Kunraghat, Gorakhpur (U.
P)
Assignment no. 1
Chapters included:-
• Electric Charges & Fields
• Electrostatic potential &Capacitance
• Current Electricity
Submitted to : Dr. Sanjaya Kumar
Mishra
Submitted by : Vansika Tiwari
Admission No. : 5820
Electric Charges& Fields 2
Electrostatics: It is the study of charges when the charges are at rest.
Electric Charges:
• It is a property of a material due to which it shows and
experiences electric effect.
• It is a scalar quantity.
• S. I Unit : coulomb
• C.G.S Unit : stat coulomb
• Two kinds of electric charges: positive and negative.
Properties of Electric Charges
• A charge cannot exist without mass.
• Charges are always conserved.
• Total charge on body = algebraic sum of all the charges.
• Charge on a body does not change with speed.
• Charges are quantized. A charge on a boy is always expressed by Q
= + ne.
Note:
➔ Quanta: Minimum amount of charge on charged body.
➔ me = 9.01x10-31 kg; mp = 1.67x10-27; mn = 1.67x10-21
➔ Repulsion is sure check of presence of charges.
➔ Two oppositely charged bodies will attract each other but one may
be charged and other might be neutral.
Force between two charges
Electric Charges& Fields 3
Coulomb’s Law:-
𝑄1 𝑄2
• According to coulomb’s law, 𝐹 = 𝑘 where k = 9x 10-9 Nm2C-2
𝑟2
1 -12 𝐶2
• The constant 𝑘 = where 𝜖0 =8.85 x 10 .
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑁𝑚2
• Force between two charges is conservative force i.e. work done
by electrostatic force in moving point charges along a closed loop
is 0.
• Coulomb’s Law is valid only for point charges. It gives the force
between charges in vacuum.
• A charge will never exert force on itself.
• Coulomb’s force law between two point charges q1 and q2 located
1 𝑞1 𝑞2
at 𝑟̅1 and 𝑟̅2 is expressed as 𝐹 21 =
̅̅̅̅ 21 .
𝑟̂
4𝜋∈0 𝑟21 2
Note:
➔ The above eqn is valid for any sign on q1 and q2whether positive
or negative.
1 𝑞1 𝑞2
➔ Force ̅̅̅̅
𝐹12 on charge q1 due to q2 is ̅̅̅̅
𝐹12 = 12 = -𝐹21 . Thus,
𝑟̂
4𝜋∈0 𝑟12 2
coulomb’s law agrees with Newton’s Third Law.
Force between multiple charges
Principle of superposition
• Force on any charge due to a number of other charges is the
vector sum of all the forces on that charge due to other charges
taken one at a time.
Electric Charges& Fields 4
• Individual forces are unaffected due to the presence of other
charges.
• Here, ⃗⃗⃗
𝐹1 = ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐹12 + ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐹13 + ⋯ ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐹1𝑛
𝑞1 𝑞2 𝑟12
̂ +𝑞3 𝑟13
̂ +⋯+𝑞𝑛 𝑟1𝑛
Therefore, ⃗⃗⃗
𝐹1 = [ ̂
]
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟 2 12 𝑟 2 13 𝑟 2 1𝑛
𝑞1 𝑞𝑖 𝑟̂
= ∑𝑛𝑖=2 1𝑖
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟 21𝑖
Electrostatic Equilibrium
• The point where the resultant force on a charged particle
becomes zero is called equilibrium position.
• If a charge is in equilibrium then the net force acting on it is
zero.
Electric Field
• Electric field is the vector way of representing the space around
a charge which helps in the calculation of one charge on the
other.
• The region around the source charge is termed as an electric
field.
Note:
➔ It is a vector quantity.
➔ For a positive source charge the electric field lines are radially
outwards.
Electric Charges& Fields 5
➔ For a negative source charge the electric field lines are radially
inwards.
Electric field lines due to a point charge
Q q
O 𝑟 P
• The electric field due to charge Q at a point in space (O) maybe
defined as the force that a unit positive charge (q) would
experience if placed at that point (P).
Electric field due to a System of Charges
• Electric field at any point due to a number of charges is the vector
sum of all the Electric Fields at that point due to other charges
taken one at a time.
• ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑡 = 𝐸1 + 𝐸2 + 𝐸3 … + 𝐸𝑛
𝑞1
𝐸1 =
⃗⃗⃗⃗ 2 𝑟
̂1
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟 1
𝑞2 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐸1 q1
⃗⃗⃗⃗2 =
𝐸 𝑟̂2
r1
q0
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟 22
𝑞3 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐸2 q2
⃗⃗⃗⃗3 =
𝐸 𝑟̂3 r2
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟 23
1 𝑞𝑖
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗ =
𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑡 ∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑟̂𝑖 r3 q3
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟2𝑖 ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐸3
Unit of Electric field
NC-1 = kg m s-3 A-1 = Vm-1
Note:
Electric Charges& Fields 6
• Force experienced by a charge , Q kept in electric field 𝐸⃗ is 𝐹 =
𝑄𝐸⃗ .
• If a charge q is placed at each vertex of a regular polygon, then
the net electric field at its centre will be zero.
• If a charged q is placed at each vertex of a regular polygon then
the net electric field at its centre distant r from each vertex is
𝑞
directed towards or away from the empty vertex depending
4𝜋𝜖0 𝑟 2
on whether q is positive or negative.
Properties of electric field lines
• For an isolated positive/negative charge – Straight lines
emerging from the charge and radially outwards to infinity/
ending at the charge radially inward from infinity.
• For two equal positive/ negative charges the field lines seem to
push each other resulting in mutual repulsion.
• The no. of lines originating or terminating on a charge is
1
proportional to the magnitude of charge. In SI unit ( ) electric
𝜖 0
lines are associated with one coulomb of charge.
• No two field lines can intersect each other.
• Field lines have the tendency to cintract in length (thus
attraction between charges)
• Lateral pressure between field lines explains mutual repulsion
btween like charges.
Electric Charges& Fields 7
Electric Dipole
A set of two charges of same magnitude q, but of opposite charge
seperated by a small distance is called electric dipole.
-q 𝑝 +q
2a
Dipole moment:
• It is a parameter of measuring the strength of a dipole.
• It is a vector quantity.
• By convention it is always directed from negative charge to
positive charge.
• It is equal to the magnitude of one charge and product of two
charges.
• Unit of dipole moment : p=Cm
Ideal dipole : The electric field due to a short dipole at large distance
1
is proportional to 3 . When the dipole size 2a approaches zero the
𝑟
charge q approaches infinity in such a way that the product p = q*2a is
finite. Such a dipole is referred to as ideal dipole.
Note :
➔ The electric field E due to a small dipole is not zero at any pint p
at a finite distance from the dipole
Electric Charges& Fields 8
➔ The magnitude of the electric field at a point in axial line of a small
dipole is twice the magnitude of electric field at at the same
distance in equatorial line.
➔ If an electric dipole is kept in uniform external electric field then
the net force on the dipole is zero but it might experience a
troque.
➔ If dipole is parallel (𝜃 = 0) or anitparallel (𝜃 = 0) then the torque is
zero. Hence dipole is in equilibrium position.
➔ If an electric dipole is kept in non uniform electric field then it
may experience force as well as torque.
Continous charge distribution
∆𝑄
• The surface charge density 𝜎 at the area element by 𝜎 = . The
∆𝑆
units for 𝜎 are coulomb per m2.
• For a line charge distribution, the linear charge density 𝛾 of a wire
∆𝑄
is defined by 𝛾 = . The units for 𝜎 are coulomb per m.
∆𝑙
• For a volume charge distribution, the volume charge density 𝜌 of a
∆𝑄
wire is defined by 𝜌 = . The units for 𝜎 are coulomb per m3.
∆𝑉
Electric flux
∆𝑆 • Electric Flux ∆∅ through an area element ∆𝑆
is given by ∆∅ = 𝐸∆𝑆 cos 𝜃.
• The SI unit is NC-1 m2
𝜃
𝐸⃗
Electric Charges& Fields 9
Gauss’s Law
• The electric flux ∅ through any closed surfaceis equal to the net
charge is equal to the net charge inside the surface Q divided by
𝜖0 .
• The surface chosen for application of guass’s law is called the
guassian surface.
• When the guassian surface passes through any discrete charge the
electric field is not well defined at the location of the charge.
• When the suface is chosen such that few charges are inside and
outside then the electric field is due to all charges outside and
inside as well.
• Guass’s theorem is most commonly used for symmetric charge
configurations.
• Gauss’s theorem is based on inverse square dependence of 𝐸⃗ on
1
distance𝐸⃗ ∞ 2 .
𝑟
• From Gauss’s theorem we can calculate the number of electric lines
of force that radiate outward from one coulomb of positive charge
𝑞
in vaccum. As ∅ =
∈0
