CAIE Physics A-level

Topic 18: Electric Fields

Notes
18 - Electric Fields

18.1 - Electric Fields and Field Lines

A force field is an area in which an object experiences a non-contact force. Force fields can
be represented as vectors, which describe the direction of the force that would be exerted on
the object, from this knowledge you can deduce the direction of the field. They can also be
represented as diagrams containing field lines, the distance between field lines represents the
strength of the force exerted by the field in that region- the closer the lines, the stronger the
force that would be exerted.

An electric field is one formed during the interaction of charges. The force F on a charge in an
electric field is dependent on the electric field strength E and the magnitude of the charge q:

F = Eq
An electric field can be represented by field lines. The arrows on the field lines show the
direction in which the force is acting. Electric field lines show the direction that the force would
act on a positive test charge in the field. Thus conventionally, electric field lines are shown as
pointing away from a positive charge and towards a negative one, as shown below.

18.2 - Uniform Electric Fields

Electric field strength (E) is the force per unit charge experienced by an object in an electric
field. This value is constant in a uniform field, but varies in a radial field. There are three
formulas you can use to calculate this value; the first is general, the second is used to find the
magnitude of E in a uniform field formed by two parallel plates, while the third is used only for
radial fields. The first two are presented below, the third shall be covered later in 18.4:

F ΔV
E= Q E= Δd (for uniform fields formed by parallel plates)
where V is the potential difference across the plates, and d is the distance between the plates.
As mentioned before, electric field lines show the direction of the force acting on a positive test
charge. A uniform field exerts that same electric force everywhere in the field, as shown by the
parallel and equally spaced field lines.
You can derive an equation to calculate the work done by moving a charged particle
between the parallel plates of a uniform field using the equations for electric field strength
defined previously:

Work done = F × d
Rearrange E = QF to get F as the subject. F = EQ
Rearrange E = ΔdV to get d as the subject. d = ΔVE
Substitute the above values into the general formula for work done.
ΔV
Work done = EQ × E Work done = QΔV

Uniform electric fields made by two parallel plates can sometimes be used to find out whether a
particle is charged, and whether its charge is negative or positive. This is done by firing the
particle at right angles to the field and observing its path: a charged particle will experience a
constant electric force either in or opposite to the direction of the field (depending on its
charge), this causes the particle to accelerate towards one of the plates and so it follows a
parabolic shape. If the charge on the particle is positive, it will follow the direction of the field, if
the charge is negative it will move opposite to the direction of the field.

For example, in the diagram to the left,

the particle must have a positive charge
as it follows a parabolic shape in the
direction ofthe field.

18.3 - Electric Force Between Point Charges

Coulomb’s law states that the magnitude of the force between two point charges in a vacuum
is directly proportional to the product of their charges, and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them.
1 Q1Q2
F= 4πε0 r2
where ε0 is the permittivity of free space, Q1 and Q2 are the respective charges, and r is the distance
between charges.

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Air can be treated as a vacuum when using the above formula, and for a charged sphere,
charge may be assumed to act at the centre of the sphere.

If charges have the same sign the force will be repulsive, and if the charges have different
signs the force will be attractive.

18.4 - Electric Field of a Point Charge

For a specific point in the field, the electric field strength created by a point charge with a radial
field in free space is given by
1 Q
E= (for radial fields)
4πε0 r2
where ε0 is the permittivity of free space, Q is the magnitude of charge, r is the distance away
from the point charge.

18.5 - Electric Potential

Absolute electric potential (V) at a point is the potential energy per unit charge of a positive
point charge at that point in the field. The absolute magnitude of electric potential is greatest at
the surface of a charge, and as the distance from the charge increases, the potential
decreases, so electric potential at infinity is zero. To find the value of potential in a radial
field you can use this formula:
1 Q
V =
4πε0 r
where ε0 is the permittivity of free space, Q is the charge, and r is the distance from the charge.

Whether the value of potential is negative or positive depends on the sign of the charge (Q).
When the charge is positive, potential is positive and the force (on a positive test charge) is
repulsive. When the charge is negative, potential is negative and the force (on a positive
test charge) is attractive, here the graph is similar to the one for gravitational potential which is
always an attractive force.
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CAIE Physics A-level

Topic 19: Capacitance

Notes

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19 - Capacitance

19.1 - Capacitors and Capacitance

A capacitor is an electrical component that stores charge. A parallel-plate capacitor

is made up of two parallel conducting plates with an insulator (dielectric) between
them. An electrically isolated spherical conductor can also act as a capacitor. The
measure of how much charge can be stored per unit potential difference is known as
the capacitance.

The equation for capacitance is

Q
C= V

where C is the capacitance measured in farads (F), Q is the stored charge and V is
the potential difference across the terminals of the capacitor.
A capacitance of 1 farad is defined as 1 coulomb of charge stored per volt of potential
difference.

This is the circuit symbol for a capacitor.

When multiple capacitors are connected in series, the total capacitance is equivalent
to the combined spacing of all the plates in every capacitor in the circuit. Since
capacitance is inversely proportional to the spacing, the combined capacitance is
less than each individual one. The total capacitance in series is then:
1 1 11
C TOT = C1 + C2 ++ C...
3

In parallel, the total capacitance can be thought of as the sum of the plate areas of all
the capacitors. As plate area is proportional to capacitance, the total capacitance in
parallel is the sum of the individual ones:

C TOT = C 1 + C 2 + C 3 + ...
Alternatively these equations can be derived using the formula C = Q/V . Rearrange
this as V = Q/C and note that the voltage across each capacitor can be written as
V 1 = Q/C 1 , V 2 = Q/C 2 , V 3 = Q/C 3 , and so on. The total voltage in series and in
parallel can be recalled from ‘Topic 10 D.C. Circuits’.

In series, the total voltage is the sum of each individual voltage so

Q Q Q Q
V TOT = C TOT = V + V 2 + +V...3 = C1 + C2 + C3
+ ....
1

Cancelling the Q terms yields the expression given before.

In parallel, the total charge is equal to the charge in each parallel capacitor,
QTOT = Q1 + Q2 + Q3 + ... = C1V + C2V + C+3V... = C TOT V
cancelling the common voltage from each term gives the previous expression.

19.2 - Energy Stored in a Capacitor

Since a capacitor stores charge, it is also storing energy in the form of electrical
potential. If you plot a graph of the voltage of the capacitor against the charge stored
in it you will obtain a straight line graph reflecting the direct proportionality of the two
terms. The area under this graph can be calculated as the area of a triangle:

1 1
Area = 2 × Base × Height = 2 QV = 21 CV 2
This is equivalent to the energy stored in the capacitor.

Image source:
 19.3 - Discharging a Capacitor

When the energy stored in the capacitor has reached the desired amount, it can be
discharged to release a current that decreases over time.

The rate at which the capacitor discharges is proportional to the amount of charges
still being stored. This results in an exponential curve when plotting remaining
charge against time during discharging.

As seen in the previous image, the voltage, current, and charge of the capacitor follow
a negative exponential relationship with time. The quantity RC is the product of the
capacitance C and resistance R of the circuit.

RC is also equivalent to τ , the time constant, which represents the time after which
the current/voltage/charge falls to equal 1e of its original value. After each passing of
time τ , the value changes again by a factor of 1
e
.