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Electrostatics Lesson

This document discusses electrostatics and the behavior of static electricity. It explains that electrostatics is the study of electromagnetic phenomena that occur when charges are at rest, not moving. Charged objects experience attractive or repulsive forces based on whether their charges are opposite or like. These forces are described by Coulomb's law, which states that the electrical force between two charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Common examples of electrostatic phenomena include static cling and the operation of photocopiers.

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Joseph Opao Jr.
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35 views

Electrostatics Lesson

This document discusses electrostatics and the behavior of static electricity. It explains that electrostatics is the study of electromagnetic phenomena that occur when charges are at rest, not moving. Charged objects experience attractive or repulsive forces based on whether their charges are opposite or like. These forces are described by Coulomb's law, which states that the electrical force between two charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Common examples of electrostatic phenomena include static cling and the operation of photocopiers.

Uploaded by

Joseph Opao Jr.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ELECTROSTATICS

Charges at Rest

Introduction
Despite its great importance in daily life, few
people probably stop to think about what life would
be like without electricity. Like air and water,
people tend to take electricity for granted. However, people use electricity to do many jobs
every day—from lighting, heating, and cooling homes to powering televisions and
computers.

Before electricity became widely available, about 100 years ago, candles, whale oil lamps,
and kerosene lamps provided light; iceboxes kept food cold; and wood-burning or coal-
burning stoves provided heat.

Scientists and inventors have worked to decipher the principles of electricity since the
1600s. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla made notable contributions to
our understanding and use of electricity.

Electricity
∙ It is a phenomenon associated with stationary or moving electric charges.

Electric charge
∙ is a fundamental property of matter and is borne by elementary
particles.

In electricity the particle involved is the electron,


which
carries a charge designated, by convention, as negative.

∙ Thus, the various manifestations of electricity are the result of the


accumulation or motion of numbers of electrons.
Electrically charged objects have several important characteristics:
o Like charges repel one another; that is, positive repels positive and negative repels
negative.
o Unlike charges attract each another; that is, positive attracts negative. o
Charge is conserved. A neutral
object has no net charge. If
the plastic rod and fur are
initially neutral, when the rod
becomes charged by the fur, a
negative charge is transferred
from the fur to the rod. The
net negative charge on the rod
is equal to the net positive
charge on the fur.

Electric field

o Electric field lines are useful


for visualizing the electric field.
o Field lines begin on a positive
charge and terminate on a
negative charge.
o Electric field lines are parallel
to the direction of the electric field, and the density of these field lines is a measure
of the magnitude of the electric field at any given point.
o We show charge with “q” or “Q” and the smallest unit charge is 1.6021 x 10-19
Coulomb (C).
o One electron and a proton have the same amount of charge.
Positively Charged Particles
In this type of particles, the numbers of positive ions are larger than the numbers of
negative ions. This means the numbers of protons are larger than the number of electrons.
To neutralize positively charged particles, electrons from the surroundings come to this
particle until the number of protons and electrons become equal.

Negatively Charged Particles


Similarly numbers of electrons are larger than the number of protons. To neutralize
negatively charged particles, since protons cannot move and cannot come to negatively
charged particles, electrons move to the ground or any other particle around.
Neutral Particles
Include equal numbers of protons and electrons. They have both protons, neutrons and
electrons however, the numbers of positive ions are equal to the numbers of negative ions.

A conductor is a material through which electric charges can easily flow. An insulator is

a material through which electric charges do not move easily, if at all.

An electroscope is a simple device used to indicate the existence of charge. o As shown in


Figure 1, the electroscope consists of a conducting knob and attached lightweight
conducting leaves—commonly made of gold foil or aluminum foil.
o When a charged object touches the knob, the like charges repel and force the leaves
apart.
o The electroscope will indicate the presence of charge but does not directly indicate
whether the charge is positive or negative.

Electrostatics

∙ Electrostatics is the study of


electromagnetic phenomena that
occur when there are no moving
charges—i.e., after a static
equilibrium has been
established.

∙ Charges reach their equilibrium


positions rapidly because the
electric force is extremely strong.

∙ Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric charges exert on each other
and are described by Coulomb’s law. Even though electrostatically induced forces
seem to be rather weak.

Electrostatics Examples.

∙ The attraction of the plastic wrap to your hand after you removes it from a
package.

∙ The attraction of paper to a charged scale.

∙ The apparently spontaneous explosion of grain silos

∙ The damage of electronic components during manufacturing

∙ Photocopier & laser printer operation

The electric energy of a set of charges at rest can be viewed from the standpoint of the
work required to assemble the charges; alternatively, the energy also can be considered to
reside in the electric field produced by this assembly of charges. Finally, energy can be
stored in a capacitor; the energy required to charge such a device is stored in it as
electrostatic energy of the electric field.
Coulomb’s law
∙ Static electricity is a familiar
electric phenomenon in which
charged particles are transferred
from one body to another.
∙ For example, if two objects are
rubbed together, especially if the
objects are insulators and the
surrounding air is dry, the objects
acquire equal and opposite
charges
and an attractive force develops between them.
∙ The object that loses electrons becomes positively charged, and the other
becomes negatively charged.
∙ The force is simply the attraction between charges of opposite sign. ∙ The properties of
this force were described above; they are incorporated in the mathematical relationship
known as Coulomb’s law.
Coulomb’s Law

o states that the electrical force between two charged objects is directly
proportional to the product of the quantity of charge on the objects and
inversely proportional to the square of the separation distance between the
two objects.

o Mathematically;

Where:
q 1 and q 2 are the charges,
r is the distance between the charges
k is the proportionality constant

o SI unit for charge is the coulomb, c


o distance is measured in meters,
o approximate value for k = 9.0 × 10 9 N · m 2/C 2.
o The direction of the electrostatic force depends upon the signs of the charges o Like
charges repel, and unlike charges attract.
REFERENCES:
1. https://www.britannica.com/science/electricity
2. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/
3. https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Electricity 4.
https://byjus.com/physics/electrostatics/
5. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/physics/electricity-and
magnetism/electrostatics

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