Welcome to Batch 49

Best Wisher
Prof. Dr. Hasina Akther
Department of Physics
 Department of Physics
Offered Courses

Level 0I Term-0I
Physics-I Theory (PHY101-0533)- 3credits(150Marks)
Physics-I Practical (PHY102-0533)-1credits(100Marks)

Level 0I Term-II
Physics-II Theory(PHY103-0533)- 3cr(150Marks)
Physics-II Practical (PHY104-0533)- 1cr(100Marks)
 Electricity (Lec-1,2)

Concept of charge, Coulomb’s law, Electric field and its

derivations, Dipole in an electric field, Electric flux,
Gauss’s law and its application
General Questions
1. What is charge/point charge?
Charge is a property of particles that can be used to measure attractive and repelling
force. Charged objects whose sizes are much smaller than the distance between them
is referred as point charge.

2. Charge is quantized.
The charge of an electron or a proton is the minimum charge available in nature.
All charges that exist in all charged bodies are integral multiple of this smallest
charge (the charge of an electron). If e is the charge of an electron, then total
charge in a body, q=ne; here n is a positive or negative integer. It is called the
quantization of charge.

3. Charge is conserved.
Total charge in the universe always remains same. That’s mean charges are
neither created nor destroyed, only some electrons can be transferred from one
body to another body. As no new charge can be created, so a charge cannot be
destroyed. So simultaneous creation or destruction of both positive and negative
charges can never occur. It is called the conservation of charges.
 4. Coulomb’s Law
We know the interaction between electric
charges at rest is described by Coulomb’s law.

“ Two stationary electric charges repel or attract one another with a force proportional
to the product of the magnitude of the charges and inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between them ” That is
q1 q2
F
r2
qq
F = k 122
r
where
1
k = = 8.99  109 N .m 2 / coul 2
4 0
1 q1 q2
F =
4 0 r2
The amount of charge that flows in one second when there is a steady current
of one ampere is known a Coulomb, SI unit of charge.
Electric Field and Electric field strength and its calculation:
Electric Field is the field produced by any electric charge around it whose
influence is observed when another charge is brought in that area where the
field exists. The force F experienced by electric charge q is gives the Electric
field lines.
The Electric Field is known as electric intensity at that point. F
E=
q0
Calculation of Electric Field Strength:
The magnitude of the force acting on q0 as given by Coulomb’s Law

1qq0 F 1 q
F= E= =
4 0 r 2 q 0 4 0 r 2
The strength of the electric field at the site of the test charge. The resultant
field at the point is then obtained by adding vectorially the field
contribution due to all charge elements.
Electric Field intensity due to uniform charged wire:

Consider a section of an infinite line of charge having a charge density λ

coulomb per metre.
dE dEy
P
dEx
θ
y r

o x dx

The magnitude of the field contribution dE at the point P due to a charge

element dq(=λ.dx) is given
dq 1
dE =
4 0 r 2
where r is the distance of the point P from the charge element dq.
The vector dE can be resolved as shown in Fig into two components
dEx= -dEsinθ and dEy= dEcosθ
The minus sign indicates negative x direction.
The x and y components of the resultant vector E at point P is given

E x =  dE x = −  sin dE
−

And 
E y =  dE y =  cosdE
−

Ex must be zero but Ey the right and left halves are equal, Ey and hence E may
be written

E = 2 E y = 2  cosdE
x =0

x=y tanθ so that dx = y sec2θ.dθ

r= y/cosθ=ysecθ so that r2=x2+y2=y2sec2θ
 dEy = dE cos
 1 dx 
=  . 2  cos
2 
 4 0 x + y 
1 y sec2 d
= . cos
4 0 y sec 
2 2


= cosd
4 0 y
thus
 +

E = 2  cosdE = 2 x =0 4 0 y cosd
x =0
 /2
2
=
4 0 y  cosd
0

As x=0 corresponds to θ=0 and x=+∞ corresponds to θ=π/2

  /2
E = sin 0
2 0 y

E=
2 0 y
This is the magnitude of the E. Field due to an electric charged wire.
Similarly derive
Field at a point on the axis of a charged circular ring.
Consider a circular turn of wire of radius a carrying a charge
q. Now calculate E at a point P on the axis of the ring a
distance x from its centre. Then the charge contained in this
element is ds
dq = q
2a

Where 2a is the circumference of the ring. This element

produces a field dE at the point P.
The general vector integral E =dE
become a scalar integral E = dEcosθ

Now dE is given_
  1 dq 
dE =  . 2 
 40 r 
1 qds 1
= ( ) 2
40 2a a + x 2
where r 2 = a 2 + x 2
But
x
cos =
a2 + x2
1 qds x
E =  dE cos = 
4o 2a ( a 2 + x 2 ) a2 + x2
1 qx
=
40 2a ( a + x )
2 2
3
2
 ds

1 qx
E =
40 ( a 2 + x 2 ) 3 2
where  ds = 2a, if x  a then

q
E=
40 x 2
This is the same as that produced by a point charge.
Electric field to an electric dipole
Dipole: Two equal but opposite charges separated by a small distance.
Let the distance of the point P
+
be y from both the charges a y
E1 = electric field for +q x P
E2 = electric field for -q a E2 E1
Total field E = E1 + E2 -
Since the charges have the
same magnitude and distance from P is same,
1 q 1 q
E1 = E2 = =
4 0 y 2 4 0 a 2 + x 2
The direction of E1 and E2 shown in Fig. and horizontal component cancel each
other. The vector sum of E1 and E2 points vertically downwards and has the
magnitude.
E = 2E1 cosθ = 2 q a
.
4 0 a 2 + x 2 a 2 + x 2
1 2aq 1 2aq
= .= since x>>a
4 0 ( a 2 + x 2 ) 3 2
4 0 x 3
Q8: Deduce electric field when a dipole in an external electric
field.
An electric dipole is placed in a uniform external electric field E, its dipole
moment p making an angle with this field. The two forces (F and -F)
acting on the charges are equal and opposite

F = qE
The net force on the
dipole is clearly zero.

But since the forces do not act along the same line, there is a net torque on the
dipole about an axis passing through the centre O of the dipole given by
Torque = magnitude of a force x perpendicular distance betn the forces.
the moment of an electric dipole has a specific direction, namely from
negatively charged to positively charged. That is, p=qd. Here q is the
charge of dipole and d is the distance between two charges. When there
is a homogeneous electric field, the torque on an electric dipole is zero.
Now assume a dipole that has the charges: +q and –q that form a
dipole because a distance of d separates them.

In this case, the dipole should be positioned in the electric field that is
uniform in nature and has sufficient strength, represented by E; here,
the dipole’s axis generates an angle θ of the electric field. An electric
dipole in a uniform external field experiences a torque given as τ = pE
sin θ, where the symbol θ denotes the angle between p and E. The
moment of the dipole p tends to align in the direction of E as a result of
the torque. The symbol gives the potential energy, which is of the
dipole Ue= −pE cos θ
or in the vector notation that is Ue; = −p · E.
Q: What is flux? Gauss’ Law? Theorem, Prove and
Application.
The number of lines of force that cut through a surface, is called
flux, φ. The electrical flux is the sum over the surface by an
integral.
 E =  E .dS
Gauss’s Law
The density of lines of force can be regarded as a measure of E, the
electric intensity, electric field strength. The magnitude of E at any
point equal the number of lines of force crossing unit area
surrounding that point, the area being perpendicular to E.

q
Now the magnitude of E at all points on the surface is
4 0 r 2

q
where 4πr2 is the area of the spherical surface and
0
is the lines of force leave a charge q.
 Hence,dφ, the flux of E across dS is given by
d = E .dS
= E cosdS

qdS cos
d =
4 0 r 2
q
= d
4 0
where
dS cos
d ==
r2
is the solid angle subtended by dS at q.
Now the total solid angle subtended by S at q is 4π. Hence the total flux of E
over S is given by
E =  E .dS
qd
=  4 0
q
=
4 0  d
q
= .4
4 0
q
=
0
or
 0  E .dS = q
The General theorem that the outward flux of E over any closed surface is
equal to the algebraic sum of the enclosed charges divided be  0
Gauss’s Theorem:

1.If a surface is encloses equal and opposite charges, the

flux,φ is zero.
2. Charges outside the surface makes no contribution to
the electric flux.
3. The total flux does not depend on the exact location
of the charges inside the closed surface.
Application of Gauss’ Law:
(i) Deduction of Coulomb’s law:
Coulomb’s law can be deduced from Gauss’ law. In Fig E and dS at any point
on the Gaussian surface are directed radially outward. The angle
between them is zero, and the quantity E.dS = E dS cosθ = EdS.
Gauss’ law then becomes
 0  E.dS =  0  EdS =q
Since E is constant for all points on the surface of the sphere, it can be
taken outside the integral, and consequently
 0 E  dS = q
 0 E 4r 2 = q
But is simply the area 4πr2
of the EdS
sphere. Therefore
1 q
E=
4 0 r 2

This is the magnitude of electric field strength E at any point a distance r from
an isolated point charge q. Again E = F/qo or F = Eqo , 1 qq0
F=
4 0 r 2
 Q: Deduction the Electric Field due to infinite charged conducting
plate using Gauss’ Law.
When a charge is given to a conducting plate, the same is distributed over the entire
surface of the plate. An appropriate Gaussian surface is a cylinder through P,
which is normal to the surface of the plate. The angle between them is zero,
and the quantity
 0  E.dS =  0  EdS =q
Gauss’ law then becomes

 EdS cos0 = ES+ES = 2 ES

Charge enclosed by the Gaussian surface of cross-sectional area S is
q = S
So from Gauss’ theorem
 EdS = ES = q/0 = S/ 0

2ES = S/ 0
E = /2 0
This is the electric field E due to a charged
conducting plate.
THANKS TO ALL