Certificate of Appreciation

This is to certify that Yashi Tiwari Studying in class XII Science (2023 –
2024) Adani Public School - Mundra, has successfully completed the
Physics Project entitled – “Finding charges on two identical Styrofoam balls
using Coulomb’s Law” under the guidance of Mr. Mukti Nath Singh and Mr.
Rahul Kumar, during the academic year 2023 -2024 as the part of the
curriculum and submitted for CBSE practical examination conducted by
AISSCE.

All the work related to project has been done by the candidate herself and
the progress of the project has been continuously reported.

_________________________ ________________________
(Rahul Kumar) Principal
(Dr. Mayur Patadia)

_________________________
(Mukti Nath Singh)

_________________________
(External Examiner)
Student Details
 Acknowledgement

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Mayur Patadia, the Principal of

Adani Public School, for his support and for providing the facilities needed
for this project.

I'm grateful to Mr. Mukti Nath Singh and Mr. Rahul Kumar for guiding me
throughout this project. Their invaluable advice, encouragement,
constructive feedback, and motivation were greatly appreciated.

I also want to thank my classmates for their support and help in

successfully completing this project.

___________________________
(Yashi Tiwari)
 Index

Sr. No. Topic Page No.

1. Objective

2. Introduction

3. Aim

4. Material Required

5. Theory

6. Procedure

7. Observation

8. Calculation

9. Result

10. Sources of error

11. Bibliography
 OBJECTIVE

To estimate the charge induced on each of the identical Styrofoam

(or pith) balls suspended in a vertical plane by making use of
Coulomb’s law.
 INTRODUCTION

In 1785, Augustine de Coulomb conducted experiments to understand how

charged objects attract or repel each other. He came up with what we now
call Coulomb's law. “The magnitude of the electric force that a particle
exerts on another is directly proportional to the square of the distance
between them”. Mathematically, this electrostatic F acting on two particles
(q1, q2) is expressed as:

This formula not only tells us how strong the electric force is but also
whether it's attractive or repulsive. When you have two charges with the
same sign (both positive or both negative), they push each other away,
which is repulsive. But when you have charges with opposite signs (one
positive and one negative), they pull each other together, which is
attractive. Coulomb used a special balance called a torsion balance to
measure this force between two small metal-coated balls, similar to how
we measure the force of gravity.
Materials Required:

Small size identical balls Physical Balance or

(pitch or soft plastic) Electronic Balance

Half Meter Scale Cotton Thread

Stand Glass Rod

Woollen Cloth Micrometre Screw Gauge

 THEORY

The fundamental concept in electrostatics is electrical charge. We are all

familiar with the fact that rubbing two materials together – for example a
rubber comb on cat fur – produces a ‘static’ charge. This process is called
charging by friction. Surprisingly, the exact physics of the process of
charging by friction is poorly understood. However, it is known that the
making and breaking of contact between the two materials transfers the
charge.

The charged particles that make up the universe come in three kinds:
positive, negative, and neutral. Neutral particles do not interact with
electrical forces. Charged particles exert electrical and magnetic forces on
one another, but if the charges are stationary, the mutual force is very
simple in form and is given by Coulomb’s Law:

Where F is the electrical force between any two stationary charged

particles with charges q1 and q2 (measured in coulombs),’r’ is the
separation between any two stationary charges (measured in meters), and
k is a constant of nature (equal to 9 x 10⁹ Nm² /C² in SI units). The study of
the Coulomb forces among arrangements of stationary charged particles is
called electrostatics.
Key Points:

 The force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance

between them and is directed along the straight line that connects
their centres.
 The force is proportional to the product of the magnitude of the
charges.
 Two particles of the same charge exert a repulsive force on each
other, and two particles of opposite charge exert an attractive force
on each other. Most of the common objects we deal with in the
macroscopic (human-sized) world are electrically neutral.

All objects are made up of tiny particles called atoms. These atoms have
even smaller parts called electrons, which are negatively charged, and a
central part called the nucleus, which is positively charged. Normally, the
negative charge of the electrons in an atom balances out the positive charge
of the nucleus, making the atom neutral. This means most objects are
neutral too, as they are made up of these atoms.
However, when we rub one material against another, like when you rub a
balloon against your hair, some of the electrons can move from one
material to the other. This transfer of electrons can leave one material with
extra negative charge and the other with extra positive charge.

Some materials, like metals, have electrons that can move around quite
easily. These materials are called conductors, and they can carry electric
current. On the other hand, materials like glass have electrons that are
tightly held in place and can't move easily. We call these materials
insulators, and they don't let electric charge flow through them easily.

Now, when you have a charged object, like a negatively charged rod, and
you bring it near a neutral insulator, something interesting happens. Even
though the insulator as a whole is neutral, the negatively charged rod
makes the electrons in the insulator move away a little from the rod, and
the positive nuclei in the insulator move a bit toward the rod. We call this
effect "polarization." So, the rod doesn't give the insulator a net charge, but
it does cause these tiny shifts in the positions of the charges within the
insulator.
When a charged object, like a negatively charged rod, is brought close to an
insulator, the insulator's charges shift a little. The positive charges in the
insulator get a bit closer to the rod, while the negative charges move away
slightly. This causes a small attraction between the rod and the insulator
because the positive charge is pulled more than the negative charge is
pushed away. This is called "polarization."

If you bring the negative rod near a neutral conductor (a material that
allows electrons to move easily), something similar happens. Electrons in
the conductor can move, and some of them move to the side closer to the
rod, leaving the other side with a slight positive charge. This conductor is
now polarized and is attracted to the charged rod.

Now, if you connect a wire from the polarized conductor to the ground
(basically, providing a path for electrons to move), electrons will flow
through that wire and go to the ground. When you disconnect the wire, the
conductor is left with a net positive charge because some electrons moved
away. This process is called "charging by induction," and it happens
without actually touching the charged rod to the conductor. The charge on
the conductor will be opposite to that of the rod.
 Methods of Charging:

The process of supplying the electric charge to an object or losing the

electric charge from an object is called charging.

An uncharged object can be charged in three different ways as follows:

 Charging by friction
 Charging by conduction
 Charging by induction

In this experiment we will be using the method of charging by friction and

conduction.

Charging by Friction:

When two objects are rubbed against each other, charge transfer takes
place. One of the objects loses electrons while the other object gains
electrons. The object that loses electrons becomes positively charged, and
the object that gains electrons becomes negatively charged.

Figure of Charging by Friction

Charging by Conduction:

The method of charging an uncharged object by bringing it close to a

charged object is known as charging by conduction. The charged conductor
has an unequal number of protons and electrons; hence when an
uncharged conductor is brought near it, it discharges electrons to stabilize
itself.

Figure of Charging by Conduction

 PROCEDURE

1) Measure the mass (m) of each of the two identical pith balls using a physical
balance.
2) Hang the two balls from rigid support using light silk or cotton threads of the
same length ‘l’.
3) Rub the glass on the silk cloth to induce a charge on it. Now touch the glass rod
with both the pith balls together so that an equal charge is induced on both
balls
4) When left freely, the two balls will repel each other. Measure the
distance between the balls when are at rest. Note down the distance.
5) To change the charge on the ball, take the third uncharged ball touch
it to any one of the two balls and take the third ball away, and repeat
step 4.
6) Take the other uncharged suspended with the other uncharged 4 th
ball take the 4th ball away and repeat step 4.
 OBSERVATIONS

1) Mass of the pith balls m= ____ gm.

2) The radius of the ball a = ____ cm.
3) Length of thread l = ____cm.

OBSERVATION TABLE

Sr. No. Charge on ball 1 Charge on ball 2 Distance between them

1.

2.

3.

4.

CALCULATION:
Using the equation derived in the theory find the charge in each case and
take out a mean value,
 3
2 mg x
q=
2 lk

RESULT

 The charge on ball = ________ C.

PRECAUTIONS
1. The suspended balls should not be touched by any conducting body.
2. Rub the glass rod properly with the silk cloth to produce more charge.
3. Weight the mass of the balls accurately.

SOURCES OF ERROR
1. The balls may not be of equal size.
2. The distance between the balls may not be measured accurately.
3. The balls may not be hung symmetrically about the insulating rod.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 https://www.ncert.nic.in
 https://www.wikipedia.org
 https://www.quora.com
 https://www.embibe.com/exams/charging- by-friction/
 S.L Arora
 S. Chand