Electrostatics
Electric Charge is fundamental physical property
that causes objects to feel attraction or repulsion
towards one another.
Types of Electric Charges:
 Positively Charged Objects
o More PROTONS than electrons
 Negatively Charged Objects
o More ELECTRONS than protons
 Neutrally Charged Objects
o Same number of PROTONS and
ELECTRONS
LAW OF CHARGES
 Like Charges Repel
 Opposite Charges Attract
 Any Charge will have an attractive
interaction with a neutral object
Conductors
 Are materials that permit electrons to flow
freely from particle to particle.
 Materials in which charges are free to move
about are called electrical conductors.
 An object made of conducting material will
permit charge to be transferred across the
entire surface of the object.
Insulators
 Materials in which charges are not free to
move about are called electrical insulators.
 In contrast with conductors, if charge is
transferred to an insulator at a given
location, the excess charge will remain at
the initial location of charging.
METHODS OF CHARGING
1. Charging by Rubbing/Friction
a. a frictional charging process results
in a transfer of electrons between
the objects that are rubbed together
i. Two objects rubbed against
each other, the one with
higher affinity (triboelectric
series) will become
negatively charged.
 Triboelectric Series
o Is a list that ranks materials
according to their tendency to gain
or lose electrons. Subsequently,
when any two materials in the table
are rubbed together, the one that is
higher can be expected to pull
electrons from the material that is
lower.
2. Charging by Conduction
a. Involves the contact of a charged
object to a neutral object
i. One charged object and one
neutral object are in contact,
excess charges from the
charged object transfers to
the neutral object. The
neutral object then becomes
charged.
3. Charging by Induction
a. From example, a negatively charged
rod is placed near (but without
physical contact) a neutral sphere.
i. Charged object brought near
to a neutral object, charges
in the neutral objects gets
separated (polarized), one
side becomes positively
charged and one side
becomes negatively charged
Grounding
 Providing a path from a charged object to
the earth is called grounding it.
Electric Force, Electric Field, & Electric Flux
Coulomb’s Law
 The magnitude of the electric force between
two charged object is directly proportional to
the product of the quantity of charge on the
objects and inversely proportional to the square
of the separation distance between the two
objects.
F=K
Direction of Electric Force
 If the two objects have opposite signs/chrges,
the force on one is directed toward the other
(they attract)