark when you touch and both of you will feel a slight tingle. (Experiments such as these work best on a dry
day because an excessive amount of moisture in the air can cause any charge you build up to “leak” from
your body to the Earth.) (Serway & Jewett, 2010)
Charge is a property of matter. There are two kinds of charge, positive “+” and negative “−”. An
object can have positive charge, negative charge, or no charge at all. “A charged particle exerts a force on
another charged particle.” This statement is Coulomb’s Law in its conceptual form. The force is called the
Coulomb force, also known as (a.k.a.) the electrostatic force.
In Coulomb’s Law, the force exerted on one charged particle by another is directed along the line
connecting the two particles; and, away from the other particle if both particles have the same kind of charge
(both positive, or, both negative) but, toward the other particle if the kind of charge differs (one positive and
the other negative).

(Giancoli 2005, page 444)

This fact is probably familiar to you as, “like charges repel and unlike attract.” The SI (international
System or Meter-Kilogram-Second or MKS system) unit of charge is the coulomb, abbreviated C. One coulomb
of charge is a lot of charge, so much that, two particles, each having a charge of +1 C and separated by a
distance of 1 meter exert a force of 9 ×109 N, that is, 9 billion newtons on each other.

Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 3
 BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics
This brings us to the equation form of Coulomb’s Law which can be written to give the magnitude of
the force F exerted by one charged particle q1 on another q2 as:

F = (k q1q2) / r2 [Equation 1]

where r is the distance between the two charges and k = (9 x109 Nm2)/ C2 when the units utilized are in SI.
While Coulomb’s Law in equation form is designed to be exact for point particles, it is also exact for
spherically symmetric charge distributions (such as uniform balls of charge) as long as one uses the center-to-
center distance for r. Coulomb’s Law is also a good approximation in the case of objects on which the charge
is not spherically symmetric as long as the objects’ dimensions are small compared to the separation of the
objects (the truer this is, the better the approximation). Again, one uses the separation of the centers of the
charge distributions in the Coulomb’s Law equation.

Example involving Coulomb’s Law, from Giancoli 2005, p. 446:

Exercises:
Giancoli, 2005, page 465:

Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 4
 BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics
Another example involving Coulomb’s Law, from Giancoli 2005, p. 448:

Try these exercises:

Giancoli, 2005, page 465:

More ideas about electric charges (Schnick, 2006)

In our macroscopic world we find that charge is not an inherent fixed property of an object but,
rather, something that we can change. Rub a neutral rubber rod with animal fur, for instance, and you’ll find
that afterwards, the rod has some charge and the fur has the opposite kind of charge. Ben Franklin defined
the kind of charge that appears on the rubber rod to be negative charge and the other kind to be positive
charge. To provide some understanding of how the rod comes to have negative charge, we delve briefly into
the atomic world and even the subatomic world.
The stable matter with which we are familiar consists of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Neutrons
are neutral, protons have a fixed amount of positive charge, and electrons have the same fixed amount of
negative charge. Unlike the rubber rod of our macroscopic world, you cannot give charge to the neutron and
you can neither add charge to, nor remove charge from, either the proton or the electron. Every proton has
the same fixed amount of charge, namely 1.60 x 10-19 C. Scientists have never been able to isolate any smaller
amount of charge. That amount of charge is given a name. It is called the e, abbreviated e and pronounced

Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 5
 BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics
“ee”. The e is a non-SI unit of charge. As stated 1e = 1.60 x 10-19 C. In units of e, the charge of a proton is 1 e
(exactly) and the charge of an electron is −1 e.
In 1909, Robert Millikan (1868–1953) discovered that electric charge always occurs as integral
multiples of a fundamental amount of charge e. In modern terms, the electric charge q is said to be
quantized, where q is the standard symbol used for charge as a variable. That is, electric charge exists as
discrete “packets,” and we can write q 5 6Ne, where N is some integer. Other experiments in the same period
showed that the electron has a charge 2e and the proton has a charge of equal magnitude but opposite sign
1e. Some particles, such as the neutron, have no charge. (Serway & Jewett, 2010)
A typical neutral atom consists of a nucleus made up of neutrons and protons surrounded by orbiting
electrons such that the number of electrons in orbit about the nucleus is equal to the number of protons in
the nucleus.
Electrical conductors are materials in which some of the electrons are free electrons that are not
bound to atoms and can move relatively freely through the material; electrical insulators are materials in
which all electrons are bound to atoms and cannot move freely through the material. (Serway & Jewett,
2010)
The main points of the preceding discussion are:
 A typical neutral macroscopic object consists of incredibly huge amounts of both kinds of charge
(about 50 million coulombs of each for every kilogram of matter), the same amount of each kind.
 When we charge an object, we transfer a relatively minuscule amount of charge to or from that
object.
 A typical everyday amount of charge (such as the amount of charge on a clingy sock just out of the
dryer) is 10-7 coulombs.
 When we transfer charge from one object to another, we are actually moving charged particles,
typically electrons, from one object to the other.
One point that we did not make in the discussion above is that charge is conserved. For instance, if,
by rubbing a rubber rod with fur, we transfer a certain amount of negative charge to the rubber rod, then, the
originally-neutral fur is left with the exact same amount of positive charge.
Recalling the exact balance between the incredibly huge amount of negative charge and the
incredibly huge amount of positive charge in any macroscopic object, we recognize that, in charging the
rubber rod, the fur becomes positively charged not because it somehow gains positive charge, but, because it
loses negative charge, meaning that the original incredibly huge amount of positive charge now (slightly)
exceeds the (still incredibly huge) amount of negative charge remaining on and in the fur.

SELF-CHECK:
What is the charge of a helium nucleus (composed of 2 protons) in terms of e, and in
terms of Coulombs?

1.2.2. Electric Field (Schnick, 2006)

An electric field is an invisible entity which exists in the region around a charged particle. The charged
particle that is causing the electric field to exist is called a source charge. The effect of an electric field E is to
exert a force F on any other charged particle q.

F = qE [Equation 2]

E = F/q [Equation 3]

E = kQ/r2 where Q is the source charge, E is the value of the electric field a distance r
from Q, and k is the Coulomb’s constant [Equation 4]

At every point in space where the electric field exists, E has both magnitude and direction. Hence,
the electric field is a vector. The electric field points away, or is directed away, from a positive charge; on the
other hand, the electric field points towards a negative charge.
We can think of the electric field as a characteristic of space. The electric field is not matter. It is not
“stuff.” It is not charge. It has no charge. It neither attracts nor repels charged particles. It cannot do that
because its “victims”, the charged particles upon which the electric field exerts force, are within it. To say that
the electric field attracts or repels a charged particle would be analogous to saying that the water in the
ocean attracts or repels a submarine that is submerged in the ocean. Yes, the ocean water exerts an upward
buoyant force on the submarine. But, it neither attracts nor repels the submarine. In like manner, the electric
field never attracts nor repels any charged particles. It is nonsense to say that it does.

Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 6
 BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics

Example involving electric field, from Giancoli 2005, p. 446:

Electric field of two or more charges: If you have two source charge particles, e.g. one at point A and
another at point B, each creating its own electric field vector at one and the same point P, the actual electric
field vector at point P is the vector sum of the two electric field vectors. If you have a multitude of charged
particles contributing to the electric field at point P, the electric field at point P is the vector sum of all the
electric field vectors at P. Thus, by means of a variety of source charge distributions, one can create a wide
variety of electric field vector sets in some chosen region of space.

Another example involving electric field, from Giancoli 2005, p. 452:

Try these exercises:

Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 7
 BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics
Giancoli, 2005, page 466:

Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 8
 BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Mathematics-Physics-Statistics

Laboratory Activity No. 1

Electrostatics (Attraction and Repulsion)

OBJECTIVE:
To observe the effects of the electrostatic force (attraction and repulsion)

MATERIALS:
Plastic sheet/s, plastic ruler, plastic ballpen, piece of cloth, string, small pieces of paper, aluminum foil, tissue
paper, cotton, etc.

PROCEDURE:
1. Find 5 objects that exhibit effects of electrostatic force, after they are rubbed. Since we do not normally
have natural rubber to be rubbed against a wool rug or animal fur, you can find/ use objects such as a plastic
ruler, plastic ballpen, plastic sheet (the one used to cover notebooks or books), and rub these against a piece
of cloth (or your clothes).

Object Material used to rub Explain briefly how the electrostatic force was shown
the object with
1. plastic ruler clothes The ruler attracts small pieces of paper, cotton, …
2.
3.
4
5.

2. The repulsive effect is more difficult to observe or show, compared to attraction.

One way to show repulsion is to make two pendula, using strings and aluminum foil (shaped into a
small ball). Hold together the top end of the two pendula, then bring the pendula close to an electrified
plastic sheet. You will find that the two pendula will move away from each other; that is, the (the metal balls)
repel each other.

Think of another way to show repulsion. Describe what you did:

CONCLUSION: (“answer” the OBJECTIVE of the lab activity)

QUESTIONS:
1. A charged plastic sheet is able to attract a small object, such as paper, that is neutral (or ‘neutrally
charged’). Explain how this is possible.

2. Based on Coulomb’s Law, by how much would the electric force between two charges change if one of the
charges is doubled and, at the same time, the distance between the charges is tripled?

IMPORTANT:
Dear STUDENT, be ready to submit the following requirements later on:
1. Your handwritten answer to the “Self-check” on page 3.
2. Solution to Exercise No. 12, page 5.
3. Laboratory report for Activity No. 1  On a clean sheet of paper, handwrite
your responses to Procedure 1, Procedure 2, Conclusion, and Question 2.

Sci Ed 133: Electricity and Magnetism Prepared by Joel V. Lubrica (Course Facilitator) August 2020 9