 The elementary (e) charge is the magnitude of the charge on an

Unit- 3 Electricity: Electrostatic

ELECTROSTATIC
ELECTROSTATICS: It is the study of a charge at rest (static electricity).
 It deals with the study of fields, forces and electric potentials arising
from charge at rest.
ELECTRIC CHARGE:
 The fundamental property of matter.
 An intrinsic characteristic of the fundamental particles making up
those objects.
 It is a physical properties of a matter that causes it to experience a
force when placed in an electromagnetic field.
 There are two types of charges: positive & negative
 measured in units called coulombs (C)
 Electric charge they carried by sub atomic particles.
electron or proton.
 The amount of charge carried by a body is obtained by:
Q=ne
1C =6.24x1018 elementary charge
• Charged objects exert electrostatic forces on each other. Like
charges repel and unlike charges attract each other.
All matter is made up of a tiny particles called atom.
Atoms, as shown in Figure, are made of even smaller particles called
protons, neutrons, and electrons.
Protons and neutrons are held together tightly in the nucleus at the
center of an atom, but electrons swarm around the nucleus in all
directions.
Protons and electrons have electric charge, but neutrons have no electric
charge.

 Symbolized by Q or q
Charge has 3 further important properties:
• Charge is always conserved. Charge, just like energy, cannot be
created or destroyed.
• Charge comes in discrete packets (quantized). The smallest unit of
charge is that carried by one electron called the elementary charge, e,
 Under normal condition an atom is electrically neutral.
and by convention, it has a negative sign (e = −1.6×10−19C).
 An atom is said to be charged when it gained or lost electrons.

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  An atom is said to be positively charged when it lost electrons.
 An atom is said to be negatively charged when it gained electrons.
CONDUCTOR AND INSULATORS
 We can classify materials generally according to the ability of charge
to move through them.
Conductors are materials through which charge can move rather
freely.
 examples include metals (such as copper in common lamp wire),
the human body.
 Static charges distributes itself on the outer surface of the
conductors.
 Charges distributes uniformly on the outer surface of a sphere.
 On in irregular shape conductors, the charges distribution is
denser at the curved or sharp edge.
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Nonconductors-also called insulators - are materials through which
charge cannot move freely
 examples include rubber (such as the insulation on common lamp
wire), plastic, glass, and chemically pure water.
Semiconductors are materials that are intermediate between
conductors and insulators
 examples include silicon and germanium in computer chips.
Superconductors are materials that are perfectly conductors, allowing
charge to move without any hindrance.
ELECTROSTATIC CHARGING
 A process in which an insulator or an isolated conductor receives a
net charge.
 Producing charge on a neutral body.
 The most common methods of charging are rubbing, conduction and
induction
CHARCHING BY RUBBING (friction)
 It is a process of charging a body by rubbing.
 Rubbing two objects together can cause electrons to be “wiped” from
one object and transferred to the other.
 After the process the objects becomes oppositely charged.
It is useful for charging insulators.
 CHARGING BY CONTACT ii. Detect whether the object is conductor or an insulator
 It occurs when electrons are transferred from one object to another iii. Detect whether it is charged or not
by direct contact.
 A charged body and a neutral body are brought in a physical contact.
 In the process charges flows from the charged body to neutral body.
 After the process the bodies take the same type of charges. (sharing
same charge)
 It is useful for charging metals and other conductors.
CHARGING BY INDUCTION
 The process of charging a body without touching.
 Charges are transferred when charged object and neutral object near
each other without touching.
ELECTRIC FORCE
 After the process they take opposite charges.
COULOMB’S LAW
 It is useful for charging metals and other conductors  If two charged particles are brought near each other, they each exert
 The method of discharging an object is called grounding. a force on the other.
The Electroscope  If the particles have the same sign of charge, they repel each other.

 It is a device that detect the presence of the electric charge.  That is, the force on each particle is directed away from the other
particle, and if the particles can move, they move away from each
 It consists of a metal knob connected by a metal stem to thin,
other.
lightweight pieces of metal foil called leaves.
 If the particles have opposite signs of charge, they attract each
 The leaves are enclosed to eliminate the stray air currents.
other.
 It can be used to:
 if free to move, they move closer to each other.
i. Detect the sign of the charge
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  This force of repulsion or attraction due to the charge properties of
objects is called an electrostatic force.
 The electric force between two charged object depends on the
distance between them and the amount of the charge on each
object.
 The force one charge exerts on another given by Coulomb's law.
Coulomb’s Law
States that “the magnitude of the electrostatic force between
two point charges is directly proportional to the magnitudes of
each charge and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between the charges.”
F=Kq1q2/r2
and the proportionality constant k is called the electrostatic
constant and has the value: k = 9×109N·m2 ·C−2.
The magnitude of the coulomb’s law gives by this formula F=q1q2/r2
The magnitude of the force that charge q1 is exerts on the charge q2 and
charge q2 is exerts on charge q1.
When two charge exerts forces simultaneously on third charge the total
force on that charge is the vector sum of the forces that the two charges
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would exerts individually. This important property, called the principle
of superposition.
ELECTRIC FIELD
 Electric fields exist around any object carrying a charge.
 Electric field is a vector quantity that relates the forces exerts on a
test charge to the size of the test charge.
 Test charge is(q+):is a very small positive charge that do not exert a
force on a nearby charge.
 The electric field strength E at a point in space: is defined as the
electric force F acting on a positive test charge (q0) placed at that
point divided by the magnitude of the test charge (q0).
E=F/q0 or K q/r2
 The direction of the electric field is the direction of the force on the
positive test charge.
 SI unit is newton per coulomb (N/C)
 Electric field lines: are imaginary lines drawn to visualize electric
field in space produced due to a point charge.
Some properties of electric lines of force are ENERGY AND ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
 Electric field lines around a positive point charge are radially
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL ENERGY
outward.
 The work done in moving a test charge from point A to B against
 Electric field lines around a negative point charge are radially
electric field.
inward.
 The electric potential energy of a charge is the energy it has because
 Electric field lines never cross each other.
of its position relative to the other charge that is interact with.
 Electric field lines start from positive charge and goes to negative
 The electrical potential energy of a charge at point B relative to
charge.
point A is therefore, equal to the work against electric forces
 Electric field lines are close together where the electric force is
required to move the charge from A to B.
stronger.
 As the charge is allowed to move from B to A, the electrical
 Electric field is uniform inside a charged parallel plate.
potential energy stored in it is transferred to kinetic energy.
 Electric field due a point charge is not uniform. It varies from
 The electrical potential energy (U) of the system is equal to the
point to point.
work done against the electric field in moving the charge q from
 Electric filed lines are always directed toward a negative charge and
infinity to that point.
away from a positive charge.
 If the two charges +q and +q are separated by a distance r then, the
 When the electric field are not large enough to cause a problem,
potential energy of the system is U= Kq1q2/r
the forces that exert can transfer electrical energy from one object to
i. If both the charges are positive (+ ve), the energy of the system
another.
increase.
ii. If the charges are of the opposite sign the potential energy
decrease.

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POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE
 The difference of potentials of two points in an electric field.
 The work per unit positive charge required to move a test charge
from a point of higher potential to a point of lower potential.
 The potential difference from A to point B is the work required
to carry the unit charge (q) from A to B, and represented by VAB
VAB= KQ/r or V=Ed
 The SI unit is Joule per coulomb (J/C) or volt
 The potential difference for n-charges placed in electric field is
given by
V = V1 + V2 + V3 ……… + Vn
 Note that negative charges contribute negative term potential and
positive charge positive potential.
Electron volt (ev): is the work done in carrying a charge e through a
potential rise of 1 volt.
1ev=1.6x10-19Cx1V
1ev=1.6x10-19J