Electricity.

Electrostatic
The Electric Field
Electric charge.
Conductors and Insulators Coulomb´s
Law The
Electric field. Electric Field Lines Calculating
Electric Field for continous charge distribution Gauss´s Law.
Electric Potential
Potential
Difference Calculating Electric
Potential for a System of Point Charges and for Continuous Charge
distribution Potential
vs. Electric Field. Field Lines and Equipotential Surfaces Charge and Field at
Conductor Surface. Motion of
Point Charges in Electric Field. Electric Dipoles in
Electric Field
Electrostatic Energy and Capacitance
Electrostatic Potential Energy Capacitance
The Storages of
Electric Energy Capacitors, Batteries and
Circuits Dielectrics. Molecular View of a Dielectric
 The Electric Field
Electric charge
Conductors and Insulators
Coulomb´s Law
The Electric field. Electric Field Lines
Calculating Electric Field for continous
charge distribution
Gauss´s Law
Charge and Field at Conductor Surfaces
Motion of Point Charges in Electric Field.
Electric Dipoles in Electric Field
Electric Charge:
Objects carrying charges of opposite signs attract
each other; Objects carrying charges of the same sign repel
each other
Positive, the charge acquired by a glass rod when is rubbed with a
piece of silk, (Franklin criteria), then electrons are transferred to silk.
The piece of silk acquires the same Negative charge
Law of Conservation of Charge
Charge Quantizacion
The SI unit of charge is the coulomb [C]

Fundamental Unit of Charge e = 1.602177 x 10-19 C

The girl has been charged by
contact with the dome of a Van de
Graaff generator. She is isolated
from the floor. Could you explain
why her hair is as shown in the
picture?
 Conductors
Conductors materials where the charges, usually electrons, are free to move about
the the entire material, such as copper, iron,..
Insulators Insulators
materials where the charges can not move freely, such as glass, wood
Charging by Induction
An object that has separated equal and opposite charges is said to be
polarized What happens with
the charges
distribution on the
spheres once the
rod is removed?

Induction via grounding: using the earth as an infinitely large

conductor
 Coulomb´s Law

k Coulomb constant:
8.99x109 N. m2/C2

Unit vector pointing from q1 to q2

Is the force exerted
by q1 on q2 In a hydrogen atom, the electron is separated from the proton by
an average distance of about 5.3x10 -11m. Calculate the magnitude
of the electrostatic force of attraction. Compare the electrostatic
force with the gravity force between the proton and the electron.

Force exerted by a System of Charges:

Principle of superposition of forces

Three charges are placed as shown in the

figure. Calculate the force exerted on the
particle at top of the isosceles triangle. Q= 10
μC; q= 500 nC; d = 10 cm
Coulomb´s torsion balance
 The Electric Field

F The force exerted on the charge q

E
q q is a small positive test charge
SI units [N/C]
F qE [V/m]

Electric Field
for a system of
charges

To avoid the conceptual problem of the action at a distance –

instantaneous transmission- the concept of electric field is
introduced
[Suppose that a charged particle at some point is suddenly
moved. Does the force exerted on a particle some distance
away change instantaneously?]

Derive a general expression for the electric field on a point P due to a single
charge Q. P is placed at a distance r of the charge. Estimate the value of the
electric field for Q=10 nC and r= 15m.
 Electric Dipole
A system of two equal and opposite charges separated by
a small distance is called a electric dipole .
Its strength and orientation is described by the electric
dipole moment
p  q L, L  2a

Exercise: Calculate the electric field of dipole in point P in

the dipole axis. Consider the situation when x»a.

2k p
E 3
x
 The Electric Field Lines, or Lines of Force

At any given point, the field vector E is tangent to the

field line. They are also called lines of force because
they show the direction of the force exerted on the
positive test charge.
The density of the lines (the number of lines per unit
of area perpendicular to the lines) at any point is
proportional to the magnitude of the field at that point
 The Electric Field Lines

The electric field lines for two conducting spheres are shown
in the figure. What is the relative sign and magnitudes of the
charges on the two spheres?
(A) Picture a uniform vertical electric field E = -2000 N/C.
(B)The same but the value of electric field is two times the
previous value.
 Calculating Electric Field for Continous Charge Distribution

In the macroscopic world charge can usually be described as continuosly distributed .

dQ Q
When the charge is
distributed on a volume
 ;  average Volume charge density
dV V
dQ
When the charge is
distributed on a surface
 Surface charge density
dS
dQ
When the charge is
distributed along a line
 Linear charge density
dl
Applying Coulomb´s
Law and the principle of
superposition

k dq
E 2
rˆ
V r
 Calculating Electric Field for Continous Charge Distribution .

E on the Axis of a finite

E on the Axis of a finite Line charge
Line charge

E due to an infinite line charge

 Gauss´s Law
Gauss´s Law is one of the so called Maxwell´s Equations that describe the
electromagnetics phenomena. For static charges, Coulomb´s Law and Gauss´s Law
are equivalent, but Gauss´s Law is more general.

Gauss´s Law can be

used to calculate the
electric field for charge
distribution with high
degree of symmetry

Gauss´s Law:The net number of lines out of any

surface enclosing the charges is proportional to
the net charge enclosed by the surface
 Gauss´s Law

The number of field lines penetrating a surface is called the

Electric Flux ϕ electric flux. Units: N. m2/C
E A If we consider a surface A perpendicular to E,
  E  nA In the case of surface that is not perpendicular to E, the
dot product enables us to obtain the value of area
d  E  dS  E dSn perpendicular to the electric field.
 Calculating E from Gauss´s Law.
The power of symmetry

Electric field for a single point charge

The electric field exhibits spherical symmetry around the charge.
Then we consider a spherical surface with center on the charge to
apply Gauss´s law. The value of E is constant in all points of this
sphere.

   E dA  E 4R 2  4 k Q The flux is independent

A
from the selected sphere
Q
Ek
R2
Writing Gauss´s Law and Coulomb´s Law in terms
of permitivity of free space 1
1 k
o   8.85x1012 C
2
4  o
4k N  m2
q1
E rˆ
4  o r 2

Qinside
net 
o
 Calculating E from Gauss´s Law.
The power of symmetry
Electric field for a Thin Spherical Shell of Charge
The electric field exhibits spherical symmetry around the uniform
charge distribution . Then we consider a spherical surface with the
same center as the shell of charge to apply Gauss´s law. The value
of E is constant in all points of this sphere.

   E dA  E 4R 2  4 k Q
A The flux is independent
Q 1 Q from the selected sphere
Ek 
R 2 4 o R 2
For a gaussian sphere
inside of the shell
charge

In the Earth´s atmosphere, the electric field    E dA  0

is 150 N/C downwards at an altitude of 250 A
m, and 170 N/C downwards at an altitude
of 400 m. Calculate the volume charge
E 0
density of the atmosphere assuming it to
be uniform between both altitudes.
Electric Potential
Potential Difference
Calculating Electric
Potential for a System of Point Charges and for
Continuous Charge distribution Potential vs. Electric
Field. Field Lines and Equipotential Surfaces
Charge and Field at Conductor
Surface. Motion of Point Charges
in Electric Field. Electric Dipoles
in Electric Field
 Potential difference
Electrostatic force is a conservative force, therefore the change in the potential
energy, U, is given by

dU   F  dl
2  2  2 
1,line
F  dl   qE  dl  q  E  dl  U1  U 2
1,line 1,line
The potential energy per unit of charge, positive, called the
potential difference (voltage) is:

U1  U 2
 V1  V2   V Units:
q Volt (V)= 1 J/C
2  
V    E  dl dV   E  dl 1 N/C = 1 V/m
1,line 1 eV= 1.60x10-19 J
U For convenience, the electric
V potential and the potential energy
of a test charge are chosen to be
electron volt [eV]
q zero in the same point
Potential energy in the Potential energy in the
gravitational field electric field
 Calculating potential difference (voltage)

Uniforme Electric Field Single Point Charge q

B
+++++++++++++++++++++
A A
3m

q
_ _ _ _ _ _ _B
________

Draw the uniform electric field Q = 25 µC; rA= 1

between the two plates shown in the m; rB= 3 m
figure E = 1200 N/m
To calculate the potential difference
between A and B points. To calculate
the potential energy adquired by a
positive charge of 1 µC to carry out it
from A to B
 Potential Due to a System of Point Charges
kq kq Potential from a single
V 
r rref point charge
Chosing the reference point
kq
V infinitely far from the point
r charge rref ≈∞

k q qo
The potential energy U of a U  qoV 
test charge qo placed at r
distance r from the point
ELECTROSTATIC
charge q is
POTENTIAL ENERGY OF A
TWO-CHARGE SYSTEM
 Computing the Electric
Calculations of V for Continuous Field from the Potential
Charge Distributions
 
dq dV   E  dl
V  k  
r grad V   V   E
Potential for a Thin Spherical Shell of
Charge
Equipotetntial surfaces