OpenStax University Physics Volume II

Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism

Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields
Ed theUniversity Physics Volume II
Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields
Conceptual Questions
1. There are very large numbers of charged particles in most objects. Why, then, don’t most
objects exhibit static electricity?
Solution
There are mostly equal numbers of positive and negative charges present, making the object
electrically neutral.
3. A positively charged rod attracts a small piece of cork. (a) Can we conclude that the cork is
negatively charged? (b) The rod repels another small piece of cork. Can we conclude that this
piece is positively charged?
Solution
a. no; b. yes
5. How would you determine whether the charge on a particular rod is positive or negative?
Solution
Take an object with a known charge, either positive or negative, and bring it close to the rod. If
the known charged object is positive and it is repelled from the rod, the rod is charged positive. If
the positively charged object is attracted to the rod, the rod is negatively charged.
7. When a glass rod is rubbed with silk, it becomes positive and the silk becomes negative—yet
both attract dust. Does the dust have a third type of charge that is attracted to both positive and
negative? Explain.
Solution
No, the dust is attracted to both because the dust particle molecules become polarized in the
direction of the silk.
9. Does the uncharged conductor shown below experience a net electric force?

Solution
Yes, polarization charge is induced on the conductor so that the positive charge is nearest the
charged rod, causing an attractive force.
11. Compare charging by conduction to charging by induction.
Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields
Charging by conduction is charging by contact where charge is transferred to the object.
Charging by induction first involves producing a polarization charge in the object and then
connecting a wire to ground to allow some of the charge to leave the object, leaving the object
charged.
13. Trucks that carry gasoline often have chains dangling from their undercarriages and brushing
the ground. Why?
Solution
This is so that any excess charge is transferred to the ground, keeping the gasoline receptacles
neutral. If there is excess charge on the gasoline receptacle, a spark could ignite it.
15. Why do some clothes cling together after being removed from the clothes dryer? Does this
happen if they’re still damp?
Solution
The dryer charges the clothes. If they are damp, the presence of water molecules suppresses the
charge.
17. Suppose someone tells you that rubbing quartz with cotton cloth produces a third kind of
charge on the quartz. Describe what you might do to test this claim.
Solution
There are only two types of charge, attractive and repulsive. If you bring a charged object near
the quartz, only one of these two effects will happen, proving there is not a third kind of charge.
19. Suppose you place a charge q near a large metal plate. (a) If q is attracted to the plate, is the
plate necessarily charged? (b) If q is repelled by the plate, is the plate necessarily charged?
Solution
a. No, since a polarization charge is induced. b. Yes, since the polarization charge would produce
only an attractive force.
21. An atomic nucleus contains positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. Since nuclei
do stay together, what must we conclude about the forces between these nuclear particles?
Solution
The force holding the nucleus together must be greater than the electrostatic repulsive force on
the protons.
23. When measuring an electric field, could we use a negative rather than a positive test charge?
Solution
Either sign of the test charge could be used, but the convention is to use a positive test charge.
25. If the electric field at a point on the line between two charges is zero, what do you know
about the charges?
Solution
The charges are of the same sign.
27. Give a plausible argument as to why the electric field outside an infinite charged sheet is
constant.
Solution
At infinity, we would expect the field to go to zero, but because the sheet is infinite in extent, this
is not the case. Everywhere you are, you see an infinite plane in all directions.
29. Describe the electric fields of an infinite charged plate and of two infinite, charged parallel
plates in terms of the electric field of an infinite sheet of charge.
Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

The infinite charged plate would have everywhere. The field would point toward the
plate if it were negatively charged and point away from the plate if it were positively charged.
The electric field of the parallel plates would be zero between them if they had the same charge,

and E would be everywhere else. If the charges were opposite, the situation is reversed,

zero outside the plates and between them.

31. If a point charge is released from rest in a uniform electric field, will it follow a field line?
Will it do so if the electric field is not uniform?
Solution
yes; no
33. How would you experimentally distinguish an electric field from a gravitational field?
Solution
At the surface of Earth, the gravitational field is always directed in toward Earth’s center. An
electric field could move a charged particle in a different direction than toward the center of
Earth. This would indicate an electric field is present.
35. What is the ratio of the number of electric field lines leaving a charge 10q and a charge q?
Solution
10

Problems
37. Common static electricity involves charges ranging from nanocoulombs to microcoulombs.
(a) How many electrons are needed to form a charge of –2.00 nC?
(b) How many electrons must be removed from a neutral object to leave a net charge of
?
Solution

a. ;

b.
39. To start a car engine, the car battery moves 3.75  1021 electrons through the starter motor.
How many coulombs of charge were moved?
Solution

41. A 2.5-g copper penny is given a charge of . (a) How many excess electrons are
on the penny? (b) By what percent do the excess electrons change the mass of the penny?
Solution

a. ;

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

b. ,

43. Suppose a speck of dust in an electrostatic precipitator has protons in it and has
a net charge of –5.00 nC (a very large charge for a small speck). How many electrons does it
have?
Solution

45. A 50.0-g ball of copper has a net charge of . What fraction of the copper’s electrons
has been removed? (Each copper atom has 29 protons, and copper has an atomic mass of 63.5.)
Solution

atomic mass of copper atom times ;

number of copper atoms ;

number of electrons equals 29 times number of atoms or ;

47. How many coulombs of positive charge are there in 4.00 kg of plutonium, given its atomic
mass is 244 and that each plutonium atom has 94 protons?
Solution

49. Two charges and are fixed 1 m apart, with the second one to the right. Find
the magnitude and direction of the net force on a −2-nC charge when placed at the following
locations:
(a) halfway between the two
(b) half a meter to the left of the charge
(c) half a meter above the charge in a direction perpendicular to the line joining the two
fixed charges
Solution

a. charge 1 is ; charge 2 is , to
the left,

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

to the right,

to the right;

b. to the right,

to the right,

to the right,

c. ,

51. Protons in an atomic nucleus are typically 10–15 m apart. What is the electric force of
repulsion between nuclear protons?
Solution

53. Point charges and are placed 1.0 m apart. What is the force on a

third charge placed midway between and ?

Solution

55. Two small balls, each of mass 5.0 g, are attached to silk threads 50 cm long, which are in
turn tied to the same point on the ceiling, as shown below. When the balls are given the same

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields
charge Q, the threads hang at to the vertical, as shown below. What is the magnitude of Q?
What are the signs of the two charges?

Solution

The tension is .

The horizontal component of the tension is ,

.
The charges can be positive or negative, but both have to be the same sign.
57. The net excess charge on two small spheres (small enough to be treated as point charges) is
Q. Show that the force of repulsion between the spheres is greatest when each sphere has an
excess charge Q/2. Assume that the distance between the spheres is so large compared with their
radii that the spheres can be treated as point charges.
Solution
Let the charge on one of the spheres be nQ, where n is a fraction between 0 and 1. In the
numerator of Coulomb’s law, the term involving the charges is This is equal to

. Finding the maximum of this term gives

59. A charge is placed at the point P shown below. What is the force on q?

Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields
Define right to be the positive direction and hence left is the negative direction, then

61. Two fixed particles, each of charge 5.0  10–6 C, are 24 cm apart. What force do they exert
on a third particle of charge –2.5  10–6 C that is 13 cm from each of them?
Solution
The particles form triangle of sides 13, 13, and 24 cm. The x-components cancel, whereas there
is a contribution to the y-component from both charges 24 cm apart. The y-axis passing through
the third charge bisects the 24-cm line, creating two right triangles of sides 5, 12, and 13 cm.

in the negative y-direction since the

force is attractive. The net force from both charges is .

63. What is the force on the charge q at the lower-right-hand corner of the square shown here?

Solution
The diagonal is and the components of the force due to the diagonal charge has a factor

65. A particle of charge 2.0  10–8 C experiences an upward force of magnitude 4.0  10–6 N
when it is placed in a particular point in an electric field.
(a) What is the electric field at that point?
(b) If a charge q = –1.0  10–8 C is placed there, what is the force on it?
Solution

a. up;
b. down
67. Consider an electron that is 10–10 m from an alpha particle (q = 3.2  10–19 C).
(a) What is the electric field due to the alpha particle at the location of the electron?

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields
(b) What is the electric field due to the electron at the location of the alpha particle?
(c) What is the electric force on the alpha particle? On the electron?
Solution

a. ;

b. ;

c. on alpha particle;

on electron
69. What is the electric field at a point where the force on a charge is

Solution

71. The electric field in a particular thundercloud is What is the acceleration of an

electron in this field?
Solution

73. If the electric field is at a distance of 50 cm from a point charge q,what is the value
of q?
Solution

75. (a) What is the electric field of an oxygen nucleus at a point that is 10–10 m from the nucleus?
(b) What is the force this electric field exerts on a second oxygen nucleus placed at that point?
Solution

a. ;

b.
77. Point charges and are placed 1.0 m apart. (a) What is the electric
field at a point midway between them? (b) What is the force on a charge situated
there?
Solution
If the is to the right of the electric field vector from both charges point to the right.

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

a. ;

b.
79. Point charges q1 = q2 = 4.0  10–6 C are fixed on the x-axis at x = –3.0 m and x = 3.0 m.What
charge q must be placed at the origin so that the electric field vanishes at x = 0, y = 3.0 m?
Solution
There is right triangle geometry. The x-components of the electric field at cancel.

The y-components give .

At the origin we have a negative charge of magnitude

81. Calculate the magnitude and direction of the electric field 2.0 m from a long wire that is
charged uniformly at
Solution

83. The charge per unit length on the thin rod shown below is What is the electric field at

the point P? (Hint: Solve this problem by first considering the electric field at P due to a
small segment dx of the rod, which contains charge Then find the net field by

integrating over the length of the rod.)

Solution

85. Two thin parallel conducting plates are placed 2.0 cm apart. Each plate is 2.0 cm on a side;
one plate carries a net charge of and the other plate carries a net charge of
What is the charge density on the inside surface of each plate? What is the electric field between
the plates?
Solution

87. A total charge q is distributed uniformly along a thin, straight rod of length L (see below).
What is the electric field at

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

Solution

At :
At Put the origin at the end of L.

89. Charge is distributed along the entire x-axis with uniform density and along the entire y-

axis with uniform density Calculate the resulting electric field at (a) and (b)

Solution

a. ; b.

91. A proton moves in the electric field (a) What are the force on and the
acceleration of the proton? (b) Do the same calculation for an electron moving in this field.
Solution

a. ,

b. ,

93. A spherical water droplet of radius carries an excess 250electrons. What vertical
electric field is needed to balance the gravitational force on the droplet at the surface of the
earth?
Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields
95. Shown below is a small sphere of mass 0.25 g that carries a charge of The
sphere is attached to one end of a very thin silk string 5.0 cm long. The other end of the string is
attached to a large vertical conducting plate that has a charge density of What is
the angle that the string makes with the vertical?

Solution

This is independent of the length of the string.

97. Positive charge is distributed with a uniform density along the positive x-axis from
along the positive y-axis from and along a 90° arc of a circle of radius r, as shown
below. What is the electric field at O?

Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

circular arc ,

y-axis: ;

x-axis: ,

99. A particle of mass m and charge –q moves along a straight line away from a fixed particle of
charge Q. When the distance between the two particles is r0, –q is moving with a speed v0. (a)
Use the work-energy theorem to calculate the maximum separation of the charges. (b) What do
you have to assume about v0 to make this calculation? (c) What is the minimum value of v0 such
that –q escapes from Q?
Solution

a. ,

; b. is negative; therefore,

,
101. In this exercise, you will practice drawing electric field lines. Make sure you represent both the
magnitude and direction of the electric field adequately. Note that the number of lines into or out of
charges is proportional to the charges.
(a) Draw the electric field lines map for two charges and situated 5 cm from each
other.
(b) Draw the electric field lines map for two charges and situated 5 cm from each
other.
(c) Draw the electric field lines map for two charges and situated 5 cm from each
other.
Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

103. Two charges of equal magnitude but opposite sign make up an electric dipole. A quadrupole
consists of two electric dipoles that are placed anti-parallel at two edges of a square as shown.

Draw the electric field of the charge distribution.

Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

Consider the equal and opposite charges shown below. (a) Show that at all points on the x-
105.

axis for which (b) Show that at all points on the y-axis for which

Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

107. A water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms bonded with one oxygen atom. The bond
angle between the two hydrogen atoms is 104° (see below). Calculate the net dipole moment of a
hypothetical water molecule where the charge at the oxygen molecule is −2e and at each
hydrogen atom is +e. The net dipole moment of the molecule is the vector sum of the individual
dipole moment between the two O-H’s. The separation O-H is 0.9578 angstroms.

Solution

Additional Problems
109. What is the force on the charge shown below?

Solution

111. Four charged particles are positioned at the corners of a parallelogram as shown below. If
and what is the net force on q?

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

Solution
Charges Q and q form a right triangle of sides 1 m and Charges 2Q and q form a right
triangle of sides 1 m and

113. A charge is released from rest when it is 2.0 m from a fixed charge
What is the kinetic energy of q when it is 1.0 m from Q?
Solution

115. Find the electric field at P for the charge configurations shown below.

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

Solution

a. ; b. ;

c.
117. Point charges are placed at the four corners of a rectangle as shown below:

and What is the

electric field at P?

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Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

Solution

119. A positive charge q is released from rest at the origin of a rectangular coordinate system and

moves under the influence of the electric field What is the kinetic energy of q
when it passes through
Solution

121. Charge is distributed uniformly along the entire y-axis with a density and along the

positive x-axis from with a density What is the force between the two
distributions?
Solution

Electric field of wire at x: ,

123. Calculate the electric field due to a uniformly charged rod of length L, aligned with the x-
axis with one end at the origin; at a point P on the z-axis.
Solution

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

,
Substituting z for a, we have:

125. The charge per unit length on the thin rod shown here is What is the electric force on the
point charge q? (See the preceding problem.)

Solution
There is a net force only in the y-direction. Let be the angle the vector from dx to q makes
with the x-axis. The components along the x-axis cancel due to symmetry, leaving the y-
component of the force.

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Unit 2: Electricity and Magnetism
Chapter 5: Electric Charges and Fields

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