BIRLA VIDYA NIKETAN

Practice Assignment Physics

Class XII
Chapter 1: Electric Charges and Field
Electric Charge
1. Vehicles carrying inflammable materials usually have metallic ropes touching the ground during
motion. Why?
2. Why a bird sitting on a bare power line does not get a shock while a person touching the same line
gets a fatal shock?
3. A glass rod rubbed with silk is brought close to two uncharged spherical conductors in contact with
each other, inducing charge on them as shown. Explain what happens when
(i) The spheres are slightly separated
(ii) The glass rod is subsequently removed and
(iii) Finally, the spheres are separated far apart.

+ - - +
+ - +

Coulomb’s Law

4. A given charge Q is divided into two parts, one charge being q a given distance apart. What is the
ratio of Q/q so that the force between them is max? [Q/2]
5. Two point charges +4e and +e are placed some distance apart. Where a third point charge q should
be placed on the line joining them so that it may be in equilibrium if q is (a) positive (b) negative?
What kind of equilibrium would the two cases be?
[2a/3 from 4e charge in both the cases; stable, unstable]
6. Two identical balls of mass m and charge q are hung from silk thread of length ‘l’. Prove that
equilibrium distance is x = (q2lcosθ /2πε0 mg)1/3, when each thread makes a small angle θ with the
vertical.
7. Consider the charges q, q and –q placed at the vertices of an
equilateral triangle, as shown in the figure. What is the force on
each charge?

8. Plot a graph showing the variation of coulomb force (F)

1
versus (𝑟 2), where r is the distance between the two charges of
each pair of charges: (1µC, 2µC) and (2µC, – 3µC). Interpret the graphs obtained.

1
 9. Consider 3 charges q1, q2 and q3, each equal to q at the vertices of an equilateral triangle of side L.
What is the force on a charge Q (of same sign as q), placed at the centroid of the triangle? [ zero]
Electric Field
10. Explain giving reason whether the given curves correctly represent electric field lines or not.

11. Two point charges of unknown magnitude and sign are placed at a distance r apart. The electric
field intensity is zero at a point not between the charges but on the line joining them. Write two
essential conditions for this to happen.
12. An electron falls through a distance of 1.5 cm in a uniform electric field of magnitude 2 x 10 4 N/C.
the direction of the field is reversed and a proton falls through the same distance. Compute the
time of fall in each case. [ te = 2.9 x 10-9s, tp = 1.3 x 10-7s]
13. Two point charges +3μC and -3μC are located 20 cm apart in vacuum. (i) Find the electric field at
the midpoint of the line joining the two charges. (ii) If a negative test charge of magnitude 1.5 x 10 -
9 C is placed at the centre, find the force experienced by the test charge. [ 5.4 x 10 6 N/C, 8.1 x 10 -
7 N]

14. Two point charges of + 16 μC and -9 μC are placed 8 cm apart in air. Determine the position of the
point at which the net field is zero. [ 24 cm to right of -9μC]
15. A pendulum bob of mass 80 milligram and carrying a charge of 2 x10 -8 C is at rest in a horizontal
electric field of 2 x 104 V/m. Find the tension in the string and the angle it makes with the vertical.
[angle = 27°, T = 8.8 x 10 -4 N]
16. What should be the magnitude and direction of an electric field that would allow an electron to
remain suspended in air. [5.6 x 10-11 N/C]
17. Three infinite non conducting sheets, with uniform surface densities σ, 2σ and 3σ are to be
arranged parallel to each other. What should be their order, from left to right, if the electric field E
produced by the arrangement has magnitude E = 0 in one region and E = 2σ/ɛ0 in another region?
18. Consider three metal spherical shells A,B and C, each of radius R. Each shell is having a concentric
metal ball of radius r/10. The spherical balls A,B and C are given charges +6q, -4q and 14q
respectively. The inner metal balls are also given charges -2q. +8q and -10q respectively. Compare
the magnitudes of electric fields due to shells A,B and C at a distance 3R from their centres.

Electric Dipole
19. An electric dipole is free to move in a uniform electric field. Explain its motion with diagram when it
is placed (i) parallel to the field and (ii) perpendicular to the field.
20. Draw a diagram showing the orientation of an electric dipole when in (i) stable equilibrium and (ii)
unstable equilibrium.
21. Two charges 20µC and – 20 µC are held 1 cm apart. Calculate the electric field at a point on the (i)
equatorial line and (ii) axial line at a distance of 50 cm from the centre of the dipole.
2
 [ 1.44 x 104 N/C, 2.88 x 104 N/C ]
22. An electric dipole of length 4cm, when placed with its axis making an angle of 60 0 with a uniform
electric field experiences a torque of 4√3 N-m. Calculate the (i) magnitude of the electric field (ii)
potential energy of the dipole, if the dipole has charges of ± 8 nC. [2.5 x 10 10 N/C, -4 J]
23. An electric dipole with dipole moment 4 x 10-9 Cm is aligned at 30° with the direction of uniform
electric field of magnitude 5 x 104 N/C. Calculate the magnitude of torque acting on the dipole. [10-4
Nm]
Electric flux and Gauss’s Law

24. A spherical rubber balloon carries a charge that is uniformly distributed over its surface. As the
balloon is inflated and increases in size, how does the total electric flux coming out of the surface
change?
25. If electric field is give as E = 5î + 4ĵ +3k̂ units. Calculate the electric flux through a surface of area 100
units lying in x-y plane. [300 units]
26. S1 and S2 are two hollow concentric spheres enclosing charges Q and 2Q respectively.
a) What is the ratio of the electric flux through S1 and S2?
b) How will the electric flux through the sphere S1 change, if a medium of dielectric constant 5 is
introduced in the space inside S1 in place of air? [ 1/3, 1/5 φ]
27. Draw electric field line pattern produced by an assembly of two unequal positive charges separated
by a distance.
28. The flux of the electrostatic field through the closed surface S’ is found to be four times that
through the closed spherical surface S. Find the magnitude of the charge Q? q 1 = 1μC , q2 = -2 μC, q3
= 9.854 μC
S’
S
•q1
•q3 q2• •Q
(26.56μC)
29. Represent graphically the variation of electric field with distance, for
(a) A uniformly charged spherical conductor
(b) An infinite line of charge
(c) A uniformly charged plane sheet.
30. A cylinder of length 40 cm and radius 7 cm is kept in an electric field Ex = (10x2 + 4x) N/C, Ey =Ez=0
as shown in the figure. If the left face of the cylinder is 20 cm from the origin, find the net flux
passing through the cylinder. Also find the net charge enclosed by the cylinder.
Y

X
Z