Lesson 1

Electricity and Electrons

• Electrostatics and coulomb’s law
 Definitions
 Properties of Electric Charges
 Conductors , Insulators and Semiconductors
 Coulomb’s Law
The Hydrogen Atom
The Resultant Force
The Charge on the Spheres
• The Electric Field
• Electric Field of a Continuous Charge Distribution
• Electric Field Lines
• Motion of Charged Particles in a Uniform Electric Field
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
• Definitions
 Electric Charge - The charge is a property of certain elementary
particles, of which the most important are electrons and protons, both
part of any atom of any material. The charge on a proton (the atomic
nucleus of hydrogen) is called positive and written as e = 1.602· 10- 19
C. The charge of an electron is correspondingly called negative and
written -e.
 Electric Field - An electric field is defined as a region where an
electric charge experiences an electric force acting upon it. The force
F on a charge q in an electric field is proportional to the charge itself,
and can thus be written
F=q·E
E is called the electric field strength and is determined by the
magnitude and locations of the charges acting upon our charge q.
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
• Properties of Electric Charges
– charges of the same sign repel one another
and charges with opposite signs attract one
another.
– electric charge is always conserved in an
isolated system.
 Electrostatics and coulomb’s law
• Conductors , Insulators And Semiconductors
– 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.
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
• Coulomb’s Law
– The electric force
– is inversely proportional to the square of the separation r
between the particles and directed along the line joining
them;
– is proportional to the product of the charges q 1 and q 2 on
the two particles;
– is attractive if the charges are of opposite sign and repulsive if
the charges have the same sign;
– is a conservative force.
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law

where ke is a constant called the Coulomb constant. The value of the Coulomb constant
depends on the choice of units. The SI unit of charge is the coulomb (C). The Coulomb
constant ke in SI units has the value
ke = 8.987 5 x 109 N.m2/C2

This constant is also written in the form

where the constant Є0 (lowercase Greek epsilon) is known as the permittivity of free
space and has the value
Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
• Example 1. The Hydrogen Atom
The electron and proton of a hydrogen atom are separated (on the average) by a
distance of approximately 5.3 x10-11 m. Find the magnitudes of the electric force
and the gravitational force between the two particles.

Solution
From Coulomb’s law, we find that the magnitude of the electric force is
Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
Using Newton’s law of universal gravitation

The ratio Fe /Fg = 2 x 1039.

 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
• When dealing with Coulomb’s law, you must
remember that force is a vector quantity and
must be treated accordingly. The law expressed
in vector form for the electric force exerted by
a charge q1 on a second charge q2, written F12,
is

Where is a unit vector directed from q1 toward q2.

Because the electric force obeys Newton’s third law, the electric force exerted by q2
on q1 is equal in magnitude to the force exerted by q1 on q2 and in the opposite
direction; that is, F21= -F12.
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
Vector form of Coulomb’s law
Two point charges separated by a distance
r exert a force on each other that is given
by Coulomb’s law. The force F21 exerted
by q2 on q1 is equal in magnitude and
opposite in direction to the force F12
exerted by q1 on q2.
(a) When the charges are of the same
sign, the force is repulsive.
(b) When the charges are of opposite
signs, the force is attractive.
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
• Example 2. The Resultant Force
Consider three point charges located at the corners of a right triangle as shown in Figure
below, where q1 = q3 = 5.0 μC, q2 = 2.0 μ C, and a = 0.10 m. Find the resultant force
exerted on q3.

The force exerted by

q1 on q3 is F13. The
force exerted by q2
on q3 is F23. The
resultant force F3
exerted on q3 is the
vector sum F13 + F23.
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
Solution
First, note the direction of the individual forces exerted by q1 and q2 on q3. The force F23
exerted by q2 on q3 is attractive because q2 and q3 have opposite signs. The force F13
exerted by q1 on q3 is repulsive because both charges are positive.

The magnitude of F23 is

Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
 Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
• Example 3: The Charge on the Spheres
Two identical small charged spheres, each having a mass of 3.0 X 10-2 kg, hang in
equilibrium as shown in Figure below. The length of each string is 0.15 m, and the angle
θ is 5.0°. Find the magnitude of the charge on each sphere.

(a) Two identical spheres, each

carrying the same charge q,
suspended in equilibrium.
(b) The free-body diagram for
the sphere on the left.
Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
Solution
Electrostatics and Coulomb’s Law
The separation of the spheres is 2a ! 0.026 m. From Coulomb’s
law, the magnitude of the electric force is
 The Electric Field
• An electric field is said to exist in the
region of 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
A test charge q0 at point P is
a distance r from a point
charge q.
(a) If q is positive, then the
force on the test charge is
directed away from q.
(b) For the positive source
charge, the electric field at
P points radically outward
from q.
(c) If q is negative, then the
force on the test charge is
directed toward q.
(d) For the negative source
charge, the electric field at
P points radially inward
toward q.
 The Electric Field

Thus, the electric field at point P due to a group of source charges can be expressed as
the vector sum
 The Electric Field
Example 4:Electric Field Due to Two Charges
A charge q1 = 7.0 μC is located at the origin, and a second charge q2 =-5.0 μC is located
on the x axis, 0.30 m from the origin. Find the electric field at the point P, which has
coordinates (0, 0.40) m.

The total electric field E at P equals the

vector sum E1+E2, where E1 is the field
due to the positive charge q1 and E2 is
the field due to the negative charge q2.
 The Electric Field
Solution
First, let us find the magnitude of the electric field at P due to each charge. The fields E1
due to the 7.0μC charge and E2 due to the -5.0μC charge are shown in the Figure.
Their magnitudes are
The Electric Field
 The Electric Field
Example 5: Electric Field of a Dipole
An electric dipole is defined as a positive charge q and a negative charge -q separated
by a distance 2a. For the dipole shown in Figure below, find the electric field E at P due to
the dipole, where P is a distance y>>a from the origin.

The total electric field E at P due to two charges

of equal magnitude and opposite sign (an electric
dipole) equals the vector sum E1 + E2. The field E1
is due to the positive charge q, and E2 is the field
due to the negative charge -q.
 The Electric Field
At P, the fields E1 and E2 due to the two charges are equal in magnitude because P is
equidistant from the charges. The total field is E = E1 + E2, where

The y components of E1 and E2 cancel each other, and the x components are both in
the positive x direction and have the same magnitude. Therefore, E is parallel to the
x axis and has a magnitude equal to 2E1cosθ.
 The Electric Field

Thus, we see that, at distances far from a dipole but along the perpendicular bisector
of the line joining the two charges, the magnitude of the electric field created by the
dipole varies as 1/r3, whereas the more slowly varying field of a point charge varies as
1/r2. This is because at distant points, the fields of the two charges of equal magnitude
and opposite sign almost cancel each other. The 1/r3 variation in E for the dipole also is
obtained for a distant point along the x axis and for any general distant point.
 Electric Field of a Continuous
Charge Distribution
Very often the distances between charges in a group of charges are much smaller
than the distance from the group to some point of interest (for example, a point
where the electric field is to be calculated). In such situations, the system of charges
can be modeled as continuous. That is, the system of closely spaced charges is
equivalent to a total charge that is continuously distributed along some line, over
some surface, or throughout some volume.
To evaluate the electric field created by a continuous charge distribution, we use the
following procedure: first, we divide the charge distribution into small elements, each
of which contains a small charge Δq, as shown in Figure (Next Page). we use Equation

to calculate the electric field due to one of these elements at a point P. Finally, we
evaluate the total electric field at P due to the charge distribution by summing the
contributions of all the charge elements (that is, by applying the superposition
principle). The electric field at P due to one charge element carrying charge Δq is
Electric Field of a Continuous
Charge Distribution

The electric field at P due to a continuous

charge distribution is the vector sum of the
fields ΔE due to all the elements Δq of the
charge distribution
Electric Field of a Continuous
Charge Distribution
Electric Field of a Continuous
Charge Distribution
 Electric Field of a Continuous
Charge Distribution
• Example 6: The Electric Field Due to a
Charged Rod
A rod of length l has a uniform positive charge per unit
length λ and a total charge Q. Calculate the electric field at a
point P that is located along the long axis of the rod and a
distance a from one end
Electric Field of a Continuous
Charge Distribution
Electric Field of a Continuous
Charge Distribution
Electric Field of a Continuous
Charge Distribution
 Tutorial 1
1. A disk of radius R has a uniform surface
charge density σ. Calculate the electric field
at a point P that lies along the central
perpendicular axis of the disk and a distance x
from the center of the disk.
2. A ring of radius a carries a uniformly
distributed positive total charge Q. Calculate
the electric field due to the ring at a point P lying
a distance x from its center along the central axis
perpendicular to the plane of the ring.
 Electric Field Lines

The electric field lines for a point charge.

(a) For a positive point charge, the lines are directed radially outward.
(b) For a negative point charge, the lines are directed radially inward. Note
that the figures show only those field lines that lie in the plane of the
page.
 Electric Field Lines

The electric field lines for two positive point

The electric field lines for two point charges
charges of equal magnitude and
opposite sign (an electric dipole)
 Electric Field Lines
Example 7: An Accelerated Electron
An electron enters the region of a uniform electric field as shown in Figure,
with vi = 3.00 x 106 m/s and E = 200 N/C. The horizontal length of the plates is
l = 0.100 m.
Electric Field Lines