LESSON I.

ELECTROSTATICS - In 1911, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered

superconductivity by cooling mercury to a temperature of about 4K.
As early as 600 BC, the Greeks were already aware that amber – a hardened translucent yellowish - Most superconductors only work at temperatures close absolute zero.
tree resin – when vigorously rubbed with a piece of cloth, could attract nearby objects. - Scientist are now focused on developing superconductors that will work at
In 1600, William Gilbert, who served as physician to Queen Elizabeth I of England, found out that many normal and high temperatures.
substances demonstrated the same ability as that of amber when rubbed against another substances. He - Superconductors that work at room temperatures would make everyday
called these substances electrics and this ability of amber electricity, from the Greek word elektron, which electricity generation and transmission vastly more efficient inasmuch as ther
mean “amber”. It was shown that some object require the ability to attract small pieces of matter after being will be no power losses.
rubbed against another object. The object attracted is said to have acquired a charge or become electrified. - The higher known critical temperature of a superconducting material is 203K (-
Because the charge is at rest, it is often referred to a static electricity. Electrostatics is the study of all 70 degrees); the material involved is hydrogen sulfide.
phenomena associated with electric charges at rest. Direction of Charged Objects
The study of properties of electric charges at rest called ELECTROSTATICS.
STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM
 An atom is made up of subatomic particles – protons (positively charge), neutrons (carries no
charge) and electrons (negatively charged)
 Protons and neutrons constitute the nucleus of an atom
 Electrons orbit an atom’s nucleus
 The mass of a proton is almost equal to the mass of neutron.
 The mass of an electron is very small compared to that of a proton, or a neutron.
 The mass of an atom is concentrated at the nucleus.
 In an electrically neutral atom, the number of protons is equal to the number of electrons Law of conservation of charges helps us to study interactive energy and forces. The objects with
 The elementary charge (represented by e) is the electric charge carried by a single proton. It is a same charges repel each other on the other hand charges with opposite charges attract one another.
fundamental physical constant. PROCESS OF CHARGING
 Proton has a charge of +e
 Electron as a charge of –e  An atom may gain or lose electrons
 Electric charges are usually represented by q.  If the atom gains electron, it becomes negatively charged
 The SI unit of charge is the Coulomb (C) ,named after French Physicist Charles-Augustin de  If it loses electron, it becomes positively charged
Coulomb, who made important discoveries in electricity.
 A coulomb is approximately equal to 6.24 x 10 18 e Types of Charging
Charging means gaining or losing electron. Matters can be charged with three ways,
1e = 1.602 x -19 C
 Charging by friction
PROPERTIES OF PROTON, NEUTRON AND ELECTRON
Subatomic Particle Location Mass Charge  Charging by contact; and
Proton Inside nucleus 1.673 x 10 -27 kg 1.602 x 10 -19 C  Charging by induction
Neutron Inside nucleus 1.675 x 10 -27 kg 0
Electron Around nucleus 9.109 x 10 -31 kg -1.602 x 10 -19 C Charging by Friction
When you rub one material to another, they are charged by friction. Material losing electron is positively
CONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS charged and material gaining electron is negatively charged. Amount of gained and lost electron is equal to
 CONDUCTIVITY is the measure of the ease at which an electric charge moves through a each other.
material.
 CONDUCTORS materials that readily allow the flow of charges through them. Metals are good
conductors because they have plenty of free electrons that can easily move in the material.
 INSULATORS are materials that resist the flow of charges. The conductivity of insulators are low.
Some examples of insulators are rubber, plastic, mica, paper, glass and air.
 SEMICONDUCTORS are immediate between conductors and insulators.
- Not conducive as metals but they are more conductive than insulators,
- The conductivity of semiconductors in its pure form is very low.
- Have paved the way for the development of miniaturized electronic devices
such as transistors and integrated circuits
- Silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide
In other words, we can say that charges of the system are conserved. When you rub glass rod to a silk,
 SUPERCONDUCTORS offer practically no resistance to the flow of charges below some critical
glass lose electron and positively charged and silk gain electron and negatively charged.
temperature.
- Current in a semiconductors can keep flowing without any decay. Charging by Contact
There are equal numbers of electrons and protons in a neutral matter. If something changes this balance,
we can say it is charged. Look at the following picture;
LESSON II. Coulomb’s Law
Like charges repel each other while unlike charges attract each other. If the charges are at rest then
the force between them is known as the electrostatic force. The electrostatic force between charges
increases when the magnitude of the charges increases or the distance between the charges
decreases.
Coulomb's law states that the magnitude of the electrostatic force between two point charges is directly
proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of
the distance between them
In this picture, negatively charged rod touches to the neutral sphere and some of the electrons pass to
the sphere. As a result, neutral sphere is charged by contact. If the rod is positively charged, then some
of the electrons of sphere pass to the rod and when we separate them, sphere becomes positively
charged.

Picture given below shows the flow of electrons from sphere to the rod.

The proportionality constant k is called the electrostatic constant and has the value:
k=9.0 x 10 9 Nm2C2
Similarity of Coulomb's law to Newton's universal law of gravitation.
Notice how similar in form Coulomb's law is to Newton's universal law of gravitation between two point-
like particles:
where m1 and m2 are the masses of the two point-like particles, d is the distance between them,
Charging by Induction and G is the gravitational constant. Both are inverse-square laws.
Both laws represent the force exerted by particles (point masses or point charges) on each other that
We can also charge conductors without contact. Examine the given picture, it shows this type of interact by means of a field.
charging.
Coulomb's law or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is a law of physics describing the electrostatic
interaction between electrically charged particles. It was studied and first published in 1783 by French
physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb and was essential to the development of the theory of
electromagnetism.
Nevertheless, the dependence of the electric force with distance had been proposed previously by
Joseph Priestley and the dependence with both distance and charge had been discovered, but not
published, by Henry Cavendish, prior to Coulomb's works.
Coulomb's law states that: "The magnitude of the Electrostatics force of interaction between two
point charges is directly proportional to the scalar multiplication of the magnitudes of charges and inversely
proportional to the square of the distances between them." The scalar form of Coulomb's law is an
expression for the magnitude and sign of the electrostatic force between two idealized point charges, small
in size compared to their separation.
A and B conductors are neutral at the beginning. When we put a positively charged plate near them, it
attracts the electrons in the conductors. Electrons move to the left part and protons stays.
Thus, when we separate plates A and B they are charged by induction, A is negatively charged and B F=k
𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
is negatively charged. Be careful, there is no contact, they are charged only by induction. 𝒓𝟐

Where:
MKS CGS (ESU)
q1 and q2 Coulomb (C) Statcoulomb (SC)
r M Cm
k 9.0 x 10 9 Nm2/C2 1 dyne cm2/sc2
Fe Newton Dyne (dyn)
 According to the theory, like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each other. This
means charges of same sign will push each other with repulsive forces while charges with opposite signs will
pull each other with attractive force.

LESSON III. ELECTRIC FIELD

 Electric Force is a non contact force.

 The space surrounding a charged body is called an electric field.
 An electric field causes any charged paricles placed in it to experience an electric force.
 Every charged has an electric field associated with it.

Electric Field
 Electric field is a region around a charge where electric force acts. Beyond this region, a charge
can no longer attract or repel another charge.
 An electric field is represented by a series of lines called electric field lines.
 Electric field lines use arrows. These arrows leave a positive charge and enter a negative charge.
The spacing of these lines determines the strength of the field. The arrows are close together
where the field is strong and far apart where the field is weak.

Electric Field of Force

Electric Field Intensity (E) the measure of the strength of electric field. It is the force (F) exerted by an
electric field per unit positive test charge (q) placed on it.
𝐹
𝐸=
𝑞
E follows the direction of q
Where:
UNITS
Mks Cgs
E – Electric Field N/coul dyne/Stat Coul
F – Force Newton (N) Dyne
q-charge Coul Stat Coul
Electric field due to a system of point charges  Electric Flux is defined as the total number of lines of electric force in any particular electric field.
 The electric field E at any point is defined as the ratio of the force F on a charge Q (assumed The symbol of Electric Flux is Φ.
positive) at that point to the magnitude of Q. In formula
E=EAcos
 Using Coulomb’s Law, we can determine the magnitude of the electric field at any given point
around a charge. Unit of Electric Flux:

Principle of Superposition Newton meter2 / Coulomb (Nm2/C)

Every charged particle in the universe creates an electric field in the space surrounding it. This field can be Electric Flux through a surface
calculated with the help of Coulomb's law. The principle of superposition allows for the combination of two When the surface is perpendicular to the electric field, maximum number of lines are intercepted by the
or more electric fields. surface.
The principle of superposition states that every charge in space creates an electric field at point
independent of the presence of other charges in that medium. The resultant electric field is a vector sum of
the electric field due to individual charges.
1-Dimension: Electric fields can be added according to the relationship between directions of the electric
field vectors.
 Same direction: Add the magnitudes together to find the net field.
 Opposite direction: Subtract the magnitude from the larger magnitude to the net field. The net
field will point in the direction of the greater field.
Electric Field is defined as the force per unit charge at a particular point. E =EAcos 0

E= F/q E =EA (1)

For example, the Electric Field of a point charge ‘Q’ on a test charge ‘q’ at a distance is given by E =EA

E= kQ/r2 If the surface is parallel to the field, then the number of field lines passing through the surface is zero.

In the example, a unit charge ‘q’ placed near a point ‘Q’ experiences the force. The direction of this force
can be represented by lines that are radially coming out of positive charge or going towards a negative
charge. These lines of force are called Field lines or Flux lines.

Electric Flux Lines

E =EAcos 90°
=EA (0)
E=0
If the surface is placed at an orientation angle of θ, then the number of line passing will be proportional to
this angle.

Properties of Electric Flux Lines

Electric Field Lines or Flux Lines are the lines of force around a charge with the following properties:
 Flux lines generally originate at positive charges and terminate at negative charges.
 The strength of the electric field is dependent on the number of flux lines.
 All the flux lines are parallel to each other.
 Normally, the flux lines enter or leave a charged surface.
E=EA
Electric Flux E=0
 The Electric Field, imagined to be present around a charge, can be represented in terms of a
quantity known as Electric Flux. The field lines or flux lines can be used to pictorially represent the
distribution of Electric Flux around a charge.