Lecture 2
Mahmoud Ibrahim Ossaimee
Professor Eng. Physics Dept.
[email protected] Room 119
Course Contents
Chapter Course Content
1 Electrostatic Field
2 Gauss’s Law
3 Electrostatic Potential
4 Capacitors and Capacitance
5 Electric Current
6 Magnetic Force
7 Magnetic Field due to Electric Current
8 Faraday-Lenz Law
9 Inductance
10 Alternating Current 2
Outlines
➢Concept of Electric Field Intensity
➢Electric Field Intensity of a point charge
➢Electric Field Intensity of a continuous charge
➢Electric Field Lines
3
Electric Field – Definition
• An electric field is said to exist in the region of space around a
charged object
– This charged object is the source charge
• When another charged object, the test charge,
enters this electric field, an electric force acts on it
4
Electric Field – Definition, cont
The electric field intensity, E, at a point in space is defined as the electrostatic
force Fe acting on a positive test charge, qo, placed at that point divided by the test
charge:
𝑭𝒆 𝑵
𝑬= →
𝒒𝒐 𝑪
5
Electric Field, Notes
❑ E is the field produced by some charge or charge distribution,
separate from the test charge
❑ The existence of an electric field is a property of the source charge The
presence of the test charge is not necessary for the field to exist
❑ The test charge serves as a detector of the field
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Quiz
Experimenter (A) uses a test charge (+q) and experimenter (B) uses a test charge
(-2q) to measure an electric field produced by stationary charges. (A) finds a
field intensity that is:
a. Less in magnitude than the field found by (B).
b. Greater in magnitude than the field found by (B).
c. Opposite in direction to the field found by (B).
d. The same in both magnitude and direction as the field found by (B).
e. Either greater or less than the field found by (B).
Relationship Between F and E
a) q is positive, F is directed away from q
b) The direction of E is also away from the positive source charge
c) q is negative, F is directed toward q
d) E is also toward the negative source charge
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Electric Field Intensity of a point charge
• Remember Coulomb’s law, between the source and test charges,
can be expressed as
qqo ˆ
Fe = ke 2 r
r
• Then, the electric field will be
Fe q ˆ
E= = ke 2 r
qo r
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Superposition with Electric Fields
• At any point P, the total electric field due to a group of source
charges equals the vector sum of electric fields of all the charges
q1
𝑬𝒑 = 𝑬1 + 𝑬2 + 𝑬3 r1
E3
p E2
q2
E = k e 2 rˆi
qi r2
E1
i
ri r3
q3
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Problem Solving Hints
• Units: when using the Coulomb constant, ke, the charges must be in
C and the distances in m
• Calculating the electric field of point charges: use the
superposition principle, find the fields due to the individual charges at
the point of interest and then add them as vectors to find the
resultant field
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Example
Calculate the magnitude and direction of the electric field at a point
P which is 30 cm to the right of a point charge Q = -3.0 x 10-6 C.
For Q = +3.0 x 10-6 C.
12
Example: E at a point between two charges.
Two point charges are separated by a distance of 10.0 cm. One has a charge of -25 μC
and the other +50 μC. (a) Determine the direction and magnitude of the electric field at
a point P between the two charges that is 2.0 cm from the negative charge.
Solution
a) The magnitude of the total field due to both charges is:
k Q1 k Q2 25´10-6 50 ´10-6
E= + = 9 ´10 [
9
+ ]
r12
r22
(0.02) 2
(0.08) 2
E = 6.3´108 N/C The direction of field is to the left.
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(b) If an electron (mass = 9.11 x 10-31 kg) is placed at rest at P and then released,
what will be its initial acceleration (direction and magnitude)?
E e F
b) The magnitude of the acceleration is:
8
𝑁
𝐸 = −6.3 × 10 𝑖Ƹ
𝐶
𝐹Ԧ = 𝑞𝐸 = −1.6 × 10−19 × −6.3 × 108 𝑖Ƹ = 1 × 10−10 𝑖𝑁
Ƹ
𝐹Ԧ 1 × 10−10 20
𝑚
𝑎Ԧ = = −31
= 1.1 × 10 𝑖Ƹ 2
𝑚 9.1 × 10 𝑠
Example: Electric Field Due to Two Charges
A charge q1 = 7.0 µC is located at the origin, and a second charge q2 = -5.0 µC is
located on the x axis, 0.30 m from the origin. Find the electric field at the point P,
which has coordinates (0, 0.40) m.
Solution: First, let us find the magnitude of the electric field at P due
to each charge. The fields E1 due to the 7.0 µC charge and E2 due to
the -5.0 µC charge. Their magnitudes are
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The vector E1 has only a y component. The vector E2 has an x component given by
E2 cos and a negative y component given by -E2 sin . Hence, we can express the
vectors as:
The resultant field E at P is the superposition of E1 and E2:
From this result, we find that E makes an angle of 66° with the positive x
axis and has a magnitude of 2.7 105 N/C.
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Example :
Calculate the total electric field (a) at point A and (b) at point B in the
figure due to both charges, Q1 and Q2.
Solution
k Q1 9 109 50 10−6
E A1 = 2
= 2
= 1.25 106
N/C
rA1 (0.6)
k Q2 9 109 50 10−6
E A2 = 2
= 2
= 5 106
N/C
rA2 (0.3)
E Ax = E A1 cos 30 = 1.1 106 N/C,
E Ay = E A2 - E A1 sin 30 = 4.4 106 N/C
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( ) ( ) ´ ´
2 2
EA = 1.1 + 4.4 10 6
= 4.5 10 6
N/C
E Ay 4.4
tan f = = =4 Þ f = 76 o
E Ax 1.1
b. Due to symmetry
EB1y = - EB2y
EB1x = EB2x
Hence
E = 3.6 x 106 N/C, along the x axis.
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Electric Field – Continuous Charge Distribution
• A continuous distribution of charge may be treated as a succession
of infinitesimal (point) charges.
• Procedure:
– Divide the charge distribution into small
elements, each of which contains Δq
– Calculate the electric field due to one of
these elements at point P
– Evaluate the total field by summing the
contributions of all the charge elements
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• For the individual charge elements
q
E = k e 2 r̂
r
• Because the charge distribution is continuous
qi
E = ke lim 2 rˆi = k e 2 r̂
dq
q i →0 ri r
i
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Charge Densities
• Volume charge density: when a charge is distributed evenly
throughout a volume
• dq = ρ dV ρ = Q / V volume charge density
•
• Surface charge density: when a charge is distributed evenly over a
surface area
• dq = σ dA σ = Q / A surface charge density
• Linear charge density: when a charge is distributed along a line
• dq = λ dℓ λ = Q / ℓ linear charge density
21
Problem Solving Hints
• Continuous charge distributions: the vector sums for evaluating
the total electric field at some point must be replaced with vector
integrals
• Divide the charge distribution into infinitesimal pieces, calculate the vector
sum by integrating over the entire charge distribution
• Symmetry: take advantage of any symmetry to simplify calculations
22
Example: The Electric Field Due to a Charged Rod
A rod of length l has a uniform positive charge per unit length and a total
charge Q. Calculate the electric field at a point P that is located along the long
axis of the rod and a distance a from one end
Solution: Let us assume that the rod is lying
along the x axis, that dx is the length of one
small segment, and that dq is the charge on
that segment. Because the rod has a charge per
unit length , the charge dq on the small
segment is dq = dx. The field dE at P due to
this segment is in the negative x direction and
its magnitude is
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The total field at P due to all segments of the rod, which are at different distances
from P which in this case becomes
where the limits on the integral extend from one end of the rod (x = a) to the
other (x = l + a). The constants ke and can be removed from the integral to yield
where we have used the fact that the total charge Q = l.
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Special Case:
If a >>> l (length of charged rod)
𝑄
𝐸=𝑘
𝑎2
In this case the charged rod behave as point charge
Assignment 1
y
Example: The Electric Field of a Uniform Ring of Charge
A ring of radius a carries a uniformly distributed positive total charge Q.
Calculate the electric field due to the ring at a point P lying a distance x from its
center along the central axis perpendicular to the plane of the ring
Solution: The magnitude of the electric field at P due to the
segment of charge dq is
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This field has an x component dEx = dE cos along the x axis and a component dE⊥
perpendicular to the x axis. However, the resultant field at P must lie along the x axis because
the perpendicular components of all the various charge segments sum to zero. That is, the
perpendicular component of the field created by any charge element is canceled by the
perpendicular component created by an element on the opposite side of the ring. Because r =
(x2 + a2)1/2 and cos = x/r, we find that
All segments of the ring make the same contribution to the field at P because they are all
equidistant from this point. Thus, we can integrate to obtain the total field at P:
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Special Case:
(i) If x >>> a (radius of charged ring)
𝑄
𝐸=𝑘
𝑥2
In this case the charged ring behave as point charge
(ii) Field of charged ring at center (x = 0)
𝐸=0
Electric Field Lines
❑ Field lines indicate the direction of the
field; the field is tangent to the line.
❑ The magnitude of the field is proportional
to the density of the lines.
❑ Field lines start on positive charges and
end on negative charges; the number is
proportional to the magnitude of the
charge.
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Electric Field Lines, Positive Point Charge
• The field lines radiate outward in all
directions
• In three dimensions, the distribution is spherical
• The lines are directed away from the
source charge
• A positive test charge would be repelled away
from the positive source charge
31
Electric Field Lines, Negative Point Charge
• The field lines radiate inward in all
directions
• The lines are directed toward the
source charge
• A positive test charge would be attracted
toward the negative source charge
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Electric Field Lines – Dipole
• The charges are equal and opposite
• The number of field lines leaving
the positive charge equals the
number of lines terminating on the
negative charge
33
Electric Field Lines – Like Charges
• The charges are equal and positive
• The same number of lines leave each
charge since they are equal in magnitude
• At a great distance, the field is
approximately equal to that of a single
charge of 2q
34
Electric Field Lines, Unequal Charges
• The positive charge is twice the magnitude of
the negative charge
• Two lines leave the positive charge for each
line that terminates on the negative charge
• At a great distance, the field would be
approximately the same as that due to a
single charge of +q
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