New Era University – Virtual Learning Environment

College of Engineering & Technology

PHYSICS 271
Static Electricity

Phy 221-NEU-CET by LDH

Course Objectives:
At the end of the meeting, the student should be able to:
1.Describe the development of science in relation to electricity and
magnetism;
2.Describe electric current in terms of electron theory
3.Describe some basic properties of electric force,
electric field and potential difference;
4. Describe the effect of electric field on charged particles;
5.Identify some applications of static electricity in the modern
world;
6.Use Coulomb’s law to calculate the electric field for a given
charged distribution, and;
7. Pictorially represent an electric field.

Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH

 Atomic Structure
According to Democritus, the last of the natural
philosophers, all matter is made up of increasingly
smaller building blocks. These are
Name Description
Mixture Material composed of more than one element or compound, but
whose atoms or molecules are not chemically bonded together
Compound Material consisting of two or more elements that are chemically
bonded.
Molecule Smallest part of a compound that still exhibits the properties of the
compound
Element Material whose atoms are all identical. An element cannot be
subdivided by chemical means
Electron Negatively charged particle orbiting the nucleus of all atoms
Proton Positively charged particle in the nucleus of all atoms
Neutron Atomic particle having no charge located in the nucleus of an atom
11/21/22 3
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 Atomic Structure
Below is a hydrogen atom. Atoms can be viewed as a miniature
planetary system similar in concept to our solar system. Each
atom has a dense nucleus which contains protons and neutron.
Electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom.
The movement of electrons from atom to atom
1. Electrons can only is what
travel is
in orbits
that have certain dimensions.
responsible for the conduction process, that is, the flow of
2. Each orbit level is called a shell.
electrons. Hence, materials are classified in terms
3. Only certain number ofofelectrons
per shell is allowed.
electron mobility. 4. The more energy an electron has,
the higher its orbit
5. To go to a higher orbit an electron
must gain energy.
A given atom has a definite number of orbiting 6. If an outer orbit electron gains
electrons and a definite number of protons and sufficient energy, it can break
neutrons. The atom has equal amounts of away from its parent atom.
protons and electrons so the atom has no net 7. Dissociated electrons become
charge. free electrons
11/21/22 4
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 Atomic Structure Terms
1. Electrons – has a mass=9.109 x 10-31 kg, lighter than
protons (1.672 x 10-27 kg). Under normal conditions, an
atom has equal number of electrons and protons.
2. Shell – allowable orbit level of electrons. There are
fixed number of electrons In any given shell.
3. Free electron – an electron with sufficient energy to
break away from its parent atom.
4. Valence electrons – an electron in the outermost orbit
of an atom
5. Ion – an atom that has lost or gained an electron. An
atom that has lost an electron is a positive ion. An atom
that has gained electron is a negative ion.
11/21/22 5
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 Materials are classified according to
the number of valence electrons
1. Insulators – have more than 4 valence electrons—max is 8. They do not conduct
electricity well. Example: glass, rubber, wood, air
2. Conductors- have less than 4 valence electrons. They are good conductors
of electricity. Example: copper, aluminum, silver, gold
3. Semi-conductors – Have exactly 4 valence electrons. They are neither good
insulators nor good conductors. They are use in the manufacture of
transistors, integrated devices, microprocessors and other electronic
devices. Example: Silicon, Germanium
4. Superconductors – Materials that offer no opposition to electron flow, essentially
being perfect conductors. This property has been observed at tempe-
rature of -196 ˚C. Many researchers are investigating room tempe-
rature conductors.
• The charge of a material is determined by having more or fewer electrons than
protons. Materials with an excess of electrons are negatively charge
while materials with deficiency of electrons are positively charge.

11/21/22 6
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
Unit of Measure for Charge
• Charge is measured in coulombs (C), in honor of Charles Coulomb
• One coulomb is equal to the charge caused by the accumulation
or deficiency of 6.25 x 1018 (6,250,000,000,000,000,000)
electrons
• Coulomb is a large unit
• The symbol for charge is q

11/21/22 7
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 Coulomb’s Law
Coulomb's law describes the force on one charged particle due
to another charged particle.
kq1q2
F = --------
r2
is the force, q1 and q2 are the charges of particles 1 and 2, r is the
distance between the particles and k is a constant, 8.99x109 (Nm2/C2).
ou should ignore the signs of the charges q1 and q2 to calculate the
magnitude of the force. The direction of the force vector on each
particle is toward the other if the one charge is positive and the
other negative ("opposites attract"); or directly away from the other
f both of the charges are positive or both negative ("like charges repel
each other"). Note that the force falls off quadratically with distance,
imilarly to the behavior of the gravitational force.
11/21/22 8
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 Coulomb’s Law
Analogy between electric and gravitational forces
The electric force (Coulomb's Law) and gravitational
forces have similar forms:
kq1q2 GM1M2
  F = -------- F = --------
             r2 r2
One difference is that gravitational forces are always
attractive, while the electric force can be either
attractive (for opposite charges) or repulsive (for like
charges). Another difference is that the electric force
is generally MUCH stronger:
k = 8.99x109 Nm2/C2      G = 6.67x10-11 Nm2/kg2
11/21/22 9
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 Coulomb’s Law
Problem:
Two charges repel each other with a force of 96 N.
What happens to the force if the distance between
them is quadrupled?

Solution:
Since Coulomb's law scales as r -2, and r becomes larger by a
factor of 4, the new force should be (1/4) squared, or one
sixteenth of the old force.
F = 96/16 N
F = 6.0 N (answer)
11/21/22 10
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 Coulomb’s Law
Problem B:
Imagine 3 charges in an equilateral triangle as shown
with L = 2.0 cm and q =1.0 nC. What is the magnitude
and direction of the force felt by the upper charge?
Solution:
The force due to the lower left charge has a magnitude:
where the factor of 2 comes from the fact that the upper charge is 2q.
The direction of this contribution is 30 degrees from vertical. The
same magnitude is for the force due to the lower right charge.
Resolving these forces into components, the horizontal components
will cancel each other while the vertical components add up and
downwards since it is attractive. Thus,
2kq2 cos30° 2kq2 cos30°
F = --------------- + ---------------
30°
L2 L2
11/21/22 = 7.79x10-5 N, down
11
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
Problem C. Three point charges are located at the
corners of an equilateral triangle as shown :
1. Calculate the resultant electric force on the 7.00 μC charge.
2. Sketch the field lines in the plane of the charges.
 
Let q1 =2.0 x 10-6 C,, q2 =7.0 x 10-6 C, and q3 = -4.0 x 10-6 C,
and focusing our attention to the 7.00 μC charge, the forces
acting on it are:

11/21/22 12
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 Resolving the forces in Fig. 1 to obtain Fig. 2 and add the horizontal
components, we have:
ΣFx = F21x + F23x=[(k Іq1q2І)/(0.50)2]cos 60˚ + [(k Іq2q3І)/(0.50)2]cos 60˚
=[(k cos 60˚)/(0.50)2] [Іq1q2І + Іq2q3І] = 0.755 N

Finding the sum of vertical components where the forces are oppositely
directed, we have

ΣFy =F21y -F23y =[(k Іq1q2І)/(0.50)2]sin 60˚ - [(k Іq2q3І)/(0.50)2 ]sin 60˚
= [(k sin 60˚)/(0.50)2 ][Іq1q2І - Іq2q3І] = -0.436 N

Therefore, Fnet = √ (ΣFx)2 + (ΣFy)2 = 0.87 N

 
And its direction is given by:
θ net = tan -1 (ΣFy / ΣFx)
= -30˚(below horizontal axis, IV quadrant)
11/21/22 13
Phy 271-NEU-CET by LDH
 References
• Physics for Scientist and Engrs. By Serway & Jewett, 6th ed. pp.
707-725
• Physics for Scientist& Engrs. By Paul Tipler. pp. 657-658,663-
678,689-696
• Schaum’s Outlines Applied Physics 4th ed. By Arthur Beiser pp.
266-276