Electric Charge - Conductors and Insulators - Charge Quantization - Charge Conservation - Coulomb's Law

Chapter 21
• Electric Charge
• Conductors and Insulators
• Charge Quantization
• Charge Conservation
• Coulomb’s Law
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Electric Charge
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Electric Charge
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Electric Charge
• This observational evidence points towards existence of a force that

acts at a distance – electricity
• We already know of one such force, gravity. But this one is different
• Gravitational force is “universal” – always present between any two
objects. It is proportional to objects’ masses. It is always attractive
• This “electrostatic” force is not always present. It can be either
attractive or repulsive
4
Electric Charge
• If mass is a fundamental property of matter and it

causes gravitational force, then existence of the
electrostatic force implies existence of another
fundamental property of matter.
• Call it “Electric Charge”
• To explain observations, we conclude that
• There are two types of electric charge, “positive” and
“negative”.
• Objects that have charges of the same sign repel each
other. Objects that have charges of different sign attract
each other.
• Objects may also have zero electric charge. Such objects are
called “neutral”.
• Macroscopic neutral objects often contain vast amounts of
electric charge. But their positive and negative charges are
balanced out, resulting in no net charge.
5
Electric Charge is Quantized
• Experiments show that electric charge is not a continuous quantity,

but is always a multiple of “elementary charge”, e
• One electron has a charge of -1e
• One proton has a charge of +1e
• In everyday situations, the amount of charge is so much larger than
the elementary charge that the discreteness effectively does not
matter
• The SI unit of electric charge is “coulomb”, [C]
• Elementary charge corresponds to ~1.60210-19 C
• Physicists keep searching for free, smaller-than-elementary charges

(“millicharges”), but no evidence found so far
6
Electric Charge is Conserved
• Charging an object does not create charge, but

either changes the balance of positive/negative
charges, or transfers charge from another object
• Total amount of charge in the universe appears to be
constant
• Even when particles are created or annihilated, they
always appear/disappear in pairs, such that the net
charge remains the same
7
Conductors and Insulators
Some materials allow electric charges to easily move through them.

Other materials do not. We can classify materials accordingly:
• Superconductors: Charges can move without any resistance.
• Example: Aluminum below 1K
• Conductors: Charges can move rather freely, but with some
resistance.
• Example: metals, water
• Semiconductors: Put up quite a bit of resistance, but charge can still
move
• Example: Si, Ge (computer chips)
• Insulators (Nonconductors): Charges cannot move freely
• Example: rubber, glass
8
Conduction Electrons and Induced Charge
• Why some materials are conductors and

others are not is due to the atomic nature of
matter
• An atom consists of a nucleus (made up of
positively charged protons and neutral neutrons)
and negatively charged electrons.
• When atoms of a conductor come together to
form the solid, some of their outermost (most
loosely held) electrons become free to wander
within the solid, leaving behind positively charged
atoms (ions). We call the mobile electrons
conduction electrons. There are few, if any, free
electrons in a nonconductor.
• Mobility of electrons in a conductor leads to
the effect of induced charge
• Placing a negatively charged rod next to a copper
one pushes electrons in copper away. This creates
an excess of positive charge on one end and
negative on another
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Grounding
• Earth is a huge conductor. It is also an

effectively infinite source (or drain!) of
electrons
• Let’s ground the copper rod in this picture.
The electrons from the copper rod can
escape into the ground, leaving the copper
rod with actual positive charge.
• As soon as we pull away the charged plastic
rod, the electrons from the ground will rush
back and neutralize the copper.
• If, however, we first cut the ground wire and
then remove the charged plastic rod, then
the copper rod will remain positively
charged
10
Coulomb’s Law
• The force of gravity between two objects is proportional to the

product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of
distance between them
• Likewise, the electrical force between two (nearly-) stationary objects
is proportional to the product of their electric charges and inversely
proportional to the square of distance between them
• This is known as Coulomb’s Law:
11
Coulomb’s Law
• Electrostatic Force
• - unit vector along the axis through the two objects

• – “electrostatic constant”
• 0 = 8.8510-12 C2 / (Nm2) – “permittivity constant”
• Compare the electrostatic constant to the gravitational one!
12
Coulomb’s Law
Here, force on particle 1 is along the unit vector.
If the two particles had opposite signs, the force

on particle 1 would be opposite to the unit vector.
13
Superposition principle
• Like for gravitation, the electrostatic force on a given charge q1 due to

n other charges is equal to the vector sum of the forces between the
q1 and each other charge:
14
Shell theorems
• Like for gravitation, the two shell theorems apply to the electrostatic
force:
1. A shell of uniform charge attracts or repels a charged particle that

is outside the shell as if all the shell's charge were concentrated at
its center.
2. If a charged particle is located inside a shell of uniform charge,

there is no net electrostatic force on the particle from the shell.
15
Electric Current
• Current is the rate at which charge moves past a point or through a

region.
• In Chapter 26 we shall discuss current in detail. Until then we shall
use the relation:
• SI units are then [C/s], also called Ampere [A]
16
Clicker question 1
The figure shows two protons and one electron on an axis. What is the
direction of the electrostatic force on the central proton due to the
electron?
A. To the left
B. To the right
C. There is no force on the proton due to the electron
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Clicker question 1
direction of the electrostatic force on the central proton due to the
electron?
A. To the left *
B. To the right
C. There is no force on the proton due to the electron
18
Clicker question 2
direction of the net electrostatic force on the central proton?
A. To the left
B. To the right
C. There is no net force on the proton
19
Clicker question 2
direction of the net electrostatic force on the central proton?
A. To the left *
B. To the right
C. There is no net force on the proton
20
Example
An electrostatic force between two point charges of the same

magnitude that are separated by 1.44 m is measured to be 5.70 N.
What is the magnitude of the charges?
21
Example
An electrostatic force between two point charges of the same

magnitude that are separated by 1.44 m is measured to be 5.70 N.
What is the magnitude of the charges?
22
Example
A constant 1.0 mA current is flowing through a metal wire. How many

electrons are crossing a given cross-sectional area of the wire each
second?
23
Example
A constant 1.0 mA current is flowing through a metal wire. How many

electrons are crossing a given cross-sectional area of the wire each
second?
24
Example
In the figure, four particles form a square. The

charges are q1 = q4 = Q and q2 = q3 = q.
What is Q/q if the net electrostatic force on
particles 1 and 4 is zero?
25
Example

Drawing force vectors tells us two things right away: q

must have opposite sign to Q, so the ratio must be
negative; whatever ratio works to nullify the force on 1,
must also work for particle 2.
For net electrostatic force on particle 1 to be zero, the x-
and y- components of the net electrostatic force on it must
also be zero individually. Let’s use the principle of
superposition and write down the x- component of the net
force on particle 1:
26
Example

The x-components of these two forces must have opposite

signs. Again, we see that charges q and Q must have
opposite signs.
27
Example

Let’s do the same for y-component:
This is the exactly same condition as for the x-component.

The sin and cos for this angle are the same.
28
Example

29

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Chapter 21

• This observational evidence points towards existence of a force that

• If mass is a fundamental property of matter and it

• Experiments show that electric charge is not a continuous quantity,

• Physicists keep searching for free, smaller-than-elementary charges

• Charging an object does not create charge, but

Some materials allow electric charges to easily move through them.

• Why some materials are conductors and

• Earth is a huge conductor. It is also an

• The force of gravity between two objects is proportional to the

• - unit vector along the axis through the two objects

Here, force on particle 1 is along the unit vector.

If the two particles had opposite signs, the force

• Like for gravitation, the electrostatic force on a given charge q1 due to

1. A shell of uniform charge attracts or repels a charged particle that

2. If a charged particle is located inside a shell of uniform charge,

• Current is the rate at which charge moves past a point or through a

• SI units are then [C/s], also called Ampere [A]

An electrostatic force between two point charges of the same

An electrostatic force between two point charges of the same

A constant 1.0 mA current is flowing through a metal wire. How many

A constant 1.0 mA current is flowing through a metal wire. How many

In the figure, four particles form a square. The

In the figure, four particles form a square. The

Drawing force vectors tells us two things right away: q

In the figure, four particles form a square. The

The x-components of these two forces must have opposite

In the figure, four particles form a square. The

Let’s do the same for y-component:

This is the exactly same condition as for the x-component.

In the figure, four particles form a square. The

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