THE COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MATHEMATICS AND NATURAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
PH 110 INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS
TUTORIALSHEET 11 AND 12
11. Electrostatics (coulomb’s law, electric field and electric potential)
1. Two electrically neutral spheres are 0.15 m apart. When electrons are
moved from one of the spheres to another, an attractive force of magnitude
10-5 N is established between them. How many electrons were transferred?
2. Two equally charged pith balls are at a distance r 3 cm apart, as shown in
the figure below. Find the magnitude of the charge on each ball if they repel
each other with a force of magnitude 2 10 5 N. Does the answer give you any
hint about the exact sign of charge? Explain.
3. Two metal spheres on insulated stands carry charges of +4 μC and -6 μC
respectively. The spheres are arranged with their centres 40 cm apart, as
shown below.
1
a) Calculate the magnitude of the force exerted by each sphere on the other.
b) Calculate the net electric field at point P as shown in the diagram above.
4. Two point charges, Q and Q , a distance 3 m apart, are shown below.
1 2
The charge on Q is - 14 μC and the charge on Q is + 20 μC.
1 2
(a) Define the electric field at a point in space.
(b) Draw the electric field pattern due to these two charges.
(c) Calculate the net electric field at point P situated 2 m from Q2.
5. (a) Write the mathematical expression of Coulomb’s law which describes
the force between two charges Q1, Q2. Use a simple diagram to show the
direction of the forces on two charges when they have i) the same sign ii)
opposite sign.
(b) Find the force on a charge of -20nC which is 5cm away from a +50μC
‘source’ charge. Sketch the two charges with the force acting on the -20nC
charge.
6. What is the angle and tension in the string of Fig 2? At the end of the
string the mass is m = 8.0×10-2 kg and the charges are q1 = 0.6×10-6C and
q2 = -0.9×10-6 C.
2
7. Two charges 5 10 8 C and 3 10 8 C are located 16 cm apart. At what
point(s) on the line joining the two charges is the electric potential zero?
8. (a) Calculate the potential at a point P due to a charge of 4 10 7 C located 9
cm away.
(b) Hence obtain the work done in bringing a charge of 5 10 8 C from
infinity to the point P. Does the answer depend on the path along
which the charge is brought?
9. Using the diagram shown below:
(a)Calculate the electrostatic force exerted by Q 1 on Q2
(b) By proportional reasoning, determine the electrostatic force exerted by
Q3 on Q2
(c) Use a vector diagram to determine the resultant electrostatic force on Q2
(d) Determine the resultant electric field due to Q1 and Q3 at the point
occupied by Q2
3
12. DC Circuits
1. Two resistors of 10 Ώ and 15 Ώ in parallel are in series with a 4Ώresistor.
The combination is in parallel with a 10Ώ resistor.
(i) Draw a diagram for this circuit, and
(ii) find its equivalent resistance.
2. The following questions refer to the circuit diagram below. Neglect internal
resistance of the battery.
Calculate:
(i) the total external resistance of the circuit.
(ii) the current through the battery.
(iii) the current through the 8.0 Ώ resistor.
(iv) the current through the 10.0 Ώ resistor.
3. The following diagram shows a battery of unknown emf and an internal
resistance of 1.0 connected to three resistors. The voltmeter has a very
high resistance.
4
If the reading on the voltmeter is 3.0 V, calculate:
(i) the current in the 9.0 resistor;
(ii) the heat energy generated in the 60 resistor in 2 minutes;
(iii) the total external resistance of the circuit;
(iv) the value of the emf .
4. (a) Write the current and voltage Kirchhoff laws
(b) For the circuit shown in the figure below (with the 30Ω resistor
initially not connected), find:
(i) the voltage difference between points A and B.
(ii) the resistance between points A and B (by short-circuiting the power
source)
(c) Using the above results or otherwise, calculate the current through the
30Ω resistor if connected using the dotted lines.
5. In the given circuit, the batteries have negligible internal resistance.
5
Use the given nodes and loops to apply Kirchoff’s Laws to find:
(i) the currents I2 and I3 ;
(ii) the value of R.
