Electromagnetism & Optics

PHYS241
Lecture Section 03
Name: Dr. Kofi Agyeman
Room: 2105
kagyeman@pi.ac.ae: Email

Textbook: Fundamentals of Physics, 8th Edition, by

Halliday, Resnick and Walker
1

Chapter 21: Electric Charge

21-1

1. Computers, TV, radio, telecommunications, lighting, etc,..

2. Atoms, molecules, lightning, auroras etc,.
3. Electromagnetism is a study of the combination of electric
and magnetic phenomena
4. Greek philosophers were the first to try and understand the
science of electricity and magnetism
5. Important names in history of electricity and magnetism
include Oersted, Faraday, Maxwell, etc.

21-2

Electric charge

Some facts and observations include:

Sparks, static cling (see Applet)
Charge is an intrinsic property of all matter
There are two kinds of charge, positive and negative
Bodies are said to be neutral if they do not carry
excess charge they have equal amounts of positive
and negative charges
Bodies are said to be charged if they carry net charge
Charges with the same sign repel each other; charges
with opposite sign attract each other

In Benjamin Franklins day (18th century) it was assumed that electric

charge is some type of weightless continuous fluid. Investigations of the
structure of atoms by Ernest Rutherford at the beginning of the 20th
century revealed how matter is organized and also identified the charges
of its constituents.
Atoms consist of electrons and the nucleus.
Atoms have sizes 510-10 m.
Nuclei have sizes 510-15 m.
The nucleus itself consists of two types of particles:
protons and neutrons.
The electrons are negatively charged. The protons are positively charged.
The neutrons are neutral (zero charge).

Thus electric charge is a fundamental property of the

elementary particles (electrons, protons, neutrons) out of
which atoms are made.
4

Mass and Charge of Atomic Constituents

Neutron (n) : Mass m = 1.67510-27 kg; Charge q = 0
Proton (p) :

Mass m = 1.67310-27 kg; Charge q = +1.60210-19 C

Electron (e) : Mass m = 9.1110-31 kg; Charge q = -1.60210-19 C

Note 1: We use the symbols - e and +e for the electron and proton charge,
respectively. This is known as the elementary charge.
Note 2: Normally atoms are electrically neutral. The number of electrons is
equal to the number of protons. This number is known as the atomic
number (symbol: Z). The chemical properties of atoms are
determined exclusively by Z.
Note 3: The sum of the number of protons and the number of neutrons is
known as the mass number (symbol: A).
235
Notation: 92

Z = 92 = number of protons/electrons
A = 235 = number of protons + neutrons

The atomic number Z = 92 defines the nucleus as that of

5 a uranium atom.

Glass rubbed with silk leaves a positive

charge on the glass
Plastic rubbed with fur leaves a
negative charge on the plastic
Uses of attraction and repulsion in
industry include:
Photocopiers
Ink-jet printers
Spray painting

APPLET Travoltage (PHET)

http://phet.colorado.edu/web-pages/simulations-base
.html
6

21-3

Conductors and Insulators

Materials can be classified according to their ability of charge to move

through them.
Conductors: charge can move relatively freely through conductors.
Examples include metals such as copper, silver, gold, human body, tap
water
Excess charge on a conductor is distributed so that the net force on any
charge is zero
Insulators (or nonconductors): are materials through which charge
cannot move freely. Examples include rubber, paper, glass
Any excess charge on an insulator does not move far from the place
where it is deposited
Semiconductors: are materials that are intermediate between conductors
and insulators. Examples include silicon and germanium
Superconductors are materials through which charge can move
without resistance (or hindrance); examples include Pb, Sn, etc
7

Charging objects
Charging by friction (rubbing) already discussed as
the method for charging insulators
Charging by conduction demonstrate with electroscope
Charging by induction demonstrate with electroscope

OR

Polarization
OHPDemo with comb/paper-

+
+
+
+
+

10

Example of charge by induction in medical practice

Bacterial contamination
during surgery

11

As part of your reading, attempt the Checkpoint

questions at the end of some sections. An
example follows:

CP 1
A, B, and D are charged plastic plates and C is an
electrically neutral copper plate. The electrostatic
forces between the pairs of plates are shown for 3 of
the pairs. For the remaining two pairs, do the plates
repel or attract each other?

12

21-4

Coulombs
Law

For two charges q1 and q2 separated by

distance r, the magnitude of the
electrostatic force exerted by one charge
on the other is given by:

|q1 || q2 |
Fk 2
r

13

r
r
Note: F12 F21

r
r
| F12 | | F21 |

In words:
The magnitude of the electric force between two point
charges is directly proportional to the product of the
charges and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.
14

In vector notation:

r
q1

q1

r
F21

q2
r
F21

r
q1q2
F21 k 2 r
r

q2

r
If q1 and q2 are both positive (or both negative), then F21

is in the same direction as

r
If q1 and q2 have opposite signs, then F21 is in the opposite

direction to r
15

Note the close similarity between the form of Coulombs Law

and Newtons equation for the gravitational force between
two particles of masses m1 and m2 separated by distance r

r
m1m2
F G 2 r
r
where G is the gravitational constant
Read page 566 carefully and list the similarities and differences
between the two laws

For Coulombs Law, the constant of proportionality, k is

called the electrostatic constant
The SI unit of electric charge is called the coulomb (1 C),
defined such that: 1 C = (1 A)(1 s) (More in Chap 26)
16

Units of Charge
The unit of charge in the SI unit system is the "coulomb" (symbol C).
In principle we could use Coulomb's law for two equal charges q as follows:
Place the two charges at a distance r = 1m. q = 1 C if F

1
8.99 109 N:
4 0

1 q2
1
12
9
F

8.99

10
N
2
-12 2
4 0 r
4 3.14 8.85 10 1
For practical reasons that have to do with the accuracy of the definition, the
electric current is used instead. The electric current i in the circuit of the figure
dq
is defined by the equation i
, i.e., the amount of charge that flows
dt
through any cross section of the wire per unit time. The unit of current in SI
is the ampere (symbol A) and it can be defined very accurately.
If we solve the equation above for dq we get dq idt.
Thus if a current i = 1A flows through the circuit,
a charge q = 1C passes through any cross section
of the wire in one second.
17

 In SI units the constant k is:

8.99 x109 N .m2 / C 2

For historical reasons the electrostatic constant k is

usually written as:
1

4 0

where 0 is another constant called the permittivity

constant. Its value is 0 8.85x1012 C 2 / N .m2
It is often instructive to compare electrostatic and gravitational
forces. Use example of two protons separated by distance d to show
that (see Sample problem 21.4)

Fel
36
10
Fgrav

Hence we can often neglect gravitational forces when compared to

electrostatic forces
18

Principle of
superposition
If we have n charged particles, they
interact independently in pairs, and the
force on any one charge is the vector
r
r
r
r
r
sum: r

F1net F12 F13 F14 F15

F1n

This is also true of gravitational forces

19

What happens when we have more that

two charges?
Consider a charge configuration of more
than two charges. The net electric force on
the charge at P is then obtained using the
superposition principle.
r
Q2 -

F42

Q4
+

r
F43

Q1 +
Q3 -

r
r
r
r
F4 net F42 F43 F41

r
F41

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

outside the shell as if all shells charge were concentrated at its center

Q
Q

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

no net electrostatic force on the particle from the shell

Excess charge on spherical conducting shell is spread uniformly over

the surface of the sphere
21

Sample Problem 21.1

; R = 0.0200 m
q1= 1.60 x 10-19 C
q2 = 3.2 x 10-19 C
24

F12 1.15x10 N
r
24
F12 (1.15x10 N)i
24

F13 2.05x10 N
r
24
F13 (2.05x10 N)i
r
r
r
24
24

F1,net F12 F13 (1.15 x 10 N )i (2.05 x 10 N )i

(9.00 x 1025 N )i
!Study the rest of the sample problem22

21-5

Charge is Quantized

The electronic charge e is the elementary charge. Note that

the proton and neutron are made up of quarks which have
fractional charges like 1
2

e and e
3
3

However these fractional charges cannot exist individually

Matter is discrete in the sense that it is composed of atoms
and molecules.
Electric charge in a body is discrete, a multiple of the
elementary charge, e

q ne, n 1, 2, 3,....... e = 1.602 x 10-19 C

We say charge is quantized

23

21-6

Charge is conserved

Charge is not created or destroyed. It is merely transferred

from one body to another or from one place in a body to
another part of the same body
:Examples

238
92

Th

234
90

4
2

He ( Radioactive decay )

e e ( Annihilation)
e e (Pair production)

24