Electricity & Magnetism 1. Electrostatic: 1.1 Introduction Electrostatics is the branch of electricity that deals with charges at rest, Because moving charge gives rise to electric current and electric current is the source of magnetism, the study of electricity and magnetism begins with clectrostat Anatom consists of a nucleus made up of particles called protons and neutrons, around which exists a diffuse cloud of particles called electrons. Electric charge, like mass, is an intrinsic property of protons and electrons. Experiments have shown the following facts: 1. There exist two types of electric charge which we now call positive and negative. 2. Like charges repel and unlike charges attract. 3. Charge is quantized: Experiments show that electri charge occurs in nature as integral multiples of 1.602177 33(49) x 10-2 © = coulomb (C).* ‘The magnitude of the charge on the proton ot electron is denoted by the symbol ¢, The charge on the proton is exactly equal and opposite to the charge on the electron. By convention, the charge of the proton is +e and the charge of the electron is ~e. ‘The charge e is the smallest amount of free charge that has been discovered. Any charge q is therefore an integer multiple of e. ‘Thus if N is an intoger. The SI unit of charge is the q=Ne. Q) Atoms normally have an equal number of protons and electrons and therefore have no net charge since the algebraic sum of the charges of all the protons and electrons is zero, An atom that carries no net charge is said to be electrically neutral. An atom that has a not electrical charge (because it has lost or gained one or more electrons) is called an ion 4. Conservation of charge: The algebraic sum of all electric charges in an isolated system remains constant, It is possible to transfer charge from one object to another. For example when hard rubber is rubbed against animal fur, electrons are transferred from atoms in the fur to the rubber. As a result, the rubber gains a net negative charge and the fur gains a net positive charge, No electrons or protons are created or destroyed when charge is transferred. Experiments have verified that during any process the law of conservation of electric charge is obeyed, “The coulomb is defined in Section 15Electric charge can not only be transferred to and from different objects, it can also move through materials. An electrical conductor is a material through which an clectric charge is readily transferred. Most metals are good conductors. An electrical insulator is a material through which an electric charge is not readily transferred. Good insulators are such poor conductors that we consider them to be nonconductors. Glass, rubbers, plastics, ete. ate good insulators, Invariance of charge: The charge on a particle is independent of its speed. This is not an obvious property. For instance mass is not invariant, as Einstein’s special relativity predicted, and experiment has confirmed Example 1.1; The number of electrons in a charge Determine the number of electrons required to produce a charge of 1 coulomb, Solution: ‘The charge of an electron is e = 1.60 x 107! C. Hence the number of electrons required to produce a charge of 1 C may be found using Equation (1) 4 1 fm Tae ~ 025 * 10" electrons 1.2 Coulomb’s law ‘The electrostatic force that two charges exert on each other depends on the amount of charge on each object and the distance between the two objects. For two stationary charges q, and 4 separated by a distance r the magnitude of this force is given by Coulomb's law: kang u @ F ‘The constant of proportionality k in Coulomb's law is determined experimentally and has a value of 9.0 x 10” Nm? C~? if the charges are in vacuum (and also in air to a good appr mation). It is common practice to express the constant k as 1 k where ¢9 is the permittivity of free space. The force in Equation (2) between two point charges at rest acts along the line joining the charges and is attractive if the charges have opposite signs and repulsive if the charges have the same sign (see figure 1), Thus (3) where Fy» is the force exerted by gi on g and # is a unit vector which points from q; in the direction of 9 1.2.1 Principle of superposition ‘The principle of superposition applied to Coulomb's lav states that the total force on a charge due to other charges in vacuum is the vector sum of the forces due to each charge on its own, as if only it were present. Experiment shows that such superposition applies. 2Figure 1: The force between two charges at rest acts along the line joing them. The force is attractive for unlike charges and repulsive for like charges, 1.2.2. Applications of Coulomb's law In calculating a Coulombic force from Equation (3) obtain its alla © magnitude from |F| = rea © direction from: Likes repel, unlikes attract. * units in newtons using q in coulombs and r in metres, Example 1.2: Coulomb's law Point charges of 2pC and —3 pC are at rest 4em apart in vacuum. Calculate the force on the 2nC charge. Solution: The magnitude of the force is _ kauda _ (9.0 x 108) x (2 x 1074) x (3 x 10-4) r (4x 10-7)? F = 33.75 N, The charges have opposite signs so the force is attractive (the force is towards the —3 yC. charge) Example 1.3: Coulomb's law ‘Two stationary electrons lie in a vacuum at points on the » axis with coordinates -2nm and 3nm. What is the force on the electron at —2nm? Solution: The distance between the electrons is r = | — 2—3| =5nm. The magnitude of the force between the electrons is 2 p— Kate _ et (9.0 x 10) x (1.60 x 10-9)? » — ORM RORY ~ 92x10 (6x10) The charges have the same sign so the force is repulsive (the force on the electron at —2nm. is in the negative-x direction)Example 1.4: Superposition and Coulomb's law: one dimension Charges lie in a vacuum on a line, as in the figure below. Find the force on qi inc Ine seme. & * Solution: Use the superposition principle (choose positive-r direction to the right) F=Fu+Fu The magnitudes of Fy, and F5, are Fy = Hide _ 9X 1P KT IO XT 10 _ ogy vh (1x10) kqigs — 9x 10 x 1x 10° x 2x 10°* mh (4x10)? and 11.25N. Pa ‘The force Fy, exerted by gy on qi is attractive and therefore to the right. Fy is repulsive and therefore to the left. Hence P= Fy + Py = (490-11 Example 1.5: Superposition and Coulomb's law: two dimensions A B In the figure ABCD is a square of side Lem with contre ° ©. Charges are placed in vacuum as shown. Calculate the resultant force on —39, where g = 10-°C c af Solution: ‘The forces due to the charges at A and O act at C along the diagonal AC. The force due to the charge at D on the charge at C is along DC. The force on the charge at C is the resultant of these forces, The length of the diagonal is ¥2em. _ Range _ (9x 10") x (10~%) x (3 x 108) Tae (Vix 107)? Fog = 4X Frye = 540. Kapge _ (9x 10! Toe (107) Fro he ) x (2x 10) x (8109) ssa ‘The resultant of Fe and Foc is 540 ~ 135 = 405) to A, and the direction of Fy is from C to D. ‘The resultant force on the —3q charge at C is 875N at an angle of 19.1" above CD.Example 1.6: A perspective on the magnitude of the force given by Coulomb's law Estimate the electrostatic force of attraction between the electrons and protons in a grain of salt if these are separated by a distance of 100m. Data Assume a grain of salt is a cube with sides of length € = 0.4mm. The average distance between the nuclei in an NaCl erystal is d= 2.8 x 10-!°m. ‘The chemical symbols of sodium and chlorine are #Na and *43Cl respectively. The charge of a proton (or electron) is q = +1.6 x 10, Solution: From the above data, a grain of salt contains about 6\8 (oax ios) as f) _ (Sax toy at (5)'= (2288) 29 1 ‘The number of electrons (or protons) is N 3(L+17) x 2.9 x 10% = 441 x 10” ‘The force between charges qi and q separated by a distance r is given by Coulomb’s law 9x 10? x (4.1 x 10" x 1.6 x 10-9 ~ 100? 9x 107 ‘To put this number into perspective, the mass of an elephant is about 5 tonne (5000 kg) ‘Thus the electrostatic force of attraction between all the electrons and protons in a grain of salt, when separated by a distance of 100m, is sufficient to lift about 780 elephants! 1.3. The electric field The region of space surrounding a charged body is allected by the presence of the charge, A second charge brought into this region experiences a force according to Coulomb's law Because electrical forces involve interactions over a distance it is helpful to introduce the concept of electric field E. Electric field We define the electric field E at a point as the force per umit charge exerted on a stationary, positive, test charge placed at that point, (4) Note that E is a vector quantity and therefore has direction as well as magnitude. The SI unit of electric field is newton per coulomb (NC~!) # The charge used to measure the force (called the test charge) must be stationary, because ‘a moving charge might also experience a magnetic force in addition to the electric force on it, as we shall see later.To state in the definition of E that it is the force on a unit charge is incorrect. Force per unit charge (units NC?) is not the same as force (unit N), even if it is a force on a unit charge. «From Equation (4) the force on a charge q at a point in a vacuum where the field is E is, F=4E (3) # Since E is a vector its direction must be stated. If q is a positive charge, then from Equation (5) the vectors F and E are parallel. Thus to find the direction of Eat a point, one must first determine the direction of the force on a positive test charge at the point, using the result: likes repel, unlikes attr: 1.3.1 E due to a stationary point charge in vacuum Let q be a stationary point charge in vac- P uum. To find its field E at a point P ae r distance r from q, place a stationary test charge go at P. The force which ¢ exerts q , P on qj at P is the Coulomb force. From we Equation (2) é where f is the unit vector from q to qo, ie, from q to P. From the definition in Equation (4) the electric field at P is # Since the Coulomb force is inverse square, so also is t of a point charge in vacuum ¢ electric field (or Coulomb field) « Since the principle of superposition applies to Coulomb forces, it also applies to Coulomb fields 1.3.2 Field lines ‘To visualise the electric and magnetic ficlds, Michael Faraday introduced the idea of ficld lines (or lines of force). Field lines are imaginary lines, not necessarily straight and are drawn according to the following conventions ‘The direction of the field at any point is the tangent to the field line at that point, 2. The magnitude of the field strength is represented by the number of lines per unit area passing perpendicularly through a small area at that point. If at any point the net field is zero, then no lines will pass through it. Such a point is called a neutral point. Some properties of field lines are: ‘At any point the electric field may have only one direction. Hence field lines never intersectequal charges of # Ina uniform field the lines are s ight, parallel and ‘© The stronger the field at any point the more closely spaced are the field lines © As the ficld from a stationary positive charge acts outwards from the charge in all directions because of Equation (6), its field lines are straight lines radiat- ing outwards. For a stationary negative charge they radiate inwards to the charge. Hence in an elec- trostatic field the field lines necessarily begin on positive charge and end on negative charge (if necessary assumed at infinity), They cannot start or stop in free space # It can be shown that the ficld duc to a point charge moving with constant velocity is still radial but is, now bunched up perpendicular to its velocity. The number of field lines for a given charge is the same as when it is at rest Uniform field weaker field sronger field ___——e S== Figures 2(a) and 2(b) show the electric field due to two equal charges of opposite sign and two same sign, respectively Figure 2: Electric field lines of (a) two unlike charges and (b) two like charges1.3.3 Examples of calculating Coulomb fields Im using Equation (6) to calculate the electric field at a point due to one or more point charges ‘* Find the magnitude of the field due to each charge at the point from t the point is the direction of the force * The direction of the field due to each charge on a positive test charge at the point. * The principle of superposition is then used to find the resultant field at the point due to more than one charge. Since E is a vector, either resolve in two perpendicular directions, followed by the use of Pythagoras, or use a vector polygon, Example 1.7: Electric field of an electron of an electron at a point 5 x 10- m away. Caleulate Solution: The magnitude of the field is 1g _ (9x 10°) x (1.60 x 107 sa 7 (oxi) = 5.76 x 10" NC A positive test charge at the point will experience a force radially in towards the electron The field therefore also points radially in towards the elec Example 1.8: Electric field at a point due to two charges Stationary charges lie in a vacuum, as in the figure below. 2uc P -3nC lem + 2m —"# _> Find the field at P. Solution: The magnitnde of the field at P due to the 2pC charge is a _ (9x 10%) x (2 x 10-*) 4 < = 18x 10°NC* 07 (1x 107) the —3yC in the positive-r direction, The magnitude of the field at P due t ange is 1g _ Ox) x 8x0) os rote iey 72 (2x07) also in the positive- direction. The resultant field is therefore E = 2.475 x 10°&NC™Example 1.9: Electric field due to an arrangement of charges in two dimensions. Charges of 2nC and 4n€ lie in vacuum at two corners of an equilateral triangle of side 3.cm Find the field at the third corner. Solution: The calculation is left as an exercise 2nc nc 4x 1o¢Nc7 B=5.29x10'NC? Example 1.10: Neutral point in a field due to two point charges Charges of +5nC and +20nC are located 30cm apart in air, Calculate (a) the force between them, and (b) the position of the neutral point in the resulting electric field. Solution: (a) Since both charges are positive, they repel each other. The force is given by Bqua- tion (2) x 10° x (5 x 10-8) (20x 10 0.3? (b) The neutral point will be where the net force exerted on a test charge gy is zero. This has to be between the charges, on the line joining the charges and closer to the smaller charge. Let x be the unknown distance. = 10% 10°N, Sac % 20nC 0.3m ———_——_+ Use Equation (2) to determine the force on a test charge qo for each charge. Thus Kx 5x10 X qo _ kX 20x 10° x go 2 (03—a)? whieh ies 5 20, UF Solving the above equation gives ¢ = —0.3m or « = 0.1m, We reject the negative solution as unphysical 91.4 Electric potential and potential difference A charge in an electric field experiences a force F = gB. I points A and B in the field, then work is done because of t! done. Then 1¢ charge is moved between two is force, Let Wan be the work if Wan = 0, points A and B are said to be at the same electric potential. © if Was #0, points A and B are at different electric potential; that is there is a potential difference (pd) between the points ‘The potential difference Vas between points A and B in an electrostatic field is the work per unit charge done on any charge in moving it slowly from A to B. If the potential difference is denoted Vag, then in symbols, Wan Vaz = (7) where Wag is the work done in slow in the SI sy moving q from A to B. The unit of potential difference tom is the volt (1V =1JC One volt is the pd between two points in an electric field if 1 joule of work moves a charge of 1 coulomb between these points, The pd Van between points A and B is the difference between the electric potential at A and the electric potential at B. If we also denote electric potential by the symbol V then Van = Va ~ Ba, which is the potential at B relative to A. One often specifies an electric potential relative to some convenient reference point A, whose potential Va is arbitrarily set to zero, Then Equations (7) and (8) become Wan Va — Va = Va = when Va = where A is the reference point. This leads to the definition of electric potential, ‘The electric potential V at a point P is the work per unit charge that must be done on any charge to take it slowly from a chosen reference point to the point P. ‘Thus == (9) Note ‘ Potential and potential difference are scalar quantities. + If the work W done on a positive test change is greater than zero, then the potential at B is higher than the potential at A. Conversely, if W <0 then Vs < Va # In the above definitions, q is moved slowly (quasi-statically) so that its kinetic energy is zero. The work done on the charge, W = qV, is then the potential energy of g relative to the reference point. 101.5 An important connection between V and E It is possible to prove an important connection between the electric field E and the electric potential V. Instead of working through a formal derivation, we quote the result: Yaa = Va-Va= = f Bar, (10) where dr is the magnitude of an infinitesimal displacement in the direction of the field, Here dr = |dr| and E = |E 1.5.1 Electric field between two uniformly charged parallel plates B (a) () Figure 3: The electric field between parallel plates. Consider two parallel metal plates separated by a distance d and connected to a battery which maintains a constant pd Vo between the plates. Suppose the top plate is positively charged with respect to the bottom plate which is grounded (i.c. at zero potential) as shown in Figure 3, ‘Then Equation (10) gives Vs —Va = ef dr = —Elrg — ra) = - Kd, since rg —r4 = d. Also Vy = 0 and Va = Vo, hen or any Note that Equation (11) gives as units for electric field Vm~!. (1 V m~! is the same as INC"! — these units are equivalent.) 1.5.2. The potential of a stationary point charge in vacuum Tho defining equations: E = F/g and V = W/q are general definitions of electric field and electric potential. They can be used to find E and V for specific cases. The simplest case that one can treat is an isolated, stationary point charge q. The clectric field at a point P from a point charge (Equation (6)) was determined in Section 1.3.1, here we derive its potential V at P. uAs reference point we choose A to be at infinity with Va ~ 0. (For practical purposes the surface of the earth may be regarded as at zero potential.) Then Equation (10) gives (22) Equation (12) shows that for a fixed distance r from q the potential V remains constant. Consider an imaginary sphere centred on q. The surface of this sphere connects all points at the same potential; it is called an equipotential surface . ‘The diagram alongside shows that E is everywhere perpendicular to the equipotential surface. 1.5.3 Two (or more) point charges in vacuum We use the principle of superposition to find the net potential at a point in vacuum if there are two (or more) charges present. Suppose three point charges q1, g2 and qs are situated at distances r:, rz and rs from a point P, Then Equation (12) becomes ta, lw a, 1 % Geo ry” Ameo ta Ineo Ts In general, for n charges y= ye (03) °* Treo Th. where q, is the nth charge and r, its distance from the point P. Example 1,11; Electric field and electric potential due to a point charge Calculate (a) the electric field, and (b) the electric potential at a distance of 15 em from an isolated point charge of 5 pC. 2Solution: (a) The electric field due to a point charge is given by Equation (6). The magnitude is __ kg _ 9x 10? x (5 x 10-9) ~ (15 x 10-#)? Hence B= 2x 10°# Vm" (radially outwards). (b) The electric potential due to point charge is found from Equation (12) kg 9x 10 x (5 x 10") r Tsx I =2x10°Vm ! Vv 3x 10°V, 1.6 Electric potential energy Consider two charges qi and gz a distance r apart. In order to increase the separation between them, an external agent must do work that will be positive if q. and g, are opposite in sign and negative otherwise. ‘The energy represented by this work can be thought of as stored electric potential energy. This energy, like all forms of potential energy, can be transformed into other types. For example, if g and q are released they will cither accelerate towards or away from cach other converting potential energy into kinetic energy. ‘The electric potential energy of a system of point charges is the work required to assemble this system of charges by bringing them in slowly from an infinite distance, assuming that the charges have no initial kinetic energy. Imagine a charge gz infinitely far away from a charge g, and that both are at rest. The work done in bringing the charges to a distance r apart is given by the potential difference x charge (Equation (9)). Then v-w-L ae (a) areo By the principle of superposition this result may obviously be extended to any number of charges, Example 1.12: Potential due to a point charge Calculate the potential at the electron due to the proton in the hydrogen atom, a distance 5x10 "im aws Solution: ‘Treat the proton as a point charge, then Equation (12) applies. lq VO) Greg t 9 x 10* x 1.60 x 1077 5x lou = 28.8V 13Example 1.13: Speed of a particle accelerated across a potential difference A particle (mass m; charge q) is accelerated from rest through a pd of Vo volts. (a) Calculate its final speed v. (b) Suppose the particle is an electron in a TV tube and that V = 12000 V, Find v (the mass of en electron is me = 9.1 x 10-5 kg). Solution: (a) Since the particle moves freely (i.e. no force on it other than that due to the field) then the work done on it increases its kinetic energy Ey by qV. By the work-energy theorem of mechanics (b) From the equation derived in (a) = VaVim [2x 1.6 x 10" x 12 x 108/9.1 x 10° 65x 10!ms™ This speed is about 20% of the speed of light. ‘This calculation should take into account relativistic effects. 1.6.1 The electron volt — a unit of energy ‘The joule is a very large unit for dealing with energies of electrons, atoms or molecules, For this purpose, the electron volt is used (abbreviated eV) Electron volt One electron volt is defined as the energy acquired by an electron when moving through a potential difference of 1V. From Equation (7): W =qV = (16x 107"C) x (1), hence 1eV = 1.6 x 107°. Example 1.14: Charged particle in the field of parallel plates A-LKV pd is connected across two parallel metal plates which are 10cm apart. Calculate (a) the magnitude of the electric field between them; (b) the energy gained in eV by (i) an electron, and (ii) an ©? ion when travelling freely from one plate to the other; (c) the speed reached by the electron in (b)(i) above, if it starts from rest. (The mass of an electron me = 9.1 x 10-5 kg,) Solution: (a) From Equation (11):(b) (@) 1eV is the energy gained by the electron if it moves freely through a pd of 1 volt. energy gained 1kV x e = 1000¢V. (ii) The oxygen ion has charge 2e. energy gained = 1000 x 2 = 2000 eV. (c) The work done by the field in accelerating the electron (Equation (7)}) equals the change in kinetic energy of the electron. Hence W =eV = AKE = }m(vj ~ v7). ‘The electron starts from rest, hence v, = 0 and ZV _ [2x 1.60 x 107 x 1000 a ops =f = 18 x 10 ms Example 1.15: Potential difference and work Charges lic on a line as shown in the figure below. -3nC 2em em 2em| Calculate (a) the potential at P and Q. (b) the potential difference between Q and P. (0) the work done to take a charge of 3nC from Q to P. (a) the gain in energy of an electron in moving freely from Q to P in joules and eV. Solution: (a) By the principle of superposition, the potentials at P and Q are the sums of the potentials due to the -3pC and 2nC charges. Hence Vp— (x3 xt 2x10 1 =3x10% 2x10 * alae rae ) <4sxa0'v Ve ) = 36 x 10°V. (b) Vor = Ve — Vq = 4.5 x 10? — 3.6 x 10? = 90V. (co) W = qv =3x 10° x 90527 x 10 (@) AB, = W = qv = 900V = 16 x 107 x 90 = 144 x 10775. Example 1.16: Potential of a system of charges Three charges q, = —4 pC, gz = 1 nC and gs = 2 uC are located at the vertices of an equilateral triangle of side Sem, Calculate the potential energy of the system 15Solution: The potential energy of the system is equal to the sum of the potential energy of each pair of charges in the final configuration, Thus 1 is is Ue (a8 =H - 4) 4 Ta ns Tas 4x10-x1xlo® -4x1l0%x2xl0® 1xl0*x2x 10% 5x 107 ~ 5x 107 1.7 Capacitance Capacitors are devices which store electric charge. They consist of two conductors of any shape, placed near, but not touching one another. Often the space between the conductors is filled with an clectrically insulating material. According to this definition, the parallel plate arrangement discussed earlier is a capacitor. Each plate carries a charge of the same magnitude, one being positive, while the other is negative. ‘The charge that is stored on the plates of a capacitor is proportional to the potential difference across the plates. Thus acy, (15) where C is the capacitance. The unit of capacitance is the farad: 1F = 1CV- One farad is a very large unit and in practice, capacitances are normally much less than this, Some common capacitances are: 1pF = 10°F (micro) 1nF = 10°°F (nano) 1pF =107?F (pico). In electric circuits, the symbol for an ordinary capacitor is +. For these capacitors, it does not matter which way round they are connected in a circuit. However, there are special capacitors called electrolytic capacitors denoted by the symbol +]{—, which have to be connected with the ‘positive’ plate (denoted by the straight line in the symbol) being connected to the point of higher positive potential in the circuit. Capacitors can be connected together in different ways. ‘Two important combinations are considered below. 1.7.1 Capacitors in series Capacitors connected in series can be replaced by a single equivalent capacitor Coq a Cr Cy Tt trkK tt q q q Rohe 16