ELECTRIC CHARGES

Electric Charge
Charge is the property associated with matter due to which it produces and experiences electrical and magnetic effects.

The excess or deficiency of electrons in a body causes the net charge on the body.

UNIT OF CHARGE:
S.I. unit = Ampere  sec = coulomb (C) smaller S.I. units are mC, C, nC, pC.

C.G.S. unit = Stat coulomb or e.s.u or frankline(Fr) Electromagnetic unit = ab coulomb

1
1C  3  10 9 stat coulomb  ab coulomb
10

Practical units of charge: ampere x hour(=3600 C) and faraday(=96500 C)

WAYS OF CHARGING:
(i) Charging by friction: By rubbing two bodies together, both positive and negative charges in equal amounts appear
simultaneously due to transfer of electrons from one body to the other.
(a) When a glass rod is rubbed with silk, the rod becomes positively charged while the silk becomes negatively
charged. The decrease in the mass of glass rod is equal to the total mass of electrons lost by it.
(b) Ebonite on rubbing with wool becomes negatively charged making the wool positively charged.

(c) Clouds also get charged by friction.

(d) A comb moving through dry hair gets electrically charged. It starts attracting small bits of paper.

(e) During landing or take-off, the tyres of an aircraft get electrified therefore special material is used to manufacture

them.

Fig.
(ii) Charging by electrostatic induction

Important points regarding electrostatic induction

(a) Inducing body neither gains nor loses charges.
(b) The nature of induced charge is always opposite to that of inducing charge.
(c) Induced charge can be lesser or equal to inducing charge but it is never greater than the inducing charge

and is given by Q'  Q 1 

1
. Where Q is the inducing charge and K is the dielectric constant or specific
 K 

inductive capacity (SIC).

For insulators k > 1, so |Q’| < |Q|
For conductors k=  , so Q’ = -Q (i.e., in metals induced charge is
equal and opposite to inducing charge)
(d) Induction takes place only in bodies (either conducting or nor conducting) and not in particles.
Alternate method of charging by induction (Without using ground wire)

(iii) Charging by conduction

If sizes are identical then we can say that charge is equally distributed.

Basic Properties of Electric Charges

 Additive nature of charges − Charge is a scalar quantity. That is why it adds algebraically.

 Charge is conserved − When an isolated system consists of many charged bodies within it,
due to interaction among these bodies, charges may get redistributed. However, it is found that
the total charge of the isolated system is always conserved.

Note:- Here it is worth noting that in pair production and annihilation neither mass nor energy
is conserved separately but (mass+energy) is conserved. In pair production energy is converted
into mass while in annihilation mass is converted into energy.
 Quantization of charge − All observable charges are always some integral multiple of
elementary charge, e (= ± 1.6 × 10−19 C). This is known as quantization of charge.
NOTE: Recently, it has been discovered that elementary particles such as protons or neutrons are
composed of more elemental units called quarks. There are two types of quarks having charges.
(i) down quark represented by –e/3
(ii) up quark represented by +2e/3.

A proton has a quark composition of ‘uud’, a neutron has a quark composition ‘udd’, and an electron
has a quark composition ‘ddd’.

However quarks can not exist individually, and so we do not take these charges to be
elementary detectable charges.

 Accelerated charge radiates energy- according to electromagnetic theory an accelerated

charge produces electric and magnetic fields, and also radiates energy in the form of
electromagnetic waves.

 Charge resides only on the outer surface of a conductor because like charges repel and try
to get as far away as possible where as in insulators it remains where placed i.e., may
reside inside the body also.

Note:- That’s why a solid and hollow conducting sphere of same outer radius will hold
maximum equal charge and a soap bubble expands on charging.

 In case of conducting body no doubt the charge resides on its outer surface; the
distribution of charge, i.e., charge density is not uniform. It is maximum where the
radius of curvature is minimum and vice versa, i.e.,   1 . This is why charge leaks
R
from sharp points.
Note: Lightning-rods are made up of conductors with one of their ends earthed while the
other sharp and protects a building from lightning either by neutralizing or conducting the
charge of the cloud to the ground.

 Charge is invariant: This means charge like phase is independent of frame of reference,
i.e., charge on a body does not change with speed, whereas the mass of a body
depends upon speed and increases with increase in speed.

m m 0
2

1 v 2
c
  Charge can be detected and measured with the help of gold-leaf electroscope,
electrometer, voltameter or ballistic-galvenometer. In case of gold-leaf electroscope:

If a charged body is brought near a charged electroscope, the leaves will further diverge if the
charge on the body is similar to that on the electroscope and will usually converge if opposite.
This is how we determine the nature of charge on a body.

If X-rays are incident on a charged electroscope, due to ionization of air by X-rays the
electroscope will get discharge and hence its leaves will collapse. However, if the electroscope is
evacuated, X-rays will cause photoelectric effect with gold and so the leaves will further diverge
if it is positively charged (or uncharged) and will converge if it is negatively charged.