Unit 7 Electricity I

1. Electrostatics
1.1 Electric charge
If a glass rod is rubbed with a silk, some electrons are moved from the
glass to the silk by friction. So the glass rod becomes positively charged
and the silk negatively charged. Since the glass and silk have opposite
charges, they attract each others. Two such rubbed glass rods will repel
one another since each rod has positive charges on it. The phenomenon of
attraction or repulsion between charged objects is called electrostatics.
In above process, no electrons are created or destroyed; they are simply
transferred from one object to another, while the total charges are not
changed. The rules of electrostatics are:
• objects with the same charge repel
• objects with opposite charges attract

Electric charge q has the unit Coulomb in SI unit, abbreviated C. The

basic charge of an electron and a proton are identical in magnitude but
opposite in sign. The magnitude of this basic charge is:
qe =1.6x10-19 C.
From above relation: 1 C = 6.25 x 1018 electrons (or protons)

1.2 Electrostatic force

The attraction or repulsion forces between charges are called electrostatic force.
The direction of the electrostatic force is based on the charge involved. Opposite charges
generate an attractive force (the sign is negative); like charges generate a repulsive force (the
sign is positive). The magnitude of the force is proportional to the product of q1 and q2 ; and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance r. Therefore the electrostatic force:
• decreases with distance
 increases with quantity of charges

r r

q1 q2 q1 q2
(a) Opposite charges (b) like charges

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1.2 Charges at work

Electrons can be transferred from one object to another by simple touching; this method of
charging is called charging by contact. The example of electroscope is an example of charging
by contact.
An electroscope is made with gold foil leaves hung from a metal stem and is insulated from the
air in a glass-walled container.

(a) A positively charged glass rod is brought near the

electroscope, attracting electrons to the top and leaving a net
positive charge on the leaves. Like charges in the light flexible
gold leaves repel, separating them. (b) When the rod is touched
against the ball, electrons are attracted and transferred,
reducing the net charge on the glass rod but leaving the
electroscope positively charged. (c) The excess charges are
evenly distributed in the stem and leaves of the electroscope
once the glass rod is removed.

Substances, such as metals, in which electrons can flow freely, are good conductors. Plastic,
polyethylene and rubber conduct badly and are called insulators.

Charging by contact is not the only way to transfer excess charges to a

metallic object in order to charge it. In this example, (a) Two uncharged
or neutral metal spheres are in contact with each other but insulated
from the rest of the world. (b) A positively charged glass rod is brought
near the sphere on the left, attracting negative charge and leaving the
other sphere positively charged. (c) The spheres are separated before
the rod is removed, thus separating negative and positively charge. (d)
The spheres retain net charges after the inducing rod is removed. This
process is called charging by induction.

In insulators the charging takes place differently: no free charge

flows, a charged object attract an insulator by polarizing its
molecules: the center of positive charge and negative charge of a
molecules shift slightly: charge polarization.

Negatively charged clouds induce a positive charge on the surface of a building. Lightening strike
occurs when there is a sudden discharge between the cloud and the building. The purpose of a

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lightening rod is to continually collect electrons from air and discharge them, preventing a large
buildup of positive charges on the building by induction.

1.3 The electric field

Electric field E defines the electric force exerted on a positive test charge qo positioned within
any given space:
r
F
E=
qo

qo
q
The direction of E depends on the force exerted
by the charge q. Since the test charge qo is positive, if the charge q is positive, an repulsive
force is generated and the direction of E is away the charge q; if the charge q is negative, an
attractive force is generated and the direction of E is toward the q;. Electric field is expressed
in SI unit as N/C.

Electric field line is used to express directly the direction and the intensity of the electric field
E. The arrow points to the direction of the electric field, the number of lines indicates the
intensity of the electric field.

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1.4 The electric potential difference (voltage)

A charge accelerated by an electric field is analogous to a mass

going down hill. In both cases potential energy is converted to
kinetic energy.

In the first case; the electric potential energy (EPE) of the

charge is converted to kinetic energy of the charge q.

The electric potential difference or voltage, ∆V , is the

change of the EPE per unit charge, considering the test charge q moving from A to B, then:

EPE B − EPE
∆V = VB −VA = A
or ∆EPE = ∆V ⋅ q
q

The unit for ∆V is Volt (V). 1V=1 J/C.

1.5 Capacitors
A capacitor is a device that can store energy and
consists of two oppositely charged conductor plates
that are separated by a distance d. The capacitance C +Q -Q
is defined as :
q
C =
∆V
where q is the magnitude of charge stored on each plate
E
and ∆V is the potential difference between the two
metal plates. (sometimes we use simply V to represent
∆V ).
Area A d
The SI unit for capacitance is the farad (F), 1 F =1 C/V.

The potential energy stored in a capacitor is given by :

1
U = c( ∆V ) 2
2

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The insulating material inserted between the
plates is called a dielectric. The charged plates
polarize the molecules in the insulating material
between the plates of a capacitor. This produces a
layer of opposite charge on the surface of the
dielectric that attracts more charge onto the
plate, increasing its capacitance. The capacitance
of a parallel plate capacitor with a dielectric is:
κ εo A
C =
d
where ε o = 8.85 × 10 C / N ⋅ m is the permittivity of the free space,
−12 2 2
κ the dielectric constant
of the insulating material, and A is the area of each plate.

All living cells are protected from environment by a thin semi-permeable wall called a cell
membrane. The membrane possesses channels of pores that allow a selective passage of
metabolites and ions in and out of the cell. The thickness of a cell membrane varies between 7nm
to 10nm (1nm=10-9m). Membranes act as capacitor maintaining a potential difference between
oppositely charged surfaces of inside and out cell. This potential is about 0.1V, giving rise to an
electric field of about 10MV/m, a very high electric field. A typical value of the capacitance per
unit area C/A is about 1 mF/cm2 for cell membranes. This relates the membrane’s dielectric
constant κ via:
C κ oε
=
A d
giving a value of κ ≅ 10 for membrane. Here is some dielectric constants of various dielectrics:

Materials: Air Pyrex mica Silicon Ethanol water BaTiO3

κ : 1 4.7 5.4 12 25 80 7000

2. Electric current
2.1 Charge flow

A charged particle is accelerated in a electric field. The flow of electric charges in a conductor
is called electric current. The flow of charges is caused uniquely by the electric potential
difference (or voltage) at the two ends of the conducting wire. A positive charge accelerates
from a region of higher electric potential to a region of lower potential; a negative charge
accelerates from a region of lower potential to a region of higher potential.

To sustain such flow of charge, a special device must be provided to maintain the voltage. The
situation is analogue to the flow of water from a higher reservoir to a lower one. The simplest
“pumping” device which provides such voltage is a battery.

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The current I is given by:
∆q
I =
∆t

where ∆ q is the magnetite of the charge crossing a surface in a

time ∆ t, the surface being perpendicular to the motion of charge. The SI unit of current is
ampere (A), 1 A= 1 C/s.

In a circuit of metal wires, electrons make-up the flow of charge. These electrons are called
conduction electrons. The direction of the current is defined as the opposite direction of the
conduction electrons.

2.2 Electrolysis
Certain chemical compounds conduct electricity when they are melted or dissolved in water.
Solution containing salt and water is an electrolyte. In solution, sodium chloride will ionize giving
sodium ion Na and chloride ion Cl-:
+

NaCl → Na + + Cl −

and Cl − ions are mobile ions and can move if a voltage is applied to the solution by means
+
Na
of two electrodes: an electric current is formed by negatively charged chloride ions Cl −
moving to the positive electrode (anode), and positively charged sodium ions Na to the
+

negative electrode (cathode). The conducting liquid is called electrolyte and the process is called
electrolysis. Ohm’s law reminds valid for electrolytic current.

Electrical current in organisms is generally not carried by electrons. Instead it is carried by the
mobile ions, such as Na+, Cl-, K+ of electrolytic solutions. Ohm’s law reminds valid for electrolytic
current. The typical order of resistivity for body fluid is about 1 Ω ⋅ m . This is eight order of
magnitudes of the resistivity of copper.

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 When a small dc current is applied to the body by
means of two electrodes, one cathode and another
anode, the body tissue will carry on the current. This
happens because tissue fluid is an electrolyte and it
contains a high percentage of salt ions, such as Na+,
Cl-, K+. This is the basic principle of galvanic
treatment used in beauty therapy.

2.3 Electrical resistance

The rate of charge flow, the current, depends on the voltage and the electrical resistance
provided by the conductor. Their relationship is summarized by the Ohm’s law ,
V
I =
R
It states that the current in a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage established across
the circuit and is inversely proportional to the resistance of the circuit:

The resistance is measured in volts per ampere, a unit called ohm ( Ω). Typical light bulb has a
resistance of 100 ohms, an iron or toaster has a resistance of 15-20 ohms. Inside a circuit,
current is regulated by a device called resistors.

Rules for resistors:

• Resistance varies with temperature. For metals it increases with temperature.
• Resistance depends on the nature of substance
• For a resistor of given shape, its resistance is directly proportional to length (which is
also the direction of the current path) and is inversely proportional to the cross section
area A:
L
R =ρ
A
R is the resistance in ohms, L length in m, A
area in m2. ρ resistivity in ohm-m. A

L
A high resistivity indicates that the material is a
good insulator, while a low resistivity means that
the material is a good conductor.

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Material Resistivity (Ω ．m) Characteristic
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copper 1.7x10-8 Good conductor
Germanium 0.6 Fair conductor
Body fluids 2-0.2 Fair conductor
Glass 10 9~14
Good insulator
Mica 1011-15 Good insulator
------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.4 Electric circuit

The equivalent resistance R of a series combination of resistance R1, R2, R3 …is :
R= R1+ R2+ R3 +…

The equivalent resistance R of a parallel combination of resistance R1, R2, R3 …is :

1 1 1 1
= + + + ...
R R1 R2 R3

2.5 Electric power

A current moving in circuit converts its potential energy to other form of energies: thermal
energy, mechanical energy, light energy…. It is proportional to electric potential difference ∆ V
and charge q: i.e.
∆EPE = ∆V ⋅ q
The rate at which electric energy is converted into other form of energy is called electric
power. i.e.
∆EPE ∆V ⋅ q
P= = = ∆V ⋅ I
t t
∆ V can be simplified to voltage V. Thus electric power P is equal to the product of current and
voltage:
P = IV

Power has the unit of J/s, or watts (W), thus 1 A x 1V =1W.

When current passes through a resistor R, the electric energy is converted to other energy and
is related to the resistance by Ohm’s law:
V2
P = I 2R =
R

2.6 Direct current (dc) and alternating current (ac)

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When the charge flow is uni-directional, the current is called direct current (dc), If the
direction of the charge flow changes from moment to moment, the current is referred to as
alternating current (ac).

In a circuit, if the current is dc, both voltage and current are constant in time; if the current is
ac, the voltage and current vary sinusoidally with time.

V =V0 sin 2πft

I = I 0 sin 2πft

The heights of the waves give peak current Io and peak voltage
Vo. and Io=Vo/R. In HK, the frequency of the ac mains is 60 Hz,
that is, the current varies 60 cycles in 1 s.

2.7 Average power and peak power

The power of an ac current is P = IV = I oV sin 2πf and is

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time-varying. Its peak value is IoVo. So the average power

1
∴Pave = peak power = 12 I 0V0
2

Similarly we define average current (rms or effective) and average voltage of an ac current:

I0 V0
I rms = Vrms =
2 2
From above: I o Vo 1
Pave = I rms Vrms = = I oVo
2 2 2