Electrostatics

PHY023
Ramon P. Velasco,REE

silk

Law of Conservation of Charge

Net charge before = Net charge after

glass rod

Qi Q f

silk

- - -

+
+
+
+
glass rod

(21-8)

Electrostatics

Electron at rest
1. Law of Charges
2. Universal law of Gravitation
3. Coulombs Law

Law of Charges
Like charges repel each other
Unlike charges attaract each other

Universal Law of Gravitation

18.5 Coulombs Law

COULOMBS LAW
The magnitude of the electrostatic force exerted by one point charge
on another point charge is directly proportional to the magnitude of the
charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between
them.
8.85 10 12 C 2 N m 2
1 2
9
2
2
k

1
4

8
.
99

10
N

m
C
o
2

F k

q q
r

Where;
F is the electrostatic force (N)
Q1 and q2 are charge 1 and charge 2 in Absolute value
R is the distance of separation
K is a contantt

Coulomb - A Man, A Unit, A Law

Charles Coulomb, 1736-1806
Coulomb invented a delicate torsion balance with
which he was able to measure the forces between
charged and magnetic objects with sufficient
accuracy to verify a previous conjecture that the
mathematical formula for electromagnetic force
should resemble the formula for gravity.

The unit of charge is named after Coulomb, abbreviated C.

1.0 C = 6.24150975 10+18 e
1.0 e = 1.60217646 1019 C
One Coulomb is a lot of protons!

Direction: Convention

Illustrative Example
1. Find the force of two electrons
separated by a distance of 20 nm. (a)
gravitational
force
between
two
electrons(b) electric force between two
electrons (c) Fe/Fg. What is the possible
conclusion.
Given me= 9.11 x 10-31 Kg

qe= 1.6019 x 10-31 C

Illustrative Example 2
2. Two positively charged particle fixed in placed on an xaxis as shown
In the figure. The charges are q1= 1.6 X 10-19 C and
q2=3.20 x 10-19 C,
And the particle separation is R=0.02 m.
a. What are the magnitude and direction of electrostatic
force exerted by q1 to q2. Neglect the gravitational force.
b. What are the magnitude and direction of electrostatic
force exerted by q2 to q1?Neglect the gravitational force

Multiple Charges
Coulomb's law and the Principle of Superposition
The net electric force exerted by a group of
charges is equal to the vector sum of the contribution
from each charge.

4. Consider the three point charges located at the

corners of a right triangle as shown in the figure.
Where q1=q3= -2 C is .1 m. Find the resultant force
exerted to q3.

applications of electrostatics
Xerox copiers use
electrostatic attraction to
put the ink droplets on the
paper
electrostatic precipitators
use the attraction of
charged dust to remove
dust particles from smoke.
can be used to hold
balloons on your head

SEAT WORK # 1

#9p.575
In figure, the particles have charges q1= -q2 = 100nC and q3 = -q4 = 200nC
,and a distance a = 5.0cm. What are the (a) x and (b) y components of the
net electrostatic force on particle 3? What is the total force and its direction at
Particle 4.

The figure shows two particles fixed in place : a particle of

charge q1=+8q at the origin and a particle of charge q2= -2q at x= L. At what
point(other than infinitely far away) can a proton be placed so that it is
in equilibrium(the net force is zero)?