Chapter 1

Electric Charge and Matter

Electric Charge
Electric charge is the basic property of matter carried by some
elementary particles that governs how the particles are affected by
an electric or magnetic field.

The electric charge

 can be either positive or negative (like charges repel and unlike
charges attract each other)
• is represented by q or Q
• has SI unit Coulomb (C)
• is conserved quantity in an isolated system
• Electric charge is quantized. Any charge found in nature can be
written as

𝑞=𝑛𝑒

where
n is an integer number (𝑛 = ±1, ±2, ±3, …) and
e is a constant of nature called as electronic charge. Its value is
e = 1.6 x 10–19 C.
Electric charge
• Glass rods, plastic tubes, silk, and fur can be used to demonstrate
the movement of electrons and how their presence or absence
make for powerful forces of attraction and repulsion.
 Matter

Any matter is composed of three particles:

e = 1.6 x 10–19 C.
How is the atom arranged? Why is it easiest to move electrons?

Visualize a football stadium as an

atom. Electrons would be garden
peas in the highest seats with
charge of −1. Protons would be
basketballs or melons with charge
of +1, and neutrons would reside
about the protons with no charge.
All of the protons and neutrons
could be in a small basket on the
50-m line.
Consider lithium as a cation, an anion, and a neutral
• Let’s study the subatomic arrangement of lithium
with all charges balanced and the way only electrons
move to make the atom an ion (+ or −).
 Matter

Conductors Insulators Semiconductors

Significant number Electrons are not Intermediate

of electrons are free free. between
to move. conductors and
Such as plastics, insulators.
Such as copper, iron, glass and paper
and gold Such as silicon,
germanium and
gallium arsenide
 Example

A neutral copper penny has a mass of 3.1 g. Calculate the number of

electrons and total electronic charge that it contains. One Cu atom contains
29 electrons and molar mass of Cu is mCu = 64 g/mole.

Solution ⋕ 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑢 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑦

=
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑑𝑟𝑜 ′ 𝑠 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑢

𝑁 𝑚 𝑁 3.1 𝑔
= → 23
=
𝑁𝐴 𝑚𝐶𝑢 6.02 × 10 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 64 𝑔/𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒

𝑁 = 3.0 × 1022 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑠

Total number of electrons = 3.0 × 1022 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑠 × 29 𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚

= 8.7 × 1023 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠
Total charge of electrons = 8.7 × 1023 𝑒 × 1.6 × 10−19 𝐶 𝑒
= 1.3 × 105 𝐶
 Coulomb’s Law
The electric force acting on a point charge q1 as a result of the presence of
a second point charge q2 is given by Coulomb's Law:

(a)

where r is the distance between charges and

the Coulomb’s constant has the value: (b)

(c)
 Force acting on charge 𝑞1 due to
presence of others is given by
Example
The electrostatic force between two like ions that are separated by a
distance of 5x10−10 m is 3.7x109 N.
(a) what is the charge on each ion?
(b) How many electrons are missing from each ion?

Solution
Example
Two point charges, 𝑞1 = +25 𝑛𝐶 and 𝑞2 = −75 𝑛𝐶 , are separated by a
distance 𝑟 = 3.0 𝑐𝑚 . Find the magnitude and direction of the electric
force (a) that 𝑞1 exerts on 𝑞2 and (b) that 𝑞2 exerts on 𝑞1 .

Solution
(a)

(b)
Example
Two point charges are located on the
x-axis of a coordinate system:
𝑞1 = +1 𝑛𝐶 is at 𝑥 = +2.0 𝑐𝑚 , and
𝑞2 = −3.0 𝑛𝐶 is at 𝑥 = +4.0 𝑐𝑚 .
What is the total electric force exerted
by 𝑞1 and 𝑞2 on a charge 𝑞3 = +5 𝑛𝐶
at 𝑥 = 0?

Solution

In the same way you can show that 𝐹2 𝑜𝑛 3 = 84 𝜇𝑁

We thus have

The net force on 𝑞3 is

Example

Solution
Example
Two identical small charged spheres, each having a
mass of 3.0 × 10−2 kg, hang in equilibrium as
shown in figure. 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.

Solution

From eqn. (2)

Substitute this into eqn. (1) we get

Example

Four identical point charges (𝑞 = +10.0 𝜇𝐶)

are located on the corners of a rectangle as
shown in Figure. The dimensions of the
rectangle are L = 60.0 cm and W = 15.0 cm.
Calculate the magnitude and direction of the
resultant electric force exerted on the charge
at the lower left corner by the other three
charges.
Solution

𝑞2
𝐹=𝑘 2
𝑟
 𝑞2
𝐹=𝑘 2
𝑟