Content Basic Terminology

Subject Physics
Class XII
Date 27/03/2020
Subject Teacher Satish Patidar

Terminology

1. Electro : Electric charge

2. Electric charge :- Electric charge is the physical property of matter that causes it to
experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. There are two types of
electric charge: positive and negative. Like charges repel each other and unlike
charges attract each other..
3. static:- At rest
4. Electrostatic : charge at rest
5. conductors:-
Conductors are the materials or substances which allow electricity to flow through
them. They are able to conduct electricity because they allow electrons to flow inside
them very easily. Conductors have this property of allowing the transition of heat or
light from one source to another.

6. Insulators: - Insulators are materials that inhibit the flow of electrical current. The
opposite of conductors, which allow electric particles to flow freely, insulators are
implemented in household items and electrical circuits as protection. Thermal
insulation is similar, but it constricts the flow of heat rather than electricity. Example
Wood, paper clothes etc

7. Charging by induction:- When an uncharged object is placed very close to

a charged conductor without touching, the nearer end acquires a charge opposite to
the charge on the charged conductors and the two bodies attract. This is
called charging by induction.

8. Induction :-Entity means a reality that has a definite individual existence. Business
entitymeans a specifically identifiable business enterprise like Super Bazaar,
HireJewellers, ITC Limited, etc. An accounting system is always devised for a
specificbusiness entity (also called accounting entity).

9. Additivity of charges:- Additivity of charge is a property by virtue of which

total charge of a system is obtained simply by adding algebraically all
 the charges present anywhere on the system. Example- If a system contains two point
charges q1 and q2, the total charge of the system is obtained simply by adding
algebraically q1 and q2 , i.e., charges add up like real numbers or they are scalars like
the mass of a body. If a system contains n charges q1, q2, q3, …, qn, then
the total charge of the system is q1 + q2 + q3 + … + qn .

10. Conservation of charge :- charge conservation is the principle that the total electric
charge in an isolated system never changes. The net quantity of electric charge, the
amount of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge in the universe, is
always conserved.
11. Quantisation of charge.:- Charge quantization is the principle that the charge of
any object is an integer multiple of the elementary charge. Thus, an
object's charge can be exactly 0 e, or exactly 1 e, −1 e, 2 e, etc., but not, say, 1.2 e, or
−3.8 e, etc.
12. Coulomb's law :- Coulomb's law states that: The magnitude of the electrostatic force
of attraction or repulsion between two point charges is directly proportional to the
product of the magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.
q1 q2
F=k 2
r

13. Electric field :- a region around a charged particle or object within which a force
would be exerted on other charged particles or objects.
14. Electric flux :- Electric flux is the rate of flow of the electric field through a given
area . Electric flux is proportional to the number of electric field lines going through
a virtual surface.
15. electric dipole :- An electric dipole deals with the separation of the positive and
negative charges found in any electromagnetic system. A simple example of this
system is a pair of electric charges of equal magnitude but opposite sign separated by
some typically small distance.
16. Torque on Dipole: The measure of force that causes an object to rotate about an axis
is known as a torque. A pair of electric charges with an equal magnitude but opposite
charges separated by a distance 'd' is known as an electric dipole

17. Spherical shell: A spherical hollow

sphere.

18. Electric field lines : An electric field line is an imaginary line or curve drawn through
a region of empty space so that its tangent at any point is in the direction of
the electric field vector at that point. The relative closeness of the lines at some place
gives an idea about the intensity of electric field at that point.

19. Charge distribution: distribution of charge on any surface like sheet , sphere or rod.
20. Point charge: A charge whose magnitude is small.