1 - Electric Charges and Fields

DEEPAK THAPLIYAL
KV OLF DEHRADUN
SYLLABUS :
CHAPTER–1: ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELDS
Electric Charges; Conservation of charge, Coulomb's law - force between two point
charges, forces between multiple charges; superposition principle and continuous charge
distribution.
Electric field, electric field due to a point charge, electric field lines, electric dipole,
electric field due to a dipole, torque on a dipole in uniform electric field. Electric flux,
statement of Gauss's theorem and its applications to find field due to infinitely long
straight wire, uniformly charged infinite plane sheet and uniformly charged thin
spherical shell (field inside and outside).
ELECTRIC CHARGES :
Electric charge, basic inherent property of matter due to which two bodies exert
electrostatics forces on each other
Electric charge carried by particles governs how the particles are affected by an electric or
magnetic field. Electric charge, which can be positive or negative, occurs in discrete natural
units and is neither created nor destroyed.
S.I unit to measure electric charge is coulomb (C)
Charge possessed by an electron
QUANTIZATION OF ELECTRIC CHARGE :

The quantization of electric charge is the property by virtue of which all free
charges are integral multiple of a basic unit of charge represented by e. Thus
charge q of a body is always given by
q = ne
n = positive integer or negative integer
CHARGES EXERT ELECTROSTATIC FORCES ON EACH OTHER :
LIKE CHARGES REPEL
UNLIKE CHARGE ATTRACT
COULOMB'S LAW :
The electrostatic force of interaction between two
static point electric charges is
1. directly proportional to the product of the
charges, and
2. inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them and acts along the straight
line joining the two charges.
SUPERPOSITION PRINCIPLE :
When a number of charges are interacting, the
total force on a given charge is vector sum of the
forces exerted on it by all other charges
individually
 Consider the three point charges q1=+2 μC, q2=−5μC, and q3=+8μC that are shown in
Fig. Find the resultant force exerted on the charge q2 by the two charges q1 and q3. (b) In
a different layout (see second fig) q2 experiences a resultant force of zero. Find the
position of q2 and find the magnitude of each force exerted on q2.
 Consider three charges q1=+5μC, q2=+10 μC, and q3=−2 μC are setup as shown in Fig. Find
the resultant force exerted on the charge q2 by the two charges q1 and q3.
 Two equally charged identical small metal balls kept some fixed distance apart exert a
repulsive force F on each other. A similar uncharged ball, after touching one of them is
placed at the mid-point of line joining the two balls. Find the force experienced by the
third ball .
 Two equal balls having equal positive charge ‘q’ coulombs are suspended by two
insulating strings of equal length. What would be the effect on the force when a plastic
sheet is inserted between the two? (AI 2014)
ELECTRIC FIELD :
Electric field of a charged body is defined as the space
around that charged body, where if we bring another charge
it will experience the force due to that charged body.
ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY ( E ) :

The electric field intensity E at a point in space is defined as
the electric force F acting on a unit positive test charge qo
located at that point.
S.I unit ---- N/C (Newton per Coulomb)

THE ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY DUE TO A POINT CHARGE :
PHYSICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF E
ELECTRIC DIPOLE :
An electric dipole is defined as an assembly of opposite
charges q and –q separated by a distance 2l.
ELECTRIC DIPOLE MOMENT (P) :

The electric dipole moment of an electric dipole is given as
the product of the magnitude of either charge with the
distance between the two charges.
S.I unit ----- C-M (coulomb-metre )
Electric dipole moment is a vector quantity

and it is always directed from -q to +q charge.
The midpoint of dipole is called the centre of
the dipole and all the measurements are done
from the centre.
ELECTRIC FIELD DUE TO AN ELECTRIC DIPOLE :
1:- AT AXIAL POINT
ELECTRIC FIELD DUE TO AN ELECTRIC DIPOLE :
2 :- AT EQUATORIAL POINT
ELECTRIC FIELD LINES :
The concept of electric field lines was introduced by Faraday as an
approach to help us visualize electric fields qualitatively .
 An electric field line is defined as a path, in an electric field ,

on which a small positive test charge moves under the
influence of electric field ,if free to do so.
PROPERTIES OF ELECTRIC FIELD LINES :
1. An electric field line is an imaginary curve drawn in such a way
that the direction of its tangent at any point gives the direction of
the electric field vector E at that point
2. Two electric field lines can never intersect/cross each other
3. Electric field lines can never be closed loops ,i.e. are discontinues
4. Lines of force ends or starts normally at the surface of a
conductor.
5. Lines of force per unit area normal to the area at a point
represents magnitude of intensity , crowded line represent strong
field while distant lines weak field.
6. The number of lines originating or terminating on a charge is
proportional to the magnitude of charge. In MKS system (1/ εo)
electric lines are associated with unit charge, so if a body encloses
a charge q , total lines of force associated with it (called flux) will
be q/ εo .
Area Vector: n
Small area of a surface can be represented by a vector.
dS
dS = dS n
dS
S
ELECTRIC FLUX :
Electric flux linked through a surface held in an electric field is the
measure of electric field lines crossing through that surface
mathematically
GAUSS'S THEOREM :
The surface integral of the electric field intensity over any closed hypothetical surface
(called Gaussian surface) in free space is equal to 1/ε0 times the net charge enclosed within
the surface.
OR
the total electric flux linked with a closed Gaussian surface is always equals to 1/ε0 times
the net charge enclosed by the closed surface.
APPLICATIONS OF GAUSS'S THEOREM :
FIELD DUE TO INFINITELY LONG STRAIGHT CHARGED WIRE:
APPLICATIONS OF GAUSS'S THEOREM :
FIELD DUE TO INFINITELY LARGE SHEET OF CHARGE :
ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY DUE TO TWO PARALLEL, INFINITELY LARGE, THIN PLANE SHEET
OF CHARGE :
ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY DUE TO A UNIFORMED CHARGED SPHERICAL SHELL:
VARIATION OF THE MAGNITUDE OF THE ELECTRIC FIELD WITH DISTANCE FROM THE
CENTER OF A UNIFORMLY CHARGED SPHERICAL SHELL :

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DEEPAK THAPLIYAL

QUANTIZATION OF ELECTRIC CHARGE :

ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY ( E ) :

S.I unit ---- N/C (Newton per Coulomb)

ELECTRIC DIPOLE MOMENT (P) :

S.I unit ----- C-M (coulomb-metre )

Electric dipole moment is a vector quantity

 An electric field line is defined as a path, in an electric field ,

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