Electrostatics

Electric charge Conservation of charge Insulators & conductors Charging objects Static electricity Coulombs law Systems of charges

Electric Charge
Just as most particles have an attribute known as mass, many possess another attribute called charge. Charge and mass are intrinsic properties, defining properties that particles possess by their very nature. Unlike mass, there are two different kinds of charge: positive and negative. Particles with a unlike charges attract, while those with like charges repel. Most everyday objects are comprised of billions of charged, but usually there are about the same number of positive charges as negative, leaving the object as a whole neutral. A charged object is an object that has an excess of one type of charge, e.g., more positive than negative. The amount of excess charge is the charge we assign to that object.

SI unit of Charge: the Coulomb

Just as we have an SI unit for mass, the kilogram, we have one for charge as well. Its called the coulomb, and its symbol is C. Its named after a French physicist, Charles Coulomb, who did research on charges in the mid and late 1700s. A coulomb is a fairly large amount of charge, so sometimes we measure small amounts of charge in C (mircocoloumbs). An electron has a charge of -1.6 10-19 C. A proton has a charge of +1.6 10-19 C. In a wire, if one coulomb of charge flows past a point in one second, we say the current in the wire is one ampere.

Elementary Charge
Charges come in small, discrete bundles. Another way to say this is that charge is quantized. This means an object can possess charge in incremental, rather than continuous, amounts. Imagine the graph of a linear function buy when you zoom in very close you see that it really is a step function with very small steps. The smallest amount of charge that can be added or removed from an object is the elementary charge, e = 1.6 10-19 C. The charge of a proton is +e, an electron -e. The charge of an object, Q, is always a multiple of this elementary charge: Q = N e, where N is an integer. How many excess protons are required for an object to have 1 C of charge?

Insulators vs. Conductors

A conductor is a material in which excess charge freely flows. Metals are typically excellent conductors because the valence (outer shell) electrons in metal atoms are not confined to any one atom. Rather, they roam freely about a metal object. Metal are excellent conductors of electricity (and heat) for this reason. An insulator is a material in which excess charge, for the most part, resides where it is deposited. That is, once placed, it does not move. Most nonmetallic material are good insulators. Valence electrons are much more tightly bound to the atoms and are not free to roam about. Insulators are useful for studying electrostatics (the study of charge that can be localized and contained). Semi-conductors, like silicon used in computer chips, have electrical conductivity between that of conductors and insulators.

Charging up Objects
Charging up an object does not mean creating new charges. Charging implies either adding electrons to an object, removing electrons from an object, or separating out positive and negative charges within an object. This can be accomplish in 3 different ways: Friction: Rubbing two materials together can rub electrons off of one and onto the other. Conduction: Touching an object to a charged object could lead to a flow of charge between them. Induction: If a charged object is brought near (but not touching) a second object, the charged object could attract or repel electrons (depending on its charge) in the second object. This yields a separation charge in the second object, an induced charge separation.

Redistributing Charge on Conducting Spheres

Two neutral spheres, A & B, are placed side by side, touching. A negatively charged rod is brought near A, which induces a charge separation in the A-B system. Some of the valence e-s in A migrate to B. When the rod is removed and A & B are separated, A is +, B is -, but the system is still neutral.

--A B

+Q
A

-Q
B

A is now brought near neutral sphere C, inducing a charge separation on it. Valence e-s in C migrate toward A, but since C is being touched on the positive side, e-s from the hand will move into C. Interestingly, C retains a net negative charge after A and the hand are removed even though no charged object ever made contact with it.

+Q
A C

Static Electricity: Shocks

If you walk around on carpeting in your stocking feet, especially in the winter when the air is dry, and then touch something metal, you may feel a shock. As you walk you can become negatively charged by friction. When you make contact with a metal door knob, you discharge rapidly into the metal and feel a shock at the point of contact. A similar effect occurs in the winter when you exit a car: if you slide out of your seat and touch then touch the car door, you might feel a shock. The reason the effect most often occurs in winter is because the air is typically drier then. Humidity in the air can rather quickly rob excess charges from a charged body, thereby neutralizing it before a rapid, localized discharge (and resulting shock) can take place. Care must be taken to prevent static discharges where sensitive electronics are in use or where volatile substances are stored.

Coulombs Law
There is an inverse square formula, called Coulombs law, for finding the force on one point charge due to another:

K q1 q2 F= r2

K = 9 109 N m2 / C2

This formula is just like Newtons law of uniform gravitation with charges replacing masses and K replacing G. It states that the electric force on each of the point charges is directly proportional to each charge and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The easiest way to use the formula to ignore signs when entering charges, since we already know that like charges repel and opposites attract. K is the constant of proportionality. Its units serve to reduce all units on the right to nothing but newtons. Forces are equal but opposite.

+ q1

Charges in Motion

q2 Coulomb's Law Detailed Example

Electric Force vs. Gravitational Force FE = K q1 q2 r2 K = 9 109 N m2 / C2

G m1 m2 FG = r2

G = 6.67 10-11 N m2 / kg2

Gravity is the dominant force when it comes to shaping galaxies and the like, but notice that K is about 20 orders of magnitude greater than G. Technically, they cant be directly compared, since they have different units. The point is, though, that a whole lot of mass is required to produce a significant force, but a relatively small amount of charge can overcome this, explaining how the electric force on a balloon can easily match the balloons weight. When dealing with high-charge, low-mass objects, such as protons & electrons, the force of gravity is negligible.

Electric Force Example

A proton and an electron are separated by 15 m. They are released from rest. Our goal is to find the acceleration each undergoes at the instant of release.

1. Find the electric force on each particle.

1.024 10-18 N

2. Find the gravitational force on each particle. A protons mass is 1.67 10-27 kg, and an electrons mass is 9.11 10-31 kg. 4.51 10-58 N 3. Find the net force on each and round appropriately. Note that the gravitational force is inconsequential here. 1.024 10-18 N 4. Find the acceleration on each particle. e-: 1.124 1012 m/s2, p+: 6.13 108 m/s2 5. Why couldnt we use kinematics to find the time it would take the particles to collide? r changes, so F changes, so a changes. +

15 m

Equilibrium with Several Charges

Several equal point charges are to be arranged in a plane so that another point charge with non-negligible mass can be suspended above the plane. How might this be done? Arrange the charges in a circle, spaced evenly, and fix them in place. Place another charge of the same sign above the center of the circle. If placed at the right distance above the plane, the charge could hover. This arrangement works because of symmetry. The electric force vectors on the hovering charge are shown. Each vector is the same magnitude and they lie in a cone. Each vector has a vertical component and a component in the plane. The planar components cancel out, but the vertical components add to negate the weight vector. Continued

Equilibrium with Several Charges

(cont.)

Note that the charges in the plane are fixed. That is, they are attached somehow in the plane. They could, for example, be attached to an insulating ring, which is then set on a table. Regardless, how could the arrangement of charges in the plane be modified so as to maintain equilibrium of the hovering charge but allow it to hover at a different height? If the charges in the plane are arranged in a circle with a large radius, the electric force vectors would be more horizontal, thereby working together less and canceling each other more. The hovering charge would lower. Since its weight doesnt change, it must be closer to the plane in order to increase the forces to compensate for their partial cancellation. If the charges in the plane were arranged in a small circle, the vectors would be more vertical, thereby working together more and canceling each other less. The hovering charge would rise and the vectors would decrease in magnitude. To maximize the height of the hovering charge, all the charges in the plane should be brought to a single point. Continued