STATIC

WEEK 1
ELECTRICIT
Y
1. Electric charge
2. Insulators and conductors
3. Coulomb’s Law
4. Electric forces and fields
5. Electric field calculations
6. Charges on conductors
7. Electric flux and Gauss’s Law
8. Electric charge, dipoles, force, field, and flux problems
ELECTRIC CHARGE
electrostatics - the study of electric forces between charged objects at rest.

electric charge - the property of an object that determines its electrical behavior: the
electric force it can exert, and the electric force it can experience.

There are two types of charges:

positive (+) – associated with the proton

negative (-) – associated with the electron

• The positive and negative signs are arbitrary conventions.

• Both protons and electrons have the same charge, but with opposite signs. Neutrons have no
charge.

law of charges or charge-force law -

Like charges repel each other,

and unlike charges attract each other.
• The fundamental unit of charge is the magnitude of the charge of an electron:

 e  = 1.60 x 10-19 C

coulomb (C) - the SI unit of charge

• Charge is “quantized”; it can only occur in integral multiples of e.

The charge of an object is q=ne (n = 1,2,3…)

net charge - an object has an excess of either positive or negative charges.

law of conservation of charge -

The net charge of an isolated system remains constant.

Protons and neutrons are composed of fundamental particles (quarks). Electric charges
on protons and neutrons result from their quark compositions.
Where do charges come
from?
Matter is made up of atoms.

+ Proton (positive charge)

–
neutron (neutral)
+
+ +

– electron (negative charge)

– –

atom nucleus
 Where do charges come
from?
If electrons = protons neutral

If electrons > protons  gaining electrons, negative

charge

If electrons < protons  losing electrons, positive charge

Where do charges come
from?
Rubbing materials does NOT create
electric charges. It just transfers
electrons from one material to the
other.
Where do charges come
from?
When a balloon rubs a piece of wool...

electrons are pulled from the

– +
wool to the balloon.
– +
– The balloon has more electrons than
– +
– usual.
– +
wool + The balloon: – charged,
The wool: +charged
conductor - a material which
has the ability to conduct or transmit
electric charges
ex: metals
valence electrons are loosely
bound, can move

insulator - poor electrical

conductors
ex: glass, rubber, plastic
valence electrons are tightly
bound, can’t readily move

semiconductor - electron
conductivity is intermediate between a
conductor and insulator
ex: transistors, computer
chips
MATERIALS WHICH TEND TO LOSE OR GAIN
ELECTRONS

https://www.school-for-champions.com/science/
static_materials.htm
electroscope - a device that can be used to demonstrate
characteristics of electric charge.

• When a charged object is brought near the bulb of a neutral

electroscope, the leaves separate.
electrostatic charging - the process by which an insulator or
an insulated conductor receives a net charge.

• Electrostatic charging can be done by four processes.

1) charging by friction - insulators are rubbed with

different materials and the insulators and the materials acquire equal
but opposite charges.

ex: Rubbing a rubber rod with fur will transfer electrons from the fur
to the rubber, and leave the rod with a net negative charge.

ex: After walking across a carpet, you get zapped when touching a
metal doorknob.
2) charging by contact or by conduction - a charged object
makes a contact with a uncharged object and some of the charge on the
charged object is transferred to the uncharged object.
3) charging by induction - a charged object is brought near (not
touching) an uncharged object, the uncharged object is then “grounded”,
and the uncharged object acquires an opposite charge than the charged
object.
4) charging by polarization - the positive and negative charges are simply separated or
realigned within the object and the net charge of the object is still zero. Charges are merely
separated so a portion of the object has excess positive charges and another has excess negative
charges.
When the balloons are charged by
friction and placed in contact with the
wall, an opposite charge is induced on
the wall’s surface, to which the
balloons then stick by the force of
electrostatic attraction.
Charging by Conduction
+ Charging by conduction is very simple. An object is given a
charge – we rub a rubber rod with a rabbit fur. The rod now
has a negative charge. We also have a metal sphere attached
to an insulated stand. We touch the sphere with the charged
rod and some of the extra electrons on the rod will flow onto
the sphere, giving it a negative charge.

C h argin g by C on du ction
 Charging by Induction
+ Charging by induction is a bit more complicated. We start
out with a charged object and an uncharged object. Charge
is transferred, but there is no physical contact between the
two objects. There are two ways to do this.
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
+ Electrons (-) and protons (+) have the same magnitude of charge.

+ Atoms are electrically neutral – they have no charge. If an atom gains or

loses electrons, it gains a charge and becomes an ion.

+ Different elements vary widely in their ability to gain or lose electrons.

Rubber objects almost always gain a negative charge during rubbing operations.
A glass rod rubbed with silk will gain a positive charge.

+ Fundamental Law of Static Electricity  Like charges

repel; opposite charges attract.

+ Principle of Conservation of Charge  charge is not

created or destroyed, merely transferred from one
system to another.
INSULATORS AND CONDUCTORS
 Insulators and Conductors
• Conductors are those materials through or along
which charge easily moves.
• Insulators are materials in which charge is
immobile.
• Glass and plastics are insulators, metal is a
conductor.

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.

Insulators and Conductors

• The electrons in an insulator

are tightly bound to the
positive nuclei and are not
free to move around.
• Charging an insulator may
leave a patch of molecular
ions on the surface, but
the patches are immobile.
Insulators and Conductors
• In metals, the outer electrons
(valence electrons) are weakly
bound to the nuclei.
• They are detached from their
parent nuclei and are free to
wander through the entire solid,
creating a sea of electrons
permeating an array of positively
charged ion cores.
SOLVING FOR ELECTRIC CHARGE
If 4500 electrons were transferred to a neutral metal
rod, what would be the electric charge of the metal rod?

7.2 x 10 -16 C
What is the electric charge of 3.6
moles of Al?

347 kC
Note: The mass of an
electron is 9.1×10−31
kg while the mass of a
proton is 1.67×10−27
kg.
What is the total charge of 50 kg
of protons?

4.8 GC
What is the total charge of 75.0
kg of electrons?
2. (a) How many electrons would have to be removed from a penny to leave it with a charge
of +1.0×10−7 C?

(b) To what fraction of the electrons in the penny does this correspond? [A penny has a mass
of 3.11 g; assume it is made entirely of copper.]
COULOMB’S LAW
• Coulomb’s law describes the force between two charged
particles.
• Coulomb’s law looks much
like Newton’s gravity except
the charge q can be positive
or negative, so the force can
be attractive or repulsive.
• The direction of the force is
determined by the second
part of Coulomb’s law.
• Coulomb’s law is a force law, and forces are vectors.
• Electric forces, like other forces, can be superimposed.
• The net electric force on charge j due to all other charges is the sum
of the individuals forces due to each charge:
What is the net force acting on
q3?
9
q2 2.00 x 10 C 4.00 m F23 F13
37.0 0
q2 - +
q3 q3 5.00 x 10 9 C

3.00 m
5.00 m
+
q1 q1 6.00 x 10 9 C
What is the net force acting on
q3? 1 qq Nm 5.00 x 10 C 6.00 x 10 C 
 2  9 9
F13  1 2
8.99 x 109  
2 2 2
4 0 r C  5.00 m  
 

F13 10.8 x 10 9 N  1.08 x 10  8 N

F23 
1 q1q2
8.99 x 10 9 Nm 
2  
 2.00 x 10 9 C 5.00 x 10  9 C  
4 0 r 2 C2   4.00 m 
2 
 

F23  5.62 x 10 9 N

 F sin 
What is the net force acting F

on q3? 
Fx F13 cos  F23 F F cos 

 
Fx  1.08 x 10 8 N cos37.0  5.62 x 10 9 N
Fx 8.63 x 10 9 N  5.62 x 10 9 N  3.01 x 10 9 N

Fy F13 sin 
 
Fy  1.08 x 10 8 N sin 37.0o  6.50 x 10 9 N
What is the net force acting
on q3?
F  F Fy 6.50 x 10 N   3.01 x 10 N   51.31 x 10
2
x
2 9
2
9
2
 18
N2

F 7.16 x 10 9 N

Now we can find the direction or the resultant force:

 1  FY  6.50 x 10 9 N 
 1
 tan   tan  
 9
 3.01 x 10 N 
 FX 


 65.2 with the x axis
Gravity vs. Electromagnetic Force
+ Gravity Force Electromagnetic
+ Attracts attracts and repels
+ inverse square law inverse square law
+ surround objects surround objects
+ cannot be shielded can be shielded
+ incredibly weaker enormously stronger
+ Superposition Principle: When we
have more than two charges in proximity,
the forces between them get more
complicated. The forces, being vectors,
just have to be added up. We call this
the superposition principle.
+ Superposition Principle  The
resultant force on a charge is the
vector sum of the forces exerted on
it by other charges.
ELECTRIC FIELD
Analogy
The electric field is the space
around an electrical charge

just like

a gravitational field is the space

around a mass.
Electric Field
+ Space around a charge.
• Michael Faraday suggested the idea of a force field
to explain how the electric force can act at a
distance.
• An electric field is a property of the space around
a charged object that exerts forces on other
charged objects.
• You cannot see an electric field, but there are ways
to detect that an electric field is present.
The Electric Field
+ An electrically charged
object sets up a force field
around it; this force field is
known as an electric field.
+ To help visualize an
electric field, look at a
group of grass seeds
suspended in a fluid (see
figure on the right).
The Electric Field

+ In figure (a) there is no net electric charge, and hence no electric

field. The seeds point in random directions.
+ In figure (b), the seeds line up in the direction of the electric
field. Each seed experiences an electric force, and the force
causes it to align with the field.
+ The standard way to draw electric fields is shown in the figure on
the next slide. Here a positive charge +Q is shown at the center
of figure (a) and a negative charge –Q is shown at the center of
figure (b).

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

The Electric Field

+The direction of an electric field is away

from a positive charge and toward a
negative charge.
+ You've just seen the connection between the
direction of the electric field and the direction of
the electric force. How do we determine the
magnitude of the electric field?
+ By definition, the magnitude of the electric field is
the electric force per charge:
+ In solving for the q, you must use the test
charge’s value
NOTE:
+A negative charge experiences a
force opposite to the direction of the
electric field.
+A positive charge experiences a force in
the same direction of the electric field.
A test charge is a positive electric charge
whose charge is so small that it does not
significantly disturb the charges that
create the electric field. The electric field
exerts a force on the test charge in a given
direction. The force exerted is proportional
to the charge of the test charge. The
electric charge that produces the electric
field is called a source charge.
Test Charge vs Point
Charge or Source Charge
Problem
Problem
 N

15°
Problem q’
E

An electric field is measured using a positive test charge of

3.0×10−6 C. The test charge experiences a force of 0.12 N at an
angle of 15° north of east. What are the magnitude and
direction of the electric field at the location of the test
charge?

Answer: 40,000 N/C at 15° north of east

Problem
A test charge of +3µC is located 5m to the east of
a -4µC charge.
A) Find the electric force felt by the test charge.
B) Find the electric field at that location.

Answer: 4.32x10 N, -3

1.44 x 103 N/C along the –x axis

 Problem
The electron in a hydrogen atom orbits the proton at a radius
of 0.053 nm. What is the electric field due to the proton at the
position of the electron?

Because the proton is positive, the electric field is directed away from the proton:
E = (5.1  1011 N/C, outward from the proton)
Problem
Gordon, the night custodian, dusts off a classroom
globe with a feather duster, causing the globe to
acquire a charge of 8.0 10-9 C. What is the magnitude
and direction of the electric field at a point 0.40 m from
the center of the charged globe?
 Modeling the Electric Field

When more than one electric charge is present,

the electric fields add together.
ELECTRIC FLUX
ANALOGY

Think of air blowing in through a window. How much

air comes through the window depends upon
the speed of the air, the direction of the air, and
the area of the window. We might call this air that
comes through the window the "air flux".
ELECTRIC FLUX
The flux is a maximum when the surface is
perpendicular and zero if parallel to the field
Electric Flux
+ Electric flux is the product of the magnitude
of the electric field and the surface area, A,
perpendicular to the field

ΦE = EA
Electric Flux
+ The electric flux is proportional to the number of electric
field lines penetrating some surface

+ The field lines may make some angle θ with the

perpendicular to the surface

+ Then

 
 EA cos  E A

+ The flux is a maximum (zero) when the surface is

perpendicular (parallel) to the field
Epsilon Naught and k
ε0
The value of epsilon naught 0 is 8.854187817 ×
10⁻¹². F.m⁻¹ (In SI Unit), where the unit is farads per
meter.
k is proportionality constant and equals to 1/4 π ε 0.
Here, ε0 is the epsilon naught and it signifies
permittivity of a vacuum. The value of k comes 9 ×
109 Nm2/ C2 when we take the S.I unit of value of ε 0 is
8.854 × 10-12 C2 N-1 m-2.
PROBLEM
Calculate the electric flux through a sphere of radius 4m
that contains (a) +50uC and (b) -50uC charge at its center.
Φ = EA Note: k = 1/ 4π
ε0
= E 4πr2 Solution:
a (outbound) b (inward)
= kq 4 π r2
Φ= q
r2
=kq4π ε0
=1 q4π 50 x 10 -6 / 8.854 × 10-12
=
4π ε0
= 5.65 x 10 6 N.m2/C
Φ =q For (b) = - 5.65 x 10 6 N.m2/C
PROBLEM

An electric flux of Φ = 5 N.m2/C passes through a

flat surface that is perpendicular to a constant
electric field of strength E = 3N/C . What is the area
of the surface?

A = 1.7 m2
PROBLEM

The surface in the previous problem is now turned 90

degrees so it is parallel to the electric field of
strength E = 3N/C . What is the electric flux through
the surface now?

Φ = 0 N.m2/C
In electromagnetism, electric flux measures the amount of
electric field passing through a given surface area in unit time.
Enclosed Charge
+Consider a box that may or may not contain
an electric charge. We can let this box
represent an imaginary surface that may or
may not enclose some charge. Since it
completely holds a volume, we’ll refer to
the box as a closed surface. Knowing that
a charge distribution produces an electric
field, we can measure on the surface of the
box to determine what is inside the box.
Recall that the electric field is radially
outward from a positive charge and
radially in toward a negative point
charge.
Note: Outward flux is positive; inward
Which of the following has no
electric flux?
Answer: All of
them is 0. Why?
+ In Figure a, the box is empty, there is no charge and hence
E=0 everywhere.
+ In Figure 3b, the net charge inside is zero since the positive
and negative charges (equal magnitude) cancel each other
out. There is an electric field, but the same amount that
“flows into” the box also “flows out of” the box. Again there
is no net electric flux into or out of the box
Answer: All of
them is 0. Why?
+ The box is empty in Figure c. But there is charge outside
the box. One end of the box is parallel to a uniformly
charged infinite sheet, and this sheet produces a uniform
electric field perpendicular to its surface. On one side of
the box, points into the box; on the opposite side, E points
out of the box; on the other four sides, is parallel to the
surface and points neither into nor out of the box. As in
Figure b, the inward electric flux on one side exactly
compensates for the outward electric flux on the other
side.
Gauss’s Law

+ Gauss’s Law states that the total electric flux

through any closed surface enclosing a definite
volume is proportional to the total (net) electric
charge inside the surface