PHY-108 Module 01: Coulomb’s Law

MODULE 01: COULOMB’S LAW

(Dr. Rubaiyet I. Haque)

LECTURE 01
OUTLINE:
▪ Types of charges ▪ Conductors and Insulators
▪ Origin of charges ▪ Induced charges.
▪ Excess charge ▪ Charging of an object

BACKGROUND
➢ In this course we will learn about electromagnetism.
➢ We are surrounded by devices that depend on the physics of electromagnetism.
➢ Electromagnetism is the root of computers, television, radio, telecommunications, household,
lighting etc.
➢ Electromagnetism is the combination of electric and magnetic phenomena.

NATURE OF ELECTRIC CHARGE

In the ancient time, Greece discovered that if you rub certain objects like amber with cat’s far; it starts
to attract other lighter objects like feathers.
- Charges created by rubbing glass rod with a silk cloth and the charges created by rubbing
the plastic rod with fur have different characteristics.

o Rub the glass rod with a silk cloth.

o Hang the charged glass rod from the thread to make it electrically isolate from its surroundings (so
that the surroundings cannot neutralize the rod).
o Now, if the second glass rod is rubbed with the silk cloth, and bring it near the first glass rod, the
two rods repel each other.

o When we rub the plastic rod with fur and bring it near the hanging glass rod (rubbed with the silk
cloth), the rods attracted each other.
o In the first demonstration, the force on the hanging rod was repulsive, and in the second,
attractive.

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PHY-108 Module 01: Coulomb’s Law

o Around 18th century people actually realized that this force between object is due to electric
charge.
o Electric charge is an intrinsic property of the fundamental particles that make up objects such as
the rods, silk, and fur.
o There are two types of charges: positive charge and negative charge (Named by the American
scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin).

NOW WE KNOW:
Glass rod rubbed with the silk cloth:
o A small amount of negative charge moves from the glass rod to the silk.
o Leaving the rod with a small amount of excess positive charge.
o When the silk is rubbed over the rod to increase the number of contact points and thus the amount
of transferred charge.

Plastic rod rubbed with the fur:

▪ When the plastic rod is rubbed with fur, the rod gains excess negative charge from the fur.

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PHY-108 Module 01: Coulomb’s Law

CONTACT ELECTRIFICATION
Contact electrification describes a phenomenon whereby surfaces become electrically charged when
two or more objects come within close proximity of one another.

NOTE:
▪ Occurs due to friction.
▪ Higher surface area, higher will be the contact electrification.
▪ Nowadays, this principle is used to develop triboelectric energy harvester.

Triboelectric table
- The provides the list of materials along
with their charge affinity.

- From this table we can predict which

materials will become positively charge
and which materials will be negatively
charge, when they will come into contact.

ELECTRON AFFINITY: When an atom gains electron an energy change occurs. This energy
change is known as electron affinity.
- It is defined as the energy change that occurs when an atom gains an electron, releasing
energy in the process. Since electron is negatively charged. When atom gain an electron,
it become negative ion.
𝐸𝐸𝐴 = −∆𝐸
𝐸𝐸𝐴 is electron affinity and ∆𝐸 is the change in energy.

ORIGIN OF CHARGES
The modern picture of atom consists of nucleus surrounded by electrode in a cloud around it.
▪ Atoms consist of protons, electrons, and neutrons.
▪ The protons and neutrons are packed tightly together
in a central nucleus.
▪ Proton and neutron have approximately similar mass.
▪ Mass of electron is 1830 time lighter than the mass of
proton.
▪ Electrons are negatively charged.
▪ Charge of the protons is positively charges.
▪ Neutrons are electrically neutral.

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PHY-108 Module 01: Coulomb’s Law

Unit of charge: In SI system, unit of charge is coulomb (𝐶).

𝑞
We know current, 𝐼 =
𝑡
Therefore, 1 𝐶 = (1 𝐴)(1 𝑠) = 1 𝐴. 𝑠 (Ampere-second)

Mass [kg] Charge [C]

Electron 9.109 × 10−31 −1.602 × 10−19
Proton 1.673 × 10−27 +1.602 × 10−19
Neutron 1.675 × 10−27 0

EXCESS CHARGE
Generally, an electrically neutral atom contains equal numbers of electrons and protons. Distinguish
between being electrically neutral, negatively charged, and positively charged and identify excess
charge.

Neutral Atom Positively charged Atom Negatively charged Atom

▪ Normally all objects are approximately neutral.

However, object can gain negative charge
become negatively charged, or object lose
negative charge and become positively charged.

▪ Either way, the extra charge is said to be an

excess charge.

CONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS

We can classify materials generally according to the ability of charge to move through them.

CONDUCTORS: Conductor are materials having loosely bound electrons. This free electron can move
around and carry the current. We call the mobile electrons conduction electrons. For examples,
include metals (such as copper (Cu)).
When atoms of a conductor like copper come together to form the solid, some of their
outermost (and so most loosely held) electrons become free to wander about within the solid, leaving
behind positively charged atoms (positive ions).

INSULATOR: Insulators are materials with tightly bound electrons inside atoms. Charge cannot move
freely through the insulator. For example, Rubber, Plastic, Glass, and Chemically pure water.

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PHY-108 Module 01: Coulomb’s Law

SEMICONDUCTOR: A semiconductor is a type of material that has electrical conductivity between

that of an insulator and that of a conductor. This means that semiconductors have the ability to conduct
electricity under certain conditions but can also act as an insulator under different circumstances.
▪ Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises.
▪ E.g., Silicon, Germanium.

SUPERCONDUCTOR: Superconductors are perfect conductors, that allows charge to move without any
hindrance. Superconductive materials exhibit a set of physical properties:
▪ Electrical resistance vanishes.
▪ Magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material.
▪ A superconductor has a characteristic critical temperature below which the resistance drops
abruptly to zero.

INDUCED CHARGE
Induce charge refers to the separation of positive and negative charges of conductor due to the
presence of a nearby charge.

▪ If a negatively charged plastic rod bring close to the neutral

copper rod, the plastic rod will attract either end of an isolated
neutral copper rod.
o Negatively charged plastic rod repelled the conduction
electrons of the copper rod from the closer end.
o As a result, the conduction electrons move to the far end of
the copper rod.
o Leaving the near end positively charged.
o This positive charge of the near end of the copper rod is
attracted to the negative charge in the plastic rod.

*** Although the copper rod is still neutral, it is said to have an induced charge.

Similarly, if a positively charged glass rod is brought near one end of a neutral copper rod, induced
charge is again set up in the neutral copper rod but now the near end gains conduction electrons,
becomes negatively charged, and is attracted to the glass rod, while the far end is positively charged.

NOTE: Only conduction electrons, with their negative charges, can move; positive ions are fixed
in place. Thus, an object becomes positively charged only through the removal of negative
charges.

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PHY-108 Module 01: Coulomb’s Law

GROUNDING
Grounding is the removal of a charge by producing a conductive path to the ground. The earth both
accepts and gives electrons to neutralize objects.
• Electrons move from a negatively charged objects to the ground until the object is neutral.
• Electrons move from ground to neutralize positively charged objects.

CHARGING OF AN OBJECT
Objects can lose or gain electric charges. Charging of an object can be perform using either of the
following methods,
o Conduction
o Induction

Charging by Conduction
Charging by conduction happens when electrons move from one object
to another through direct contact (touching).

- Electrons will transfer from a negative object to a neutral object

making it negative.
- Electrons will be attracted by a positive object taking electrons
from a neutral object making it positive.

Properties of charge by conduction:

▪ Charging by friction.
▪ During conduction the same charge is created in
a neutral object.
o Negative creates negative
o Positive creates positive
▪ Objects charged by this method will repel each
other.
▪ Cause permanent charging (with electron
transfer)

Charging by Induction
Charging by induction happens when charges in an uncharged object are rearranged without direct
contact with a charged object.
- Charge can be induced in a neutral object by moving a charged object close to it.
- Induction creates a temporary and opposite charge in that other object with no contact.
- This is considered temporary because no electrons are transferred, and neutrality returns when
the close charged object is removed.
Properties of charging by induction:
▪ No contact between objects requires
▪ Opposite charge is induced
o Positively charged object induces negative charge
o Negatively charged object induces positive charge
▪ The atoms become polarized
▪ Cause temporary charging (no electron transfer)

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PHY-108 Module 01: Coulomb’s Law

For example,
- Electrons of the object are pushed away from
the rod.
- Top of the object becomes positively
charged.
- Bottom of the can become negatively
charged.
- Attraction > Repulsion

Permanent charging by induction:

By combining charging method by induction and then grounding, we can permanently charge
a neutral object.

SHARING CHARGE BETWEEN CONDUCTORS

▪ When two similar conductors come in contact, electrons separate as much as possible.
▪ The net effect is that the two similar conductors will share the original charge.
▪ Object one shares its charge with initially neutral object two after contact. Now charged, object
two continues ahead and equally shares its charge with the next once neutral object.
▪ Each time there are two objects sharing charge, so the previous charge was divided by two.

For example,
- Let us consider, a conducting sphere A is carrying charge of −6 × 10−6 𝐶 charges.
- When it come in contact with second conducting sphere B, charges of sphere A is equally
shared with initially neutral sphere B.
- Thereafter, charged sphere B continues ahead and collides with another conducting sphere C.
Therefore, charges of sphere B is equally shares with the once neutral sphere C.

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PHY-108 Module 01: Coulomb’s Law

QUESTIONS 21-02: Figure shows three pairs of identical spheres that are to be touched together
and then separated. The initial charges on them are indicated. Rank the pairs according to (a) the
magnitude of the charge transferred during touching and (b) the charge left on the positively
charged sphere, greatest first.

ANSWER:
(a) From greatest to lowest electron transfer: (3) > (1) > (2)
(b) 𝑞1 = 𝑞2 = 𝑞3 .

Solution:
(a) When two objects come together, and experience contact the charges between them must
achieve equilibrium.
𝑞1 +𝑞2
To get that we use this formula: 𝑞𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 =
2

And then we subtract the result from the corresponding original positive charge values.
(+6𝑒)+(−4𝑒) +2𝑒
𝑞𝐸1 = = = +1𝑒, Therefore, transferred charge = (+6𝑒) − (+1𝑒) = +5𝑒
2 2
(0)+(+2𝑒) +2𝑒
𝑞𝐸2 = = = +1𝑒, Therefore, transferred charge = (+2𝑒) − (+1𝑒) = +1𝑒
2 2
(−12𝑒)+(+14𝑒) +2𝑒
𝑞𝐸3 = = = +1𝑒, Therefore, transferred charge = (+14𝑒) − (+1𝑒) = +13𝑒
2 2

From greatest to lowest electron transfer: (3) > (1) > (2)

(b) Here,
𝑞1 : The positively charged sphere loses 5 electrons to the negatively charged sphere to reach
equilibrium = (+6𝑒) − (+5𝑒) = +1𝑒
𝑞2 : The positively charged sphere loses 1 electron to the negatively charged sphere to reach
equilibrium = (+2𝑒) − (+1𝑒) = +1𝑒
𝑞3 : The positively charged sphere loses 13 electrons to the negatively charged sphere to reach
equilibrium = (+14𝑒) − (+13𝑒) = +1𝑒
Therefore, 𝑞1 = 𝑞2 = 𝑞3 .