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21A – Charge and Polarization

Reading: Lecture Notes 1. Young and Freedman Section 21.02.
Recommended Viewing: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/electric-charge-electric-force-
and-voltage (Click on “Conductors and Insulators”)

Basic facts:
 All materials have a nearly equal balance between positive (proton) and negative (electron)
charge. Protons and electrons have equal and opposite charge. The electron has a charge of
-1.6x10-19 Coulombs. A typical solid has about 1028 electrons and protons per cubic meter.
 Charge can move rapidly (< microseconds) over large distances (meters) in a conductor. Charge
cannot move rapidly over large distances in insulators. Typical motion in insulators is just over
atomic scale distances.
 Coulomb’s Law applies. ( F=kqQ /r 2)
 When you “ground” an object you are connecting it to a pipe in the ground via a conducting
wire. Charge can flow to and from “ground”.
 When two dissimilar materials are rubbed against one another, charge is exchanged and usually
one material becomes positive and the other becomes negative.
(When a glass rod is rubbed with silk, the rod becomes positive.)

Thinking and calculating:

1. If two excess electrons are placed on a long straight copper wire, where are they most likely to be
found?
(Anywhere? On one end? On opposite ends?) Explain your answer.
Because the electrons are of the same charge, they will be repelling each other pushing to opposite
ends.

Ans._____ On opposite ends _____

2. If 106 electrons are placed on a long straight copper wire, how
will they be distributed?
(Anywhere? On one end? On opposite ends? Evenly throughout the volume? Over the outside
surface?) Explain your answer.

Due to multiple electrons there will be constant repulsion of the electrons throughout the copper wire
causing these electrons to be bouncing all over the place and not be at any one spot for too long. Also
since the copper wire is a conductor the electric field inside the conductor is zero which in turn means the
added electrons will try to move as far as possible from each other and be able to move pretty easily
towards the outside of the conductor.
Ans.______ Over the outside surface_

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3. The conducting rod to the right has no net charge. A

negatively charged object is brought near the right end
of the rod. What happens to electrons in the conducting
rod?

The electrons in the conducting rod will be pushed away towards the edges of the rod as they
will be repelled because of the negatively charged object.

4. Would the charged object exert a force on the neutral rod? Ans. (Yes/No): __YES___

If yes, in what direction is the force on the rod? (Attract or Repel?) Ans. (Attract/Repel) __Attract____

Explain.

The force would be an attraction simply because while the negatively charged object repels the
electrons within the rod it will, simultaneously, attract the positively charged atoms within the rod
causing an attraction to the negatively charged object.

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Doing Science – Simulation:

An electroscope has thin conducting foil leaves hung from a conducting rod. If the leaves are similarly
charged they repel one another, indicating the presence of net charge on the leaves.

You will explore the behavior of an electroscope using the simulation:

https://javalab.org/en/electroscope_en/

The conceptual focus is on how charge moves on a conductor when charge is brought near it.
In this simulation the hand acts as a grounded conductor. Charge can flow from the hand to and from
ground. The rod can be charged with positive or negative charge.

5. Perform the operations in the table below in the sequence instructed and record i) the number of
positive and negative charges and the net charge on the knob of the electroscope; ii) the number of
positive and negative charges and the net charge on the leaves of the electroscope; iii) the net charge on
the whole electroscope; iv) whether the leaves are separated or together.

Initial situation: Start with the rod positively charged and far from the electroscope. Touch the hand to the
electroscope. Move the hand back away from the electroscope.

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Situation Observations
i) Charges and net charge on knob
ii) Charges and net charge on leaves
iii) Net charge on whole electroscope.
iv) Position of leaves.
Example: (not correct) i) 100 positive, 100 negative; net charge=0
Initial condition with rod and hand far ii) 200 positive, 200 negative; net charge=0
from knob. iii) net charge=0
iv) leaves together
a) Rod positive; Rod near; Hand far i) 6 positive, 10 negative; net charge=4 Negative
away ii) 6 positive, 2 negative; net charge=4 Positive
iii) net charge=0
iv) Leaves Apart
b) Rod positive; Rod far; Hand i) 6 positive, 6 negative; net charge=0
touching. ii) 6 positive, 6 negative; net charge=0
iii) net charge=0
iv) leaves together
c) Rod near; Hand touching i) 6 positive, 13 negative; net charge=7 negative
ii) 6 positive, 6 negative; net charge= 0
iii) net charge= 7 negative
iv) leaves together
d) Rod near; Hand moved away. i) 6 positive, 13 negative; net charge=7 negative
ii) 6 positive, 6 negative; net charge= 0
iii) net charge= 7 negative
iv) leaves together
e) Rod far; Hand moved away. i) 6 positive, 9 negative; net charge=3 negative
ii) 6 positive, 10 negative; net charge= 4 negative
iii) net charge= 7 negative
iv) leaves Apart

f) Rod far; Hand touching i) 6 positive, 6 negative; net charge=0

ii) 6 positive, 6 negative; net charge=0
iii) net charge=0
iv) leaves together
g) Rod far; Hand moved away. i) 6 positive, 6 negative; net charge=0
ii) 6 positive, 6 negative; net charge=0
iii) net charge=0
iv) leaves together
h) Rod near; Hand far. i) 6 positive, 10 negative; net charge=4 Negative
ii) 6 positive, 2 negative; net charge=4 Positive
iii) net charge=0
iv) Leaves Apart

i) Explain your observations for situation “h” in the table above using the concepts of charge carriers
in conductors, the sequence of situations, and Coulomb’s Law as discussed in Chapter 21.02 of your
textbook.

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Regarding situation h, the net charge is zero, but the electroscope is polarized. Electrons are
attracted to the rod because of its positive charge so electrons are brought to up from the leaves
overpopulating the knob. This in turn leaves a net positive charge on the leaves causing a repulsion
between them.

21B – Quantitative Practice Applying Coulomb’s Law

Reference and Reading: Young and Freedman Chapter Section 21.03

Coulomb’s Law describes the force between charged particles. In symbolic form the force exerted on
particle 0 by particle 1 is given by
q 0 q1 ŕ 10
F́ 1on 0=k Equation 21a.
r 210 |ŕ 10|
where ŕ 10 is the vector pointing from particle 1 to particle 0, q0 and q1 are the charge values for the two
charges (including sign), and k is a constant.

1. Complete the sketch below of the physical situation represented by equation 21a when both charges
are positive. Draw a Free Body Diagram for particle 0 (which we will designate as the left hand
particle). Add and label the vector r⃗ 10 to your sketch.

F́ 1on 0
0 ŕ 10 1

2. What is the relationship between k and the electric permittivity in the front of your textbook? What is
the numerical value of k and its units in the SI system?

1 9 m2
K= ≅ 9.0∗10 N 2
4 πϵ c

3. How does equation 21a change if you want to find the force exerted on particle 1 by particle 0?
(Rewrite it and explain the change.)

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q 0 q1 ŕ 01
F́ 0 on1=k
r 201 |ŕ 01|

4. In the figure to the right, particle 1 has a negative charge q1 =

-9.00 nC and lies at the position P(0, 10.00, 0) with units in
q
meters. Particle 0 has charge magnitude 0 = 4.00 nC, but the
sign is unknown. The direction of the force on particle 1 is to
the left.

a) What is the sign of charge q0? Explain.

Positive because if the force on particle 1 is to the left then the
particles are attracting which means they have opposite signs.

b) Rewrite equation 21a, putting numbers in the place of variables and including sign and vector
direction for the force on particle 0*.
9.0∗109∗( 4∗10−9 )(−9∗10−9 ) [ ( 0,0 )− ( 0,10 ) ]
F́ 1on 0=
10 2 10

c) What is the magnitude of the force on charge 0? F=_____ 3.24∗10−9 N ____

5. Consider the same case, but with the addition of particle 2 at some
point P(0, y’, 0) between particles 0 and 1. Particle 0 experiences an
attraction from particle 1 and a repulsion to particle 2. Particle 2 has
q
charge 2 = 5.00 nC.
a) What is the sign of charge q2?
POSITIVE, Because particle 0 experiences repulsion to particle 2

b) For what value of y’ does particle 0 experience a net force of

zero?
F́ net= F́ 10+ F́20=0

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(9∗109 )(4∗10−9 )( 5∗10−9)

−9
F́ net=0=3.24∗10 −
y 210
__y=7.45m_____
c) For this position, find the x and y components of the total force on particle 2.

No X component
( 9∗10 9)(4∗10−9 )(5∗10−9 ) ( 9∗10 9)(9∗10−9)(5∗10−9 )
F́ net= +
7.45210 2
2.5910

_____ F́ net=63.71∗10−9 ^y N ___________ No X Component____

Consider the case when the charged particle 2 from question 5 is now
located at point P(0, 0, 1.80) on the z-axis.
particle 2
a) Draw two vectors representing the forces on particle 2 due to
each of the two charges 0 and 1.

b) What is the magnitude of F0on2?

9.0∗109∗( 4∗10−9 )(5∗10−9 ) [ ( 0,0 ,1.8 )−( 0 , 0,0 ) ]

F́ 0 on2=
1.8 2 1 .8

F=5.5∗108
c) What is the magnitude of F1on2?
9.0∗109∗(−9∗10−9 ) ( 5∗10−9 )
F́ 1on 2= 2
=−3.923∗10−9 N
1.8
^
ŕ 1 2=( 10−0 ) i+(0−1.8) ^j

^ F́ 12 x ^j=−3.86∗10−9 i+
F́ 12= F́ 12 x i+ ^ 6.59∗10−10 ^j

What angle  does F́ 1on 2 make with the +y-axis?

10
θ=cos−1
10.16

 =__10.2___________