12th Physics Definition
Chap 1: Electric charges and field
Frictional Electricity
The property of rubbed substances due to which they
attract light objects is called electricity.
The electricity developed by rubbing or friction is
called frictional or static electricity.
The rubbed substances which show this property of
attraction are said to have become electrified or
electrically charged
Electron Naam kaha se aaya ?
In 600 B.C., Thales of Miletus, one of the founders of
Greek science, first noticed that if a piece of amber is
rubbed with a woollen cloth, it then acquires the
property of attracting light feathers, dust, lint, pieces
of leaves, etc.
In fact, the Greek name for amber is elektron which is
the origin of all such words : electricity, electric force,
electric charge and electron.
Amber is a yellow resinous (gum like) substance found
on the shores of the Baltic sea.
Electromagnetism
Both electric and magnetic phenomena can be derived
from charged particles.
Magnetism arises from charges in motion. The
charged particles in motion exert both electric and
magnetic forces on each other.
Hence electricity and magnetism are studied
together as electromagnetism.
Electric Charge
It is an intrinsic property of the elementary particles
like electrons, protons, etc., of which all the objects
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are made up of. Electric charge gives rise to electric
force between various objects.
It is a scalar quantity. Its SI unit is Coulomb (C).
𝑒 = 1.6 × 10−19 coulomb
Electrostatics
Electrostatics is the study of electric charges at rest.
Fundamental Law of Electrostatics
Like charges repel and unlike charges attract each
other.
Vitreous & resinous Charges
Charles Du Fay used the terms vitreous and resinous
for the two kinds of charges.
1.The charge developed on glass rod when rubbed
with silk was called vitreous charge (Latin virtum =
glass).
2. The charge developed on amber when rubbed with
wool was called resinous charge (amber is a resin).
Positive & Negative Charges
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), introduced the
present-day convention by replacing the terms
vitreous and resinous by positive and negative,
respectively.
According to this convention :
1. The charge developed on a glass rod when rubbed
with silk is called positive charge.
2. The charge developed on a plastic rod when rubbed
with wool is called negative charge.
Electronic Theory Of Frictional Electricity
➢ Electronic theory of frictional electricity
➢ Electric origin of frictional forces.
NOTE: As an electron has a finite mass, therefore, the
mass of a positively charged body slightly decreases
due to loss of some electrons. The mass of a negatively
charged body slightly increases due to gain in some
electrons.
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Conductors and Insulators The force of interaction between any two point
charges is directly proportional to the product of the
Conductors. The substances through which electric
charges and inversely proportional to the square of
charges can flow easily are called conductors.
the distance between them.
Ex. Metals, human bodies, graphite etc. 𝟏 𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
𝑭 = 𝟒𝝅𝜺 𝒓𝟐
𝟎
Insulators. The substances through which electric
charges cannot flow easily are called insulators.

Ex. Glass, diamond, porcelain, plastic, wood etc.

𝟏
Earthling and safety 𝟒𝝅𝜺𝟎
= 𝑲 = 𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝑵𝒎𝟐 𝑪−𝟐

This process in which a body shares its charges with 𝜺𝟎 = 𝟖. 𝟖𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟐 𝑪𝟐 𝑵−𝟏 𝒎−𝟐
the earth is called grounding or earthing.
Units of Charge
Electrostatic Induction
(i) The SI unit of charge is coulomb. In the equation,
Electrostatic induction is the phenomenon of
if q1 = q2= 1 C and r = 1 m, then
temporary electrification of a conductor in which
opposite charges appear at its closer end and similar 𝟏 𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
𝑭 = 𝟒𝝅𝜺 𝒓𝟐
= 𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 N
charges appear at its farther end in the presence of a 𝟎

nearby charged body. So one coulomb is that amount of charge that repels
an equal and similar charge with a force of 9 x 109 N
Basic properties of Charge
when placed in vacuum at a distance of one metre
Conservation of charges from it.
Law of conservation of charge (ii) In electrostatic cgs system, the unit of charge is
known as electrostatic unit of charge (e.s.u. of charge)
1. The total charge of an isolated system remains
or statcoulomb (stat C).
constant.
Permittivity
2. The electric charges can neither be created nor
destroyed, they can only be transferred from one body Permittivity is a property of a medium which
to another. determines the electric force between two charges
situated in that medium
Basic properties of Charge
𝐹⃗21 = 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑞2 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑞1
Note
1 𝑞1 𝑞2
Pair Production: = 4𝜋𝜀 𝑟2
𝑟̂ 21
0

Electric charge is conserved during the phenomenon of 𝜺𝟎 = 𝟖. 𝟖𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟐 𝑪𝟐 𝑵−𝟏 𝒎−𝟐

pair production in which a 𝛾-ray photon materialises
into an electron-positron pair.
𝜸 − 𝒓𝒂𝒚 → 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏 + 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏
Annihilation of matter:
An electron and a positron on coming in contact
destroy each other, producing two 𝜸 -ray photons,
each of energy 0.51 MeV.
𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏 + 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏 → 𝟐 𝜸 − 𝒓𝒂𝒚
Dielectric Constant or Relative Permittivity
The dielectric constant or relative permittivity of a
medium may be defined as the ratio of the force
between two charges placed some distance apart in
free space to the force between the same two charges
when they are placed the same distance apart in the
given medium
𝜺 𝑭
𝜺𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒌 = 𝜺 = 𝑭 𝒗𝒂𝒄
𝟎 𝒎𝒆𝒅

Coulomb’s Law 𝒌(𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒖𝒖𝒎) = 𝟏

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𝒌(𝒂𝒊𝒓) = 𝟏.00054 Hence, the electric field at point P due to the system of
N charges is
𝒌(𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓) = 𝟖𝟎
𝑭𝒗𝒂𝒄 𝐸⃗⃗ = 𝐸⃗⃗1 + 𝐸⃗⃗2 + ⋯ + 𝐸⃗⃗𝑁
𝑭𝒎𝒆𝒅 = 𝒌
1 𝑞1 𝑞2 𝑞𝑁
Comparing Electrostatic and Gravitational Forces = [ 2 𝑟̂1𝑃 + 2 𝑟̂2𝑃 + ⋯ + 2 𝑟̂𝑁𝑃 ]
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟1𝑃 𝑟2𝑃 𝑟𝑁𝑃
Electrostatic force is the force of attraction or 1 𝑞𝑖
Or 𝐸⃗⃗ = 4𝜋𝜀 ∑𝑁
𝑖=1 𝑟 2 𝑟̂𝑖𝑃
repulsion between two charges at rest while the 0 𝑖𝑃

gravitational force is the force of attraction between

two bodies by virtue of their masses.

Superposition Principle

The Superposition Principle states that when a

number of charges are interacting, the total force on a
given charge is the vector sum of the forces exerted on
Electric Dipole
it due to all other charges. The force between two
charges is not affected by the presence of other A pair of equal and opposite charges separated by a
charges. small distance is called an electric dipole.
𝑁
𝑞1 𝑞𝑖
𝐹⃗1 = ∑ 2 𝑟̂1𝑖
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟1𝑖
𝑖=2

Electric field
Dipole Moment
An electric field is set to exist at a point if a force of
A vector whose magnitude is either charge times the
electrical origin is exerted on a stationary charged
separation between the two opposite charges and the
body place at that point.
direction is along the dipole axis from the negative to
the positive charge

𝑝 = 𝑞 × 2𝑎
Dipole field

The electric field produced by an electric dipole is

called dipole field
Electric field

The electric field at a point is defined as the

electrostatic force per unit test charge acting on a
vanishingly small positive test charge placed at that
point. Electric Field at an Axial Point of a Dipole

⃗⃗
𝑭 For point P at distance r from centre of dipole on
⃗⃗ =
𝑬
𝒒𝟎 charge q, for r≫a, total field at Point P is

Electric Field Due To A System Of Point Charges

principle of superposition of electric fields, the electric

field at any point due to a group of charges is equal to
the vector sum of the electric fields produced by each 𝟏 𝟐𝒑
𝑬(𝑨𝒙𝒊𝒂𝒍) = . (𝒊𝒇 𝒂 ≪ 𝒓)
charge individually at that point, when all other 𝟒𝝅𝜺𝒐 𝒓𝟑
charges are assumed to be absent. 𝟏 𝟐𝒑
⃗𝑬⃗(𝑨𝒙𝒊𝒂𝒍) = . ̂ (𝒊𝒇 𝒂 ≪ 𝒓)
𝒑
𝟒𝝅𝜺𝒐 𝒓𝟑

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Torque on a Dipole in a Uniform Electric Field We come across many situations where we need to
know not only the magnitude of a surface area but
As shown in fig Consider an electric dipole consisting
also its direction. The direction of a planar area vector
of charges +𝑞 𝑎𝑛𝑑 − 𝑞 and of length 2a placed in a
is specified by the normal to the plane. In
uniform electric field 𝐸⃗⃗ making an angle 𝜃 with it. It
has a dipole moment of magnitude, Fig. , a planar area element 𝑑𝑆 has been represented
by a normal vector ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑑𝑆. The length of vector ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑑𝑆
𝑝 = 𝑞 × 2𝑎
represents the magnitude 𝑑𝑆 of the area element. If 𝑛̂
𝜏 = 𝑝𝐸 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 is a unit vector along the normal to the planar area,
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ = 𝑑𝑆𝑛̂
then 𝑑𝑆
𝜏⃗ = 𝑝⃗ × 𝐸⃗⃗
𝜏𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑝𝐸 𝑠𝑖𝑛 90° = 𝑝𝐸
dipole moment may be defined as the torque acting
on an electric dipole, placed perpendicular to a
uniform electric field of unit strength.

Electric Flux

The electric flux through a given area held inside an

electric field is the measure of the total number of
electric lines of force passing normally through that
area

∆𝛷𝐸 = 𝐸 ∆𝑆 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃

Dipole Moment

Dipole Moment may be defined as the torque acting

on an electric dipole, placed perpendicular to a Gauss's Theorem
uniform electric field of unit strength. Gauss Theorem states that the total flux through a
Electric lines of force closed surface is 1/𝜀 0 times the net charge enclosed by
the closed surface.
An electric line of force may be defined as the curve
along which a small positive charge would tend to Mathematically, it can be expressed as
move when free to do so in an electric field and the
tangent to which at any point gives the direction of 𝑞
𝛷𝐸 = ∫ 𝐸⃗⃗ ∙ ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑑𝑆 =
the electric field at that point. 𝜀0
𝑆

Proof. For the sake of simplicity, we prove Gauss's

theorem for an isolated positive point charge q. As
shown in Fig. suppose the surface S is a sphere of
radius r centred on q. Then surface S is a Gaussian
surface.

Electric field at any point on S is

Area Vector

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 1 𝑞
𝐸= . 2
4𝜋𝜀0 𝑟

Gaussian Surface

Gaussian surface: Any hypothetical closed surface

enclosing a charge is called the Gaussian surface of
that charge. It is chosen to evaluate the surface
integral of the electric field produced by the charge
enclosed by it, which, in turn, gives the total flux
through the surface.

Importance: By a clever choice of Gaussian surface, we

can easily find the electric fields produced by certain
symmetric charge configurations which are otherwise
quite difficult to evaluate by the direct application of
Coulomb's law and the principle of superposition.

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