Class XII/PHYSICS

ELECTROSTATICS

Frictional electricity is the electricity developed on objects, when they are rubbed with each other. The
electricity so developed cannot move from one part of the object to other part. Hence, frictional electricity is
also called static electricity.

Electrostatics is the branch of electronics which deals with the charges and forces resulting from electrons and
protons at rest, or static.

Charge is a scalar quantity. There are two kinds of charges- positive charge and negative charge

Charge originates at the fundamental particle level.

For the atomic particles forming stable matter have
Proton = +1 unit of charge
Electron = -1 unit of charge
Neutron = 0 charge

A positive charge of an object means that the object has lost electrons.
A negative charge of an object means that the object has gained electrons.

Properties of electric charge

• Charge can neither be created nor be destroyed. The total charge of an isolated system remains
constant. This is law of conservation of charge.

• Quantization of charge: All existing charges are integral multiples of the fundamental charge, e (1.6 x

10
-19
C). The charge on an body is ± ne .
• The electric charge is additive: The total charge on an object is the algebraic sum of all the charges
located at different points of the object.
• Like charges repel and unlike charges attract.

For the study of electrostatics we divide materials into two classes:

Conductors which allow charge to move freely through them
(metals and carbon in which the outermost atomic electrons are “free” to move through the crystalline atomic
lattice of the material)
Insulators in which charge does not move but stays where it is placed
(glass, quartz, mica, rubber, plastics in which the atomic electrons are tightly bound to their nuclei and are not
free to move)

COULOMB’S LAW
The magnitude of the force of attraction or repulsion between two electric charges at rest was studied by
Charles Coulomb. He formulated a law, known as "COULOMB'S LAW".

Statement
According to Coulomb's law:
“The electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion between two point charges is directly proportional to the
product of charges and inversely proportional to the square of distance between them.”

MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF COULOMB'S LAW

Consider two point charges q1 and q2 placed at a distance of r from each other. Let the electrostatic force
between them is F.

According to the law:

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Combining above statements:

OR

---------------------(1)
Where k is the constant of proportionality which depends on the medium and the units used for charges.

1
Value of K is equal to 4Π ε if the medium is air or vacuum, where ε o is permittivity of free space .Its
0
-12
volume is 8.854 x 10 c2/Nm2.
1 1
= = 8.98755 ×10 9 Nm 2C −2 = 9 ×10 9 Nm 2C −2
4πε0 4 × 3.14 ×8.854 ×10 −12

9 2 -2
Thus in S.I. system numerical value of K is 9 x 10 Nm c .
Putting the value of K = 1/4π ε 0 in equation (i)

− − − − − ( 2)

The force acts along the line joining the charges.

FORCE IN THE PRESENCE OF DIELECTRIC MEDIUM

If the space between the charges is filled with a non conducting medium or an insulator called "dielectric", it is
found that the dielectric reduces the electrostatic force as compared to free space by a factor called
DIELECTRIC CONSTANT. It is denoted by ε r. This factor is also known as RELATIVE PERMITTIVITY. It has
different values for different dielectric materials.

In the presence of a dielectric between two charges the Coulomb's law is expressed as:
1 q1q2
F
med
= ⋅ − − − − − − − −(3) , where ε is called absolute permittivity of the
4πε r 2
medium.
Dividing equation (2) by equation (3),
1 qq
⋅ 1 2
F 4π ε 2 ε
vac = 0 r = − − − − − − − − − −( 4)
F 1 q
1
q
2 ε
med ⋅ 0
4π ε r 2
ε
ε
ε is denoted r , called relative permittivity of the medium with respect to the medium. It is also denoted by
0
K, called dielectric constant of the medium. Therefore, equation (4) gives,
ε F
ε = = vac − − − −(5)
r ε F
0 med
Thus, relative permittivity or dielectric constant of a medium may be defined as the ratio of force between two
charges placed at a certain distance apart in air to the force between the same two charges placed the same
distance apart in that medium.

VECTOR FORM OF COULOMB'S LAW

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Consider two point charges q1 and q2 separated by a distance r. If q1 q2 > 0 i.e. if both q1 and q2 are +ve
or both q1 and q2 are negative then the charges repel each other otherwise they attract each other.

So the forces exerted by charges on each other are equal in magnitude opposite in direction

PRINCIPLE OF SUPERPOSITION

The principle of superposition gives a method to find force on a charge, when a group of charges are interacting.

It states that- “when a number of charges are interacting, the total force on a given charge is the
vector sum of the individual forces exerted on the given charge by all the other charges.”

Consider n point charges q1, q2, q3, ……qn are distributed in space. The charges are interacting with each other.
  
Let us find the force on q1due to all other charges. If the charges q2, q3, ……qn exert forces F12 , F13 , …. F1n
on the charge q1 (fig), then according to principle of superposition, the total force on charge q1 is given by
   
F1 = F12 + F13 +....... + F1n − − − − − − − − − − − (6)
If the distance between the charges q1 and q2 is denoted as r12 ; and r̂12 is unit vector from charge q2 to q1,
 1 q1q2
then F12 = ⋅ rˆ21
4π ε0 r12 2
Similarly, the force on charge q1 due to other charges is given by
 1 qq
F13 = ⋅ 1 22 rˆ31
4π ε0 r13
……………………………………………
……………………………………………..
 1 qq
F1n = ⋅ 1 22 rˆn1
4π ε0 r1n
  
Hence, substituting for F12 , F13 , …. F1n in equation (6), the total force on the charge q1 due to all other
charges is given by-

    1  q1q2 qq qq 
F1 = F12 + F13 + ....... + F1n =  2 rˆ21 + 1 23 rˆ31 + ........ + 1 2n rˆn1  − − − − − − − − − (7)
4π ε0 r r13 r1n 
 12 

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The same procedure can be adopted for finding the force on any other charge due to remaining charges of the
group of n charges.

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