Medical physics

Dr. Rana M. Arslan PT

DPT (UHS, Lahore)
 Static Electricity
• The study of charges at rest is called electrostatic
or static electricity
• A stationary electric charge, typically produced by
friction, that causes sparks or crackling or the
attraction of dust or hair.
• Static electricity forms especially when two
objects are not good electric conductors are
rubbed together, so that electron from one of
the object rub off onto the other. This happen,
for example, when combing one’s hair or
taking off sweater
 Production of electric charge
• Charge by friction:
• The simplest way of producing a static electric
charge is by friction b/w dissimilar materials. If
glass rood is rubbed with a piece of flannel it
will subsequently attract small pieces of paper.
• Conductors are the materials which readily
permit the movement of the electrons.
• Same charges repel each other
• Positive =Positive  repel
• Opposite charges attract each other
• Positive =Negative  attract
• In the list given below, different materials have been arranged in a
such way that if any one of the two materials rub together, the
material occurring first have positive charge and next would have
negative charge
• Asbestos
• Glass
• Rubber
• plastic
• Cat’s skin
• Lead
• Wood
• copper
Other methods of producing electricity

• Law of conservation of energy

• Electricity can be produced by
• In cells--- by chemical reaction
• In dynamo --- by electromagnetic induction
• In thermocouple --- from heat
• In photo electric cell – from radiant energy
 Conduction
• The process by which heat or electricity is
directly transmitted through a substance when
there is a difference of temperature or of
electrical potential between adjoining regions,
without movement of the material.
• The process by which sound waves travel
through a medium.
• The transmission of impulses along nerves.
 The Gold leaf Electroscope
• It is a instrument which detect and measure
the static electricity and voltage
• A metal disc is connected to a narrow metal
plate and a thin piece f gold leaf is fixed to the
plate
• A glass front prevents air draught but allow
you to watch the behavior of the leaf
Charged by two ways
 Electrostatic fields
• Area around a charged body in which the
forces resulting from charge are apparent
• Any object with charge, or collection of
objects with charge, is a electric field.
• Coulomb’s Law
 Coulomb’s Law
• The force of attraction or repulsion b/w two
point charges is directly proportional to the
product of the magnitude of charges and
inversely proportional to square root of the
distance b/w them.
 Electric Field Intensity
• The strength of an electric field at any point in
space is known as electric field intensity
• Electric field lines
• The direction of electric field intensity in a
electric field can b represented by drawing
lines. These lines are known as electric line of
force.
• Introduced by Michael Faraday
 Electric Potential
• The properties exhibited by a charged body
result from the stored up, or potential, energy
of its electric charge, and its electric condition
is referred to its electric potential.
• Excess electron negative potential
• Deficiency of electron  positive potential
• Unit  Volt
 Factors Determining Potential
• Quantity of electricity with which the object is
charged
• Two objects are charged with electricity
• One with greater greater potential to repel
same charges
• One with lesser less potential to repel
 The capacity of the object
• The Materials
• some materials hold more electricity e.g.
Conductors
• The surface area
• Large surface area  more capacity less
potential
• Small surface area  less capacity more
potential
 Capacitors
• It is a device which is used to store the electric
charge
• A capacitor  is a passive two-terminal
electrical component used to store electrical
energy in an electric field.
• Capacitance
• The ability of a capacitor to store electric
charge
• It consists of two thin metal plates, parallel to
each other
• Separated by a very small distance
• Medium b/w two plates is a insulator
• Known as dielectric
• The unit of capacitance is Farads (F)
• Where C is the constant unit of proportionality,
called the capacitance of the capacitor is define
as the ability to store the charge
• C= Q/V
• SI unit  farad
• If one coulomb of charge given to the plates of
capacitor produces a potential diff of one volt
b/w the plates of capacitor then its capacitance
would be one farad
Uses
 Types of capacitor
• Dielectric capacitor (variable & trimmers)
• Film capacitor
• Ceramic capacitor
• Electrolytic capacitor
• Aluminum electrolytic capacitor
• Tantalum electrolytic capacitor
 Dielectric capacitor (variable & trimmers)

• For variable type a continuous variation of capacitance is

required for tuning transmitters, receivers and transistor radios.
• Variable dielectric capacitors are multi-plate air-spaced types
that have a set of fixed plates (the stator vanes) and a set of
moveable plates (the rotator vanes) which move in between
the fixed plates.
• The capacitance is generally at maximum when the two sets of
plates are fully meshed together.
• High voltage type tuning capacitors have relatively large spacing
or air-gaps between the plates with breakdown voltages
reaching many thousands of volts.
• Continuously variable types, preset type
variable capacitors are also available called
Trimmers.
• These are generally small devices that can be
adjusted or “pre-set” to a particular capacitance
value with the aid of a small screwdriver
• Available in very small capacitance’s of 500pF or
less and are non-polarized.
 Film capacitors
• Film Capacitors are the most commonly available
• Consisting of a relatively large family of capacitors
• These include polyester (Mylar), polystyrene,
polypropylene, polycarbonate, metalized paper,
Teflon etc.
• Capacitance ranges from as small as 5pF to as
large as 100uF depending upon the actual type of
capacitor and its voltage rating.
• Film capacitors also come in an assortment of shapes and
case styles which include:
• Wrap & Fill (Oval & Round) where the capacitor is
wrapped in a tight plastic tape and have the ends filled
with epoxy to seal them.
• Epoxy Case (Rectangular & Round) where the capacitor is
encased in a molded plastic shell which is then filled with
epoxy.
•  Metal Hermetically Sealed (Rectangular & Round) where
the capacitor is encased in a metal tube or can and again
sealed with epoxy.
 Ceramic Capacitors or Disc Capacitors 

• Made by coating two sides of a small porcelain

or ceramic disc with silver and are then stacked
together to make a capacitor.
• For very low capacitance values a single ceramic
disc of about 3-6mm is used.
• Ceramic capacitors have a high dielectric
constant (High-K)
• High capacitance’s can be obtained in a small
physical size.
• Ceramic capacitors have values ranging from a few Pico
farads (pF). to one or two microfarads, ( μF ) but their
voltage ratings are generally quite low.
• Ceramic capacitors have a 3-digit code printed onto their
body to identify their capacitance value in pico-farads.
• First two digits indicate the capacitors value and the third
digit indicates the number of zero’s to be added. For
example, a ceramic capacitor with the
markings 103 would indicate 10 and 3 zero’s in Pico
farads which is equivalent to 10,000 pF.
 Electrolytic Capacitors
•  Used when very large capacitance values are
required.
• The dielectric is a very thin layer of oxide which is
grown electro-chemically in production with the
thickness of the film being less than ten microns.
• This insulating layer is so thin that it is possible to
make capacitors with a large value of capacitance
for a small physical size as the distance between
the plates is very small.
• The majority of electrolytic types of capacitors
are Polarized, that is the DC voltage applied to the
capacitor terminals must be of the correct polarity.
• Damage may result if same polarity terminals are
connected
• All polarized electrolytic capacitors have their
polarity clearly marked with a negative sign to
indicate the negative terminal and positive sign
indicate positive terminal
 Electrolytic’s generally come in two basic forms 
Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors 
Tantalum Electrolytic Capacitors.
 Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor
• Two types  
• The plain foil type
• The etched foil type
• The thickness of the aluminum oxide film and high
breakdown voltage give these capacitors very high
capacitance values for their size.
• The foil plates of the capacitor are anodized with a DC
current.
• This anodizing process sets up the polarity of the plate
material and determines which side of the plate is positive
and which side is negative.
• The etched foil type, the aluminum oxide on the
anode and cathode foils has been chemically etched
to increase its surface area and permittivity.
• The values of capacitance for an aluminum
electrolytic capacitor range from 1uF up to 47,000uF.
• Etched foil electrolytic’s are best used in coupling,
DC blocking and by-pass circuits while plain foil types
are better suited as smoothing capacitors in power
supplies.
 Tantalum Electrolytic Capacitors
• Available in both wet (foil) and dry (solid) electrolytic
types with the dry or solid tantalum being the most
common.
• Solid tantalum capacitors use manganese dioxide as their
second terminal and are physically smaller than the
equivalent aluminium capacitors.
• The dielectric properties of tantalum oxide is also much
better than those of aluminium oxide giving a lower
leakage currents and better capacitance stability which
makes them suitable for use in blocking, by-passing,
decoupling, filtering and timing applications.
 Draw backs of electrolytic capacitors
• Electrolytic’s are widely used capacitors due to their low
cost and small size but there are three easy ways to
destroy an electrolytic capacitor
• Over-voltage  Excessive voltage will cause current to leak
through the dielectric resulting in a short circuit condition.
• Reversed Polarity Reverse voltage will cause self-
destruction of the oxide layer and failure.
• Over Temperature Excessive heat dries out the electrolytic
and shortens the life of an electrolytic capacitor.
•  
Series combination of capacitors
Parallel combination of capacitors