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Concept Summary: Batesville High School Physics

The document summarizes the history and key concepts of forces in physics. It starts by explaining how physicists originally categorized all forces as gravitational, electric, or magnetic, but later discovered two additional nuclear forces (weak and strong). Modern physics views all forces as either gravitational or a unified electroweak force. The document then focuses on electric forces, covering the basics of electrical charge, conductors and insulators, and Coulomb's law quantifying the electric force between two charges.

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Kirstie KJS
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32 views

Concept Summary: Batesville High School Physics

The document summarizes the history and key concepts of forces in physics. It starts by explaining how physicists originally categorized all forces as gravitational, electric, or magnetic, but later discovered two additional nuclear forces (weak and strong). Modern physics views all forces as either gravitational or a unified electroweak force. The document then focuses on electric forces, covering the basics of electrical charge, conductors and insulators, and Coulomb's law quantifying the electric force between two charges.

Uploaded by

Kirstie KJS
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Concept Summary

Batesville High School Physics


Forces
 By the early 19th century, physicists
had classified the apparent myriad of
forces in nature to just 3 kinds:
 Gravitational force
 Electric
force
 Magnetic force
Forces
 Bythe end of the 19th century, they had
narrowed the list to just 2 forces:
 Gravitational force
 Electromagnetic force (We will see in Ch
36 how the electric and magnetic forces
are really just 2 aspects of the same force.)
Forces
 The 20th century first added two new
forces to this list that are observed only
inside the atomic nucleus:
 Gravitationalforce
 Electromagnetic force

 Weak force

 Strong force
Forces
 And then found theoretical links that
narrowed the list back to 2 kinds of
forces:
 Gravitational force
 Strong/Electroweak force
The Electric Force
 We will turn our attention to the electric
force, which is a force between objects
with charge, just as the gravitational
force is a force between objects with
mass.
Electrostatics
 Electrostatics is the study of electric
charge at rest.
 (Ormore or less at rest, in contrast with
current electricity.)
Electrical Charges
 Electric
charge is a fundamental
property of matter.
 Two types of electric charges
 Positive charge - every proton has a single
positive charge.
 Negative charge - every electron has a single

negative charge.
Electrical Charge
 An object with an excess of electrons
is negatively charged.
 An object with too few electrons (too
many protons) is positively charged.
 An object with the same number of
electrons and protons is neutral.
Electrical Forces
Like
charges repel.
Opposite charges attract.
Elementary Charges
 Protons carry the smallest positive
charge.
 Protons and uncharged neutrons
generally reside in an atom’s nucleus.
 Protons are held in the nucleus by the
strong force.
Elementary Charges
 The smallest negative charge is the
charge on the electron.
 In normal atoms, electrons orbit the
nucleus.
 The electric force between electrons
and protons supplies the centripetal
force to keep electrons in the atom.
Elementary Charges
 The charges carried by the proton and
electron are equal in size.
 The mass of the proton is about 2000
times the mass of the electron.
Units of Charge
 The SI unit of charge is the Coulomb.

1 Coulomb = the charge of 6.24 x 1018


electrons
Charge is Conserved
 Electric charge is conserved -
 Electric charge moves from one place to
another - no case of the net creation or
destruction of electric charge has ever
been observed.
 In solids, only electrons can move.
 In liquids, gasses, and plasmas, both positive

and negative ions are free to move.


Conductors & Insulators
 Materials
in which charges are free to
move about are called conductors.
in which charges are not
 Materials
free to move about are called
insulators.
Semiconductors
 Semiconductors are materials which
are good insulators in pure form, but
their conducting properties can be
adjusted over a wide range by
introducing very small amounts of
impurities.
 Silicon,germanium, etc.
 Transistors, computer chips, etc.
Superconductors
 Superconductors are materials that
lose all resistance to charge
movement at temperatures near
absolute zero (0 K or about -273oC).
 Recently, “high temperature” (above
100 K) superconductors have been
discovered.
“Creating” an Electric Charge
 When you “create” an electric charge
(by rubbing your feet on a carpet) you
are actually separating existing
charges - not creating charges.
 One object ends up with an excess of
electrons (- charge), and the other a
deficit of electrons (+ charge).
Charging by Friction
 Ifone neutral material has more affinity
for electrons than another (neutral)
material, it will attract electrons from the
other.
 One material becomes negatively
charged, the other positively charged.
Charging by Contact
 Ifa charged object is brought in contact
with a neutral object, charges will be
repelled from (or attracted to) the
charged object.
 The neutral object will gain a charge of
the same sign as the charged object.
Grounding
 Providing a path from a charged object
to the Earth is called grounding it.
 Charges will be attracted from (or
repelled to) the Earth by the charged
object.
 Since the Earth is so large, both the
charged object and the Earth are
neutralized.
Electrical Forces
 The
electrical force between 2 charges
depends on:
 The size of each charge
 More charge means more force.
 The distance between the charges
 More distance means less force.
Electrical Forces
 The electrical force between 2 charges
is:
 Directly proportional to each charge.
 Inverselyproportional to the square of
the distance between the charges.
Coulomb’s Law

Q q
Felectric = k
r 2

• where k = 9.0 x 109 N m2/C2


Polarization
 Bringinga charged object near (but not
touching) a neutral object polarizes
(temporarily separates) the charge of
the neutral object.
 Like charges in the neutral object are
repelled by the charged object.
 Unlike charges in the neutral object are
attracted by the neutral object.
 The
neutral object returns to normal
when the charged object is removed.
Electric Dipoles
 An object that is electrically neutral
overall, but permanently polarized, is
called an electric dipole.
 Example: H20 molecule
Charging by Induction
1. Bring a charged object near (but not
touching) a neutral object.
2. Ground the neutral object.
3. Remove the ground.
4. Remove the charged object
5. The neutral object now has a charge
opposite to the charged object.
The End

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