Electric Charges and Fields

Eletricity is that branch of physics which deals with study if charges.

The branch of physics that deals with static charges is called electrostats or
static electrcity.
The branch of physics that deals with moving charges is called electrodynnamics or
current electricity

The branch of physics that deals with flow of charges through vacuum, gas,
semiconductors is knows as electronics

Vehicles carrying inflammable materials may catch fire due to sparks produced by
static electricity (frictional electricity)
When vehicle runs its body gets charged due to friction with air. The tyres also
accumulate charges due to friction between the roads and the tires
To aviod a possible hazard vehicles carrying inflammable materials are provided
with a metal chain si that the accumulated charges can flow to the ground through
the tires.

Electro static experiments cant be performed in humid climate becuz the moist air
is slightly conduction and therefore the static charges accumulated in the
instruments are conducted away by moist air.

Aircraft are fitted with special rubber tyres cuz the charges prodcued on account
of friction beterrn tyres and roads can flow to the ground.

Electric charge: It is the intrinsic property of elementary particles like electron

, proton, which gives rise to electric force between various objects.Electric
charge is a physical quantity which can be measured. SI Unit is Coulumb C

Explanation of electrification by friction: When 2 bodies are rubbed together the

transfer of electrons takes place from the material in which it is loosely bound to
the material in which it is tightly bound.

Basic Properties of Charge: 1. Like charges repel and unlike charges attract each
other
2. Additivity of charges: Total charges on a body will
be the sum of charges present in the body.
3. Conservation of charge: Total charge is an isolated
system always remains a constant.
4.Relativistic change of charge: Mass of a body
increases with increase in velocity but there is no such change is charge of a body
Conductors: 10^23 free electrons per cm3.
Insulators:0
Semi Conductors: 10^10 to 10^12 electrons per cm3

Electrostatic Induction: When a charged body is brought near an uncharged conductor

the nearer end of the uncharged conductor acquires opposite charge and the farther
end acquires the same charge as that of the body. this is called electrostatic
induction.

Gold Leaf Electroscope: This is a sensitive instrument which is used to check the
nature of charge on a body.

Coulomb's law: The force of attraction or repulsion between two point charges is
directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance b/w them.
Relative Permittivity: It is defined as the ratio of permittivity of medium epsilon
to permitivitty of free space epsilon0.

1 Coulomb: is that charge which when placed in free space at a distance 1m from an
equal and similar charge repels with a force of 9*10^9N.

Linear Charge Distribution:charges are uniformly distributed long a line.

Linear Charge density: Defined as the charge per unit length. lambda= q/l
Surface Charge Distribution: If charges are uniformly distributed over a surface
area it is said to be surface charge distribuition.
Surface Charge Density: It is defined as charge per unit area. sigma=q/A.
Volume charge distrbution: If charges are uniformly distributed over a
space(volume) it is said to be volume charge distribution.
Volume charge density: It is defined as the charge per unit volume.

Electric Field: It is the space around a magnet where its influence is felt.Vector
quantity.

Intensity of Elelctric Field: Force experienced by unti postitve charge placed at

that point.

Electric Dipole: It is defined as the product of magnitude of one of the charges

and the distance between two charges.
p=q*2l

Characteristics of electric lines of force: 1. In uniform electric field lines of

force are parallel.
2. No lines of force exist inside a
charged conductor.

Electric Flux: The total number of lines of force passing through a given surface
area is called electric flux

Gauss'Theorum: The theorum states that the electric flux through any closed surface
in free space is equal to 1/epsilon0 times the total charge enclosed by the
surface.

Features of Gauss theorum: 1. Gaussian surface can have any shape but it should be
a closed surface.
2. Gauss theorum is based on inverse square law
contained in Columb's law.

Limitation of Coulomb's law: 1.Electric charges must be stationery.

2. Electric charges must be of point size.

Current Electricity

Flow of charges is termed as current.

Intensity/strength of electric current: Time rate of flow of charges through any

section of the conductor.

Unit of current: ampere. Dimension of current:A.

Current density: Current density at a point in a conductor is defined as the

current flowing normally per unit area.
Drift Velocity of an electron: Average velocity with which the free electrons are
drifted under the influence of electric field.

Relaxation time: The avg time interval between 2 successive collisions of

electrons with atoms or postitive ions in the conductor is called relaxation time.

Mobility of charge carriers: It is defined as the drift velocity acquired by the

charge carriers per unit electric field.

Ohm's Law: At constant temperature the current flowing through the conductor is
directly proportional to the PD between its ends.

Definition of 1 ohm: It is the resistance of a conductor in which a PD of 1V is

applied so that a current of 1A is flowing through the conductor.

Resistance: It is defined as the PD between the ends of a conductor when unit

current flows through the conductor.

Conductance: Reciprocal of resistance. Unit of conductance: mho or siemen.

Resistivity: Resistance of a conductor of unit length and unit area of cross

section.

Conductivity: reciprocal of resistivity

Factors on which resistance of a conductor depends upon: 1. Length 2. Area of cross

section 3. Temperature 4. Nature.

Temperature co effecient of resistance: Temperature co efficient of the material of

a conductor is defined as the increase in resistance per unit original resistance
at 0 degrees Celcius per unit degree rise in temperature.

Characteristics of alloys: It has high resistivity, It has low temperature co

effecient of resistance.

Thermistor: They are heat sensitive resistors from semi conductors whose resistance
varies appreaciably with rise in temperature.

Critical temperature: Temp. at which transition from conductor to super condcutor

takes place.

Application of super conductors: 1.They are used for making super conductive
electro magnets.
2.They are used to make super fast computers.

Failure of Ohm's law: Ohm's law is valid only at constant temperature. That is temp
changes then resistance also changes and is no longer a constant.

EMF: Work done by the source in moving a unit charge once around the complete
circuit. E=W/Q

Terminal PD: It is defined as the PD b/w the terminals of the cell when the circuit
is closed. V=iR

Lost Volt: The Potential drop across the internal resistance is known as lost volt.
(lost volt=ir)

Internal resistance: Resistance offered by the cell when an electric current flows
through it.

Factors on which intern

al resistance depends on:
1. Nature of electrolyte
2. Nature of electrode
3. Temperature of the electrolyte.
4. Distance between the plates.

Electrostatic potential and capacitance

Definition of Electrostatic potential at a point is the work done in moving a unit

positive charge from infinity to that point
against electrostatic force without accelerating the charge.

Potential difference

It is the work done in moving a unit positive charge from one point to other
against electrostatic force
without accelerating the charge.

Equi-potential surface

Equi- potential surface is a surface at every point of which the potential is the
same.

properties of equipotential surfaces:

No work is done in moving a charge from one point to other on an equi-
potential surface.

Two equi-potential surfaces never intersect.

In the case of a point charge, equi-potential surfaces are concentric spheres

with the charge at centre.

In a uniform electric field equi-potential surfaces are planes. Each plane is

perpendicular to electric field lines.

Surface of a charged conductor is an example for equi- potential surface.

Electrostatic properties of conductors

(1) The electrostatic field is zero in the interior of a conductor (neutral or

charged).
(2) On the surface of a charged conductor electrostatic field is normal to the
surface at every point.
(3) The interior of a conductor has no excess charge in static situation.
(4) Electrostatic potential is constant throughout the volume of a charged
conductor and has the same
value as on surface.
(5) Electric field on the surface of a charged conductor = σ/ε0 UV where UV is a
unit vector perpendicular to
the surface in the outward direction (if the conductor is positively charged).
(6) Electrostatic shielding: Inside the cavity of a conductor, the electric field
is zero.
This vanishing of electric field inside a cavity of a conductor is called
electrostatic shielding.
Importance of equi-potential surfaces

Equi-potential surfaces give a visual picture (both magnitude and direction) of

electric field in region of
space. In a region of strong electric field, they are closer. Also electric field
is normal to equi-potential
surface, at every point.

Capacitors

Capacitor is an arrangement of two conductors(plates) having equal and opposite

charges separated by an
insulating medium. Capacitors are used to store electric charges(electric
energy).The plate on which the
charge is stored is called positive plate or collecting plate. The other plate
which is earthed is called
negative plate or condensing plate. The charge on a capacitor indicates the
positive charge on the plate
and not the total charge on the two plates, which is zero

Parallel plate capacitor

Parallel plate capacitor consists of two parallel metal plates of plate area A and
plate separation d.
Its capacitance C = q/v

Van de Graaff generator

It is a high voltage generator. This high voltage can be used to accelerate charged
particles

structure

It consists of a metallic shell supported by insulating stands. At the centre there

is a pulley. There is a
pulley at the lower part also. An endless belt made of an insulator passes over the
pulleys. A metal brush
at the bottom delivers charge to the belt. The belt carries the charge to the upper
part. Another metal brush
collects these charges. As that brush is connected to the shell, the charges move
to the surface of shell.
After sometime the charge on the shell reaches extremely high values.

Uses of capacitors
1.Capacitors are used in electrical and electronic devices.
2.Capacitors are used in the tank circuit of oscillators.
3.Capacitors are used in tuner circuits.
4.Capacitors are used in the filter circuits of rectifiers

Corona discharge

When a conductor having a pointed end is charged, the charge density is maximum
near the pointed end .If the
magnitude of charge is too large , discharge takes place through the air in front
of the pointed end. The air gets
ionized. The air in contact with the pointed end gets the same charge by contact.
It gets repelled from the tip. Thus a
charged wind is created .This process is called corona discharge.
Polar and non-polar molecules

In a non-polar molecule, the centres of positive and negative charges coincide. The
net dipole
moment is zero.
eg: Oxygen, Hydrogen, CO2,N2,CH4 etc.

In a polar molecule, the centres of positive and negative charges do not coincide.
The molecule will
have a permanent dipole moment.
eg: H2O, HCl, NH3,CO,CH3OH,NaCl etc.

Dielectric polarization

When a non-polar molecule is kept in an external electric field, the positive and
negative charges are
displaced in the opposite directions.
The displacement stops when external force on charges is balanced by restoring
force due to internal field in the molecule.
Thus a dipole moment is developed in the same direction of external field. This is
called dielectric polarization.

Electric susceptibility(χ)

Electric susceptibility is the ratio of polarization to elsilon zero times the net
electric field

Dielectric breakdown

When a dielectric is kept in a very strong electric field ,the outer shell
electrons of dielectric atoms
are detached and the dielectric behaves like a conductor. Its insulation property
is lost. This process is
called dielectric breakdown.

Free charges

For a metal, the outer shell electrons are almost free. Such free electrons are
called free charges

Bound charges

The remaining positive ion consisting of nucleus and the inner shell electrons form
bound charges.

Spherical capacitor

A spherical capacitor consists of two concentric spherical shells of inner and

outer radii a and b. The shells carry
charges – Q and + Q respectively

Cylindrical capacitor

A cylindrical capacitor consists of two co-axial conducting cylinders of inner and

outer radii a and b.

Lightning conductor
Lightning conductor is used to protect buildings from the danger of lightning. It
consists of a metallic
rod having pointed ends. The device will be earthed. It will be fitted at the top
of the building over an
insulator.