Ferreras, Lawrence Emmanuel A.

BSME 1-4/2BSCOEPHYS20034 5/7/2019

PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS

Research Assignment # 1: Electrostatics and Electricity

1. Branches of Electricity

Electrostatics- Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric charges exert on each
other. Such forces are described by Coulomb's law. Even though electrostatically induced forces seem to
be rather weak, some electrostatic forces such as the one between an electron and a proton, that
together make up a hydrogen atom, is about 36 orders of magnitude stronger than the gravitational
force acting between them.

Electrodynamics or Electromagnetism- study of the electromagnetic force, a type of physical

interaction that occurs between electrically charged particles. The electromagnetic force is carried
by electromagnetic fields composed of electric fields and magnetic fields, is responsible
for electromagnetic radiation such as light, and is one of the four fundamental interactions (commonly
called forces) in nature. The other three fundamental interactions are the strong interaction, the weak
interaction, and gravitation.[1] At high energy the weak force and electromagnetic force are unified as a
single electroweak force.

2. History and Development of Electricity

Year Name of Scientist Contribution/Discovery

624 -546 BC Thales of Miletus Observed that an electric charge could be generated by
rubbing amber, for which the Greek word is electron.
1650 Otto von Guericke Experimented with generating electricity.
1729 Stephen Gray Discovered electrical conductivity.
1752 Benjamin Franklin Proposes the notion of positive and negative charge,
conserving a balance except when a deficit is brought
about by some means. His famous kite experiments,
identifying lightning as a form of electrical discharge.
1800 Alessandro Volta Invents an electric battery, the first source of DC current.
1827 Georg Simon Ohm Determined that the current that flows through a wire is
proportional to its cross sectional area and inversely
proportional to its length or Ohm's law. These
fundamental relationships are of such great importance,
that they represent the true beginning of electrical
circuit analysis.
1831 Michael Faraday Experimentally characterizes magnetic induction. The
most thorough of early electrical investigators, he
formulates the quantitative laws of electolysis, the
principles of electric motors and transformers,
investigates diamagnetic materials, and posits a physical
reality for the indirectly observed magnetic and
electrical lines of force.
 1876 Charles F. Brush Arc lighting system.
1879 Thomas Alva Edison Invented the lightbulb, and houses, shops, factories,
schools, streets, ballparks -- every place you could think
of, indoors and out -- could at last be easily illuminated
after dark.
1881 Louis Latimer & Joseph V. Invention of the first incandescent light bulb with carbon
Nichols filament. Prior to this breakthrough, filaments had been
made from paper.
1886 William Stanley Demonstrated a system of high voltage transmission via
a "parallel connected transformer." The device,
combined with high-voltage transmission lines, made it
possible to spread electric service over a wide area and
allowed alternating current to be available at different
voltages.
1888 Heinrich Hertz Discovers and measures the waves, radio waves,
predicted earlier by Faraday and Maxwell.
1888 Nikola Tesla Invents the first practicable AC motor and polyphase
power transmission system, Westinghouse acquired
exclusive rights to Nikola Tesla's patent for the
polyphase system and lured Tesla to join the electric
company and continue his work on the AC motor he had
developed.
1888 Oliver B. Shallenberger Invented an induction meter for measuring alternating
current, a critical element in the Westinghouse AC
system.
1901 Elihu Thomson An innovator in electrification in both a technical and
corporate sense. His major contributions included
(electrostatic motors, electrical meters, high-pressure
steam engines, dynamos, generators and, X-rays).

3. The 1st Law of Electrostatics and Conservation of Charge

The negative charge of the electron is equal, but opposite to, the positive charge of the proton.
These charges are referred to as electrostatic charges. In nature, unlike charges (like electrons and
protons) attract each other, and like charges repel each other. These facts are known as the First Law of
Electrostatics and are sometimes referred to as the law of electrical charges. This law should be
remembered because it is one of the vital concepts in electricity. 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. Charge conservation, considered as a physical conservation law, implies that the change in
the amount of electric charge in any volume of space is exactly equal to the amount of charge flowing
into the volume minus the amount of charge flowing out of the volume.
4. Charged Particles

(Atom) A charged atom has either too many or too few electrons. In DS1, atoms are heated until
they are very high energy and unstable. They are then hit by electrons that are discharged by a cathode
ray in the thruster chamber. When the electrons hit the atoms in the chamber, they cause some of the
electrons in the atoms to be stripped or knocked away. The mass of superheated, charged atoms with
disassociated electrons becomes a plasma.

When one or more electrons is knocked off of an atom, it becomes positively charged. It is now a
positive ion. A negative ion can be made by adding an electron to an atom.

5. Classifications of materials according to the flow of charge

Insulators- materials that inhibit the flow of electrical current. They don’t allow electric particles
to flow freely, insulators are implemented in household items and electrical circuits as protection. a
material whose internal electric charges do not flow freely; very little electric current will flow through it
under the influence of an electric field. (Ex. Styrofoam, paper, rubber, glass and dry air)
Conductors- an object or type of material that allows the flow of charge (electrical current) in one
or more directions. Materials made of metal are common electrical conductors. (Ex. copper, aluminum,
gold, and silver)

Semi-conductors- material has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a metal, like
copper, gold, etc. and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistance decreases as its temperature increases,
which is behaviour opposite to that of a metal. Its conducting properties may be altered in useful ways by
the deliberate, controlled introduction of impurities ("doping") into the crystal structure. (Ex. silicon,
germanium, and gallium arsenide.)

Superconductors- material that can conduct electricity or transport electrons from one atom to
another with no resistance. This means no heat, sound or any other form of energy would be released
from the material when it has reached "critical temperature" (Tc), or the temperature at which the material
becomes superconductive. Unfortunately, most materials must be in an extremely low energy state (very
cold) in order to become superconductive. (Ex. mercury or lead, niobium-titanium, germanium-niobium,
and niobium nitride, YBCO and magnesium diboride)

6. Coulomb’s Law of Electrostatics.

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.

Coulomb's constant (ke = 8.9875517873681764×109 N⋅m2⋅C−2).

Coulomb's law and Coulomb's constant can also be interpreted in various terms:

 Atomic units. In atomic units the force is expressed in hartrees per Bohr radius, the charge in terms
of the elementary charge, and the distances in terms of the Bohr radius.
 Electrostatic units or Gaussian units. In electrostatic units and Gaussian units, the unit charge
(esu or statcoulomb) is defined in such a way that the Coulomb constant k disappears because it has
the value of one and becomes dimensionless.
 Lorentz–Heaviside units (also called rationalized). In Lorentz–Heaviside units the Coulomb constant
is ke = 1/4πε0  and becomes dimensionless.

Gaussian units and Lorentz–Heaviside units are both CGS unit systems. Gaussian units are more
amenable for microscopic problems such as the electrodynamics of individual electrically charged
particles.[24] SI units are more convenient for practical, large-scale phenomena, such as engineering
applications.

7. Formulas

a. Electric Field (vector form)

Objects with electric charge emit electric fields. This electric field is the source of the electrostatic force
that nearby charged objects experience. The electric field is a vector quantity, and the direction of the
field lines depends on the sign of the source charge. Electric field vectors point away from positively
charged sources, and toward negatively charged sources. The formula for the electric field includes the
Coulomb constant, which is . The Coulomb constant can also be
written in terms of the permittivity of free space, . In that form, the
Coulomb constant is . The unit of the electric field magnitude is Newtons
per Coulomb, N/C.

= electric field vector at a certain position in space (N/C)

k = Coulomb constant

q = charge of a single point source of the electric field (C)

r = distance from the source charge (m)

= unit vector (length is 1), the direction of the electric field (unitless)

b. Electric Potential vs Potential Difference

The electrical potential Φ refers to a quantity with some numeric value. It is usually dependent on space
and time Φ(x⃗ ,t)Φ(x→,t), so it's a field where for every place and moment you get some number.
By potential difference ΔΦΔΦ one denotes the difference between two such values taken at different
positions. For example,
ΔΦ:=Φ(x⃗ 2,t0)−Φ(x⃗ 1,t0)ΔΦ:=Φ(x→2,t0)−Φ(x→1,t0)
is the potential difference of the field Φ(x⃗ ,t)Φ(x→,t) for the two points x⃗ 2x→2 and x⃗ 1x→1 at the
particular moment t0t0.

c. Electric Potential Energy

Potential energy is energy that is stored in a system, based on the position of objects. A charged particle
in an electric field has potential energy because of the electrostatic force that can act on it. It is often
useful to be able to describe the potential energy per unit charge at a certain position. This potential
energy per unit charge is called electric potential (or simply "potential"). Like all work and energy, the
unit of potential energy is the Joule (J), where 1 J = 1 kg∙m 2/s2 . The unit of charge is the Coulomb (C),
and the unit of electric potential is the Volt (V), which is equal to a Joule per Coulomb (J/C).
potential energy = (charge of particle)(electric potential)
U = qV
U = potential energy, with units J (Joules)
q = the charge of the point particle, with units C (Coulombs)
V = an electric potential, with units V = J/C (Volts, equal to Joules per Coulomb)

d. Equipotential Surface

An isolated point charge  Q  with its electric field lines in blue and equipotential lines in green. The
potential is the same along each equipotential line, meaning that no work is required to move a charge
anywhere along one of those lines. Work is needed to move a charge from one equipotential line to
another. Equipotential lines are perpendicular to electric field lines in every case. For a three-dimensional
version, explore the first media link.

It is important to note that equipotential lines are always perpendicular to electric field lines. No work is
required to move a charge along an equipotential, since ΔV=0ΔV=0. Thus, the work is

W=−ΔU=−qΔV=0

Work is zero if the direction of the force is perpendicular to the displacement. Force is in the same
direction as EE, so motion along an equipotential must be perpendicular to EE. More precisely, work is
related to the electric field by

W=F⃗ ⋅d⃗ =qE⃗ ⋅d⃗ =qEdcosθ=0