CHAPTER-1
ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELDS
• What is electric charge?
• What is an electric field?
INTRODUCTION
We have experience of hearing a crackle:
• When we take off our synthetic/nylon clothes or
sweater.
• When we comb our dry hair using a plastic comb.
• Hand taken near computer/TV screen.
• Hand rubbed with silk cloth and taken near thermo-
coal sheet.
• Spark in electrical connection, also Lightning during
thunder storms.
These are few examples of Discharge of electrical
charges.
• A sensation of electrical shocks while opening
the door of a car or while holding the iron bars of
a bus after sliding from our seat- It is due to
discharge of electric charges through our body.
• A glass rod rubbed with silk or a plastic rod
rubbed with fur can attract pieces of paper/ dust
particles - It is because of the charge acquired by
them.
• All these is due to generation of static-electricity.
Electrostatics:
• It is branch of physics which deals with the study
of charges at rest(static charges), the forces
between static charges, the fields and potentials
due to these charges.
History:
• In 600 BC, a Greek philosopher by name Thales
of Miletus observed that amber rubbed with
silk/wool attracts light objects.
• The name Electricity was taken from a Greek
word “elektron” which means amber.
ELECTRIC CHARGE:
• Electric charge is an intrinsic property possessed
by objects/particles to exert electrical force and
to respond to electric force.
- Just as masses are responsible for gravitational
force, electric charges are responsible for
Electrical force.
• It can be established that there are two kinds of charges from the
following observations:
a) A glass rod is rubbed with silk.
b) A ebonite rod/ plastic rod rubbed with cat’s fur.
c) Glass rod with silk and ebonite with cat’s fur.
d) Glass rod with silk using pith balls.
e) Ebonite rod with cat’s fur using pith balls.
f) Glass rod with silk and ebonite rod with cat’s
fur using pith balls.
• An analysis of these observations lead us to the
following Conclusions:
1. The bodies like glass rod, ebonite/plastic rods,
silk, cat’s fur etc… acquired electric charge on
rubbing due to friction.
2. The pith balls acquire electric charge by actual
contact with charged body.
3. There are two kinds of electric charges: one kind
of electric charge is produced on glass rod when
rubbed with silk and other kind of electric
charge is produced on ebonite rod when rubbed
with cat’s fur.
• The property which differentiates the two kinds
of charges is called polarity of charges.
• Electric charges of same kind/same polarity/ like
charges repel each other, while electric charges
of opposite kind/ opposite polarity/ unlike
charges attract each other.
• Therefore the charges were named positive
when it loses electrons and negative when it
gains electrons- given by the American scientist
Benjamin Franklin.
• By convention, the charge on the glass rod and
cat’s fur is called positive(loses electrons) and
that on ebonite rod and silk is called
negative(gains electrons).
• If an object possesses electric charge, it is said to
be charged or Electrified. When a body has no
charge it is said to be neutral. The process of
charging a body is called Electrification.
Gold Leaf Electroscope
Gold leaf electroscope is a simple apparatus used to detect the
presence of electric charge on a body and its polarity.
• Gold leaf electroscope consists of :
R- vertical metal rod fixed inside the
G- glass jar
S- insulating stopper,
L, L- two extremely thin gold foils
attached to lower end of metal rod.
D- Metal disc at top end of metal rod.
F,F- tin foils, is used to increase the
sensitiveness of the instrument.
• When a charged objects touches the metal disc
‘D’, the same charge is transferred to the gold
foils through the metal rod. The foils repel each
other and they diverge. The degree of
divergence is an indicator of the amount of
charges.
Origin of Electric charge:
• All matter is made up of atom.
• In an atom the total negative charge on electrons
and total positive charge on nucleus are equal in
magnitude, hence atom are electrically neutral
even though they do contains charges.
• In solids, some of the electrons are loosely bounded
in the atom, these electrons are transferred from
one body to other. A body is said to be positively
charged if it looses its electrons, similarly a body is
said to be negatively charged if it gains electrons.
• When we rub two insulating objects against each
other due to friction, loosely bound electrons gets
transfer, that’s what happens in glass rod rubbed
with silk:
glass rod looses electrons -> +vely charged.
silk gains electrons -> -vely charged.
Conductors and Insulators
Conductors:
• The substances which allow electric charges to
pass through them easily are called conductors.
• The main cause for this conduction is due to the
presence of electric charges(electron) which are
free to move inside the material.
Ex.: 1) Metals(copper, aluminum..), human and
animals bodies, living plants and trees, and
earth… are conductors.
2) Salt solutions(electrolytes) and acids are also
conductors.
Insulators:
• The substances which do not allow the electric
charges to pass through them are called
Insulators.
• These substances possess almost no free
electrons
Ex.: Non-metals like wood, glass, plastic, rubber,
nylon, porcelain…etc are insulators.
• When some charge is transferred to a
conductor, it readily gets distributed over the
entire outer surface of the conductor. Due to
mutual repulsion between like charges, the
charges always remain on the outer surface of
the conductor.
• Distribution of charges on the surface depends
on the shape of the conductor
Grounding/ Earthing:
• When a charged body is brought in contact with
the earth, all excess charges on the body
disappears by flowing through the ground.
• The process of sharing the charges with the earth
is called Grounding/ Earthing.
Ex.:
1. Spikes on tall buildings/Towers.
2. Electrical wiring of houses and domestic home
appliances(TV/Fridge/oven/iron box/washing
machine) has three wires - live/phase, neutral
and earth.
Charging by Induction:
1. A body can be charged by friction by rubbing it
with a suitable materials – this method is usually
done for insulators.
2. A body can be charged by conduction by keeping
it in contact with a charged body.
3. A body can be charged by one more method
called Induction i.e., when a charged body is
placed near an uncharged conductor, charges of
opposite polarity are produced on the nearer
surface of the conductor and same polarity are
produced on farther surface of the conductor
– this process is called Induction.
The process of charging bodies by Induction is illustrated in the following two cases:
1. Charging two metal spheres by Induction:
[Link] a metal sphere by Induction
Conclusions
• When an electrically charged body [ like glass rod
rubbed with silk, ebonite rod rubbed with fur, plastic
comb after combing dry hair] is held near light
objects- induction takes place.
• The charged body induces opposite charges on the
nearer surface of the object similar charges on the
farther side of the object.
• The opposite charges attract and similar charges
repel.
• The magnitude of attractive force is greater than
repulsive force, hence the charged body attracts light
objects towards it.
Basic properties of Electric charge:
1. Electric charge is additive.
• If a system contains a no. of point charges,
the total charges of the system is the algebraic
sum of all the charges present on the system.
This is known as additivity of charges.
[Link] charges are conserved.
• Total charge of an isolated system always
remains constant or conserved (It is not possible to
create or destroy net charge) This is known as
conservation of charges.
3. Electric charges are quantized.
• The electric charges are integral multiple of basic
unit charge of an electron ‘e’ is called
quantization of charge. It means the charge exist
in discrete, indivisible units.
i.e q=ne, where n=1,2,3….and it can be positive or negative.
The value of the basic unit of charge is: e = 1.602x10-19C.
[Link] are two types of charges i.e. positive and
negative.
5. Like charges repel and unlike charges attract
each other.
6. Electric charge has magnitude but no direction,
therefore it is a scalar.
7. Electric charge carried by a body is not affected
by its motion.
SI Unit of charge:
• The SI unit of charge is called a coulomb(C).
Coulomb’s Law:
Q. State and explain coulomb’s law of electrostatics
Statement:
Coulomb’s law states that, “ The electrostatic
force of attraction or repulsion between any two
point charges is directly proportional to the
product of the magnitude of charges and
inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them, acting along the line
joining the two charges”.
Explanation:
Consider two charges q1 and q2 are separated by a
distance ‘r’ and ‘F’ is the magnitude of the force
between them.
According to coulomb’s law,
Q: Define 1 coulomb or define SI unit of charge.
From coulomb’s law:
• The charge is said to be one coulomb or (1C),
when a charge is placed at a distance of one
meter from another equal and similar charge in
air or vacuum experiences an electrical force of
repulsion of 9x109 N.
Coulomb’s law in vector form:
Dielectric constant or Relative permittivity:
• The magnitude of force between two point
charges q1 and q2 separated by a distance ‘r’
In free space/vacuum is:
In a material medium is:
Forces between multiple charges:
• Consider a system of three charges q1, q2, and q3
as shown in fig.
• The force on one charge due to the two other
charges can be obtained by performing vector
addition of the forces due to each one of these
charge.
The force on q1 due to q2 is:
The force on q1 due to q3 is:
The total force ‘F’ on the charge q1 due to the two
charges q2 and q3 is:
Eq .1 can be generalized for a system of charges
more than three,.
The principle of superposition says that in a system
of charges q1,q2,q3,…….qn. The force on q1 due to
other charges are:
The Total force ‘F’ on the charge q1 due to all other
charges is given by the vector sum of the forces.,
Therefore the vector sum is obtained by using
2
parallelogram law of vector addition(or polygon
law of vector addition).
Electric field :
• Q- is a point charge at ‘o’
• q- is another point charge at ‘p’, both are placed
in vacuum separated by distance ‘r’, i.e
• The charge ‘Q’ will exert force on the charge ‘q’
as per Coulomb’s law.
• How does a force act on the charge ‘q’ at ‘p’ and
what is there at ‘p’ due to charge ‘Q’?
• To answer this question, early scientists
introduced the concept of “Field”.
• According to this, the charge ‘Q’ produces an
electric field everywhere surrounding it and
produces a force on the charges placed
anywhere around it.
Electric Field: [E]
statement:
• The Electric field is a region/space around a
charge in which it exerts an electrostatic force on
other charges.
Electric Field Intensity:
• The strength of the electric field at any point in
space is called Electric field intensity.
• SI unit: NC-1 or Vm-1
• It is a vector quantity.
• Dimension formula: [MLT-3 A-1]
Q:Define Electric field at a point.
The Electric field due to a charge at a point in a
space is defined as the force experienced by a
unit positive charge placed at that point.
Electric Field due to a point charge:
Q: Derive an Expression for Electric intensity due to an isolated point charge
The force F exerted by the charge ‘Q’ on a positive
charge ‘q’ placed at ‘p’ at a distance ‘r’ is:
Therefore the electric field E at a point ‘p’ at a
distance ‘r’ from the charge ‘Q’ is:
NOTE:
• The charge ‘Q’ which produces the electric field is
called a ‘’Source charge”.
• The charge ‘q’ which experiences/tests the effect of
the source charge is called a “test charge”.
• If source charge is Positive (+Q), the electric field E is
directed radially outward from the charge.
• If source charge is Negative (-Q), the electric field E is
directed radially inward .
Electric Field due to a system of charges:
• Electric field at any point due to a system of point
charges is equal to the vector sum of the electric
fields due to individual charges at the same
point.
Let ‘p’ be a point at distances r1,r2,r3….rn from the
point charges q1, q2, q3….qn in a system.
Electric field at ‘p’ due to charge q1 at a distance r1
is:
Electric field at ‘p’ due to charge q2 at a distance r2
is:
Similarly other electric fields due to
charges q3, q4…qn. By superposition principle, the
resultant electric field E at the point ‘p’ due to
the system of charges is:
Physical Significance of Electric Field:
1. It is important in understanding electrostatic
phenomena.
2. Concept of electric field is used to explain
existence of electrical force between two
charged particles held at some distance.
3. Every charge sets up an electric field of ‘E’,
exerts a force on charge ‘qo’, i.e., F= qo.E
4. Electric field at a point in the space around
a system of charges tells us, the force
experienced by a unit positive test charge
placed at that point, without disturbing the
system.
5. Electric field is a characteristic of the system of
charges and is independent of the test charge
at that point to determine the field.
Electric Field Lines
• Electric field line is the path along which a unit
positive charge moves or tends to move in an
electric field.
• Electric field line can be straight or curve such
that a tangent to it at any point gives the
direction of electric field at that point.
• AB- electric field line, Ep and EQ gives the
directions of electric field at ‘p’ and ‘Q’
• The electric field lines are in three dimensional
space.
• There is no limit to the number of lines drawn in
the electric field.
• The magnitude of the electric field is
represented by the density of the field lines.
• Electric field E is stronger near the charge, so the
density of field lines is more near the charge and
the lines are closer. Away from charge, the field
gets weaker so the density of field lines is less
and are more separated.
• The direction of electric field lines around a
positive point charge are radially outward.
• The direction of electric field lines around a
Negative point charge are radially inward.
• The field lines around a system of two positive
charges.
• The field lines around a system of two equal
and opposite charges +q and –q or a Dipole.
• The electric field lines of a uniformed electric
field.
Properties of Electric Field Lines
1. Electric field lines originated from positive charges
and ends at negative charges. If there is a single
charge, they may start or end at infinity.
2. Electric field lines are continuous curves without
any breaks.
3. Tangent drawn to the electric field line at any point
gives the direction of the electric field at that point.
4. Two electric field lines never intersect each other.
( because at every point there is a unique
direction for electric field, two direction for electric
field cannot exist at a point )
5. Electric field lines do not form any closed loops.
6. Electric field lines are always
perpendicular/normal to the surface of the
conductor.
7. No electric lines of force exist inside the charged
body.
8. Electric field lines are geometrical representation
of strength of electric field.
Electric Flux: (φ)
• The number of electric field lines crossing unit area of an
element( planar) placed normal to the electric field at a
point is a measure of the strength of the electric field at that
point is known as Electric Flux.
• Electric flux is the measure of flow of the electric field
through a given area.
• Consider a small planar element of area Δs is placed
normal to electric field E at a point, the no. of field lines
crossing it is proportional to E.Δs .
• If the area element is tilted by an angle θ, the no. of
field lines crossing it will be smaller and it will be
proportional to E.Δ[Link]θ
• When θ=900, if the area element is tilted at 900 w.r.t
electric field direction ‘E’, the field lines will be
parallel to the area Δs and will not cross it at all.
The term E.Δ[Link]θ represents the small electric
flux Δφ through the small area element Δs in an
electric field E.
Thus , Δφ= E.Δ[Link]θ or Δφ= E.Δs
Δs= Δs.n
where Δs- magnitude of area element.
n – unit vector along normal at that point.
• The total Electric Flux through given surface ‘S’
is : φ Σ E.Δ[Link]θ or φ Σ E.Δs
• The approximation sign is put because the
electric field E is taken to be constant over a
small area. This relation becomes exact when
we take the limit Δs 0 and the summation can
be written as an integral.
• Electric flux is a scalar qty.
• SI unit of φ : NC-1m2 or Vm
• Δφ is +ve when field is outwards & Δφ is -ve
when field is inwards.
Electric Dipole:
• An electric dipole is nothing but it consists of a
pair(two) of equal and opposite charges separated
by a small distance.
• An electric dipole having two equal and opposite
charges +q and –q separated by a distance ‘2a’.
• The line joining the two charges is the dipole axis
and its direction is from –q to +q.
• The total charge of the dipole is zero, but electric
field is not zero, since the charges +q and –q are
separated by some distances, the electric fields
due to them do not cancel out when added.
Electric Dipole moment(p):
• Dipole moment of an electric dipole is the
product of the magnitude of either charge and
the distance between the two charges.
i.e., p = q. 2ap or p = q.2a
• SI unit: Cm( coulomb meter)
• Dipole moment is a vector quantity.
• Its direction is from negative charge to positive
charge along the line joining the charges.
The field of an Electric Dipole:
• The electric field for the pair of charges +q and –q
at any point in space can be found using
coulomb’s law and the superposition principle.
• The electric field E at point ‘p’ is obtained by
adding the electric fields E1 due to charge +q and
E2 due to charge –q by the parallelogram law of
vectors.
• Now let us derive for the Electric field, when the
point ‘p’ is : a)On the dipole axis &
b) On the equatorial line.
a) Electric field at a point on the Dipole axis:
• Consider a dipole producing electric field E,
having dipole moment, p = q.2a.p.
Let ‘p’ be a point at distance ‘r’ from the centre ‘o’ of
the dipole along the dipole axis.
Electric field at point ‘p’ due to +q is:
Electric field at point ‘p’ due to -q is:
opposite direction
.
• The total electric field at ‘p’ is :
• .
Electric Field at a point on the Equatorial line:
• Consider a dipole producing electric field ‘E’, let ‘p’ be a
point on the equatorial line or perpendicular bisector of
dipole axis, at a distance ‘r’ from the centre ‘o’ of the
dipole axis.
• The distance from each charge to the point ‘p’
is: (r2+a2)1/2. The dipole moment is given by: p =
q.2a.p, where p is unit vector from –q to +q.
The magnitude of the electric field at ‘p’ due to the
charge +q is :
The magnitude of the electric field at ‘p due to the
charge –q is:
The direction of E1 is away from charge +q and E2 is
towards -q .
• The electric field E1 is resolved into two
rectangular components as [Link]θ along +ve
x-axis and [Link]θ along +ve y-axis. similarly E2 is
resolved as [Link]θ along +ve x-axis and [Link]θ
along –ve y-axis.
• [Link]θ and [Link]θ are equal and opposite in
direction, therefore they cancel out. Where as
[Link]θ and [Link]θ are equal and acting along
same direction, therefore they get added up.
• The total electric field E is opposite to p, therefore
.
Physical significance of Dipoles:
Q. Distinguish between polar and non-polar molecules in dipole?
1. In some molecules , the centre of positive charges and
centre negative charges do not coincide. Therefore these
molecules have a permanent electric dipole moment
and they are permanent dipoles. Such molecules are
called polar molecules.
Ex.:
2. In most molecules, the centre of positive charges and
centre negative charges coincide. Therefore their dipole
moment is zero. They develop induced dipole moment
when an electric field is applied, but it is not
permanent. Such molecules are called non-
polar molecules.
Ex.:
Torque on a Dipole in a uniform Electric field
• Consider a permanent dipole of dipole moment p in a
uniform external electric field E, the dipole axis makes an
angle ‘θ’ with the direction of the electric field E.
• A force qE on the charge +q is in the direction of the
electric field and a force –qE on the charge –q is in the
direction opposite to the electric field.
• Since E is uniform, the net force on the dipole is
zero, the two forces acting at different points
gives rise to torque(couple-‘τ’) on the dipole.
• The magnitude of the torque on the dipole is:
Thus, the direction of torque is normal to the plane
of paper outwards.
• The torque will tend to align the dipole with the
direction of the electric field as follows:
a) When p is along E, θ=00
The torque is zero, the dipole is in equilibrium.
b) When p is opposite to E,
In this position, the dipole is in unstable equilibrium.
c) When p is perpendicular to E,
The torque will be maximum.
Note:
• In non-uniform electric field, the net force on dipole will not be zero, there will be
torque and also net force on the dipole.
Continuous Charge Distribution:
• We know that charges can exist only as integral multiple of basic
charge ‘e’, therefore charges distribution is always discrete.
• The mathematical treatment of discrete charges is simple but it is
impractical to work in terms of discrete charges always and we
need to work with continuous charge distribution.
• The idea of continuous charge distribution on conductor is similar
to continuous mass distribution on a body in mechanics.
• The density of solid or liquid are referred to macroscopic density, it
is regarded as a continuous distribution of mass. i.e., ρ=m/V.
• At microscopic level the distribution of mass in atoms and
molecules is not continuous.
Example:
• On the surface of a charged conductor, we cannot specify
the charge distributions in terms of discrete charges, instead
we can consider a small element area Δs on the surface of a
conductor and specify the charge ΔQ on that element.
• The area Δs is very small on macroscopic scale but contains
a very large no. of microscopic constituents like electrons,
then the density at that small area element can be define as
surface charge density ‘σ’ at the area element.
a) Surface charge density:(σ)
• It is defined as the amount of charge per unit
area.
b) Linear charge density: (λ)
• It is defined as the amount of charge per unit
length.
c) Volume charge density: (ρ)
• It is defined as the amount of charge per unit
volume.
d) The electric field at a point due to a volume
charge distribution:
• The electric field due to a continuous charge
distribution in space has volume charge
density ρ, the charge distribution is divided
into small volume elements of size ΔV.
• The electric field due to the charge in this volume
element at any point ‘p’ inside/outside the charge
distribution is given by:
Where, r’-distance b/w charge element & given point.
- unit vector in the direction from the charge element to
given point.
By superposition principle, the total electric field at
‘p’ due to the volume charge distribution is:
Gauss’s Law
Q. state and prove Gauss’s law in electrostatics
• Gauss’s law states that “ The total electric flux through
a closed surface in free space/ vacuum is equal to 1/εo
times the total charge enclosed by the surface.
• Consider a closed sphere ‘s’ of radius ‘r’ which
encloses a point charge ‘q’ at its centre
producing electric field ‘E’.
Let ‘p’ be the point at the distance ‘r’ from the
charge ‘q’ at the centre, at which electric field is
calculated. Divide the sphere/surface into small
elements of area Δs.
The electric flux through small element AB of area
Δs is:
The electric field at ‘p’ in small element, by
coulomb’s law:
The magnitude of the electric flux through small
element area Δs is:
The total electric flux through the sphere/surface
‘s’ is obtained by adding up flux through all the
small elements:
.
NOTE:
1. The total electric flux through a closed surface is zero,
when the total charged enclosed by the surface is zero.
2. Gauss’s law is true for any closed surface, no matter
what its shape or size.
3. The closed surface chosen for application of Gauss’s law
is called Gaussian surface.
4. In equation , the term ‘q’ is the sum of all charges
enclosed by the surface located anywhere inside the
surface.
5. Gauss’s law is based on the inverse square dependence
on distance(coulomb’s law) any violation of Gauss’s law
will indicate the inverse square law is not valid.
Q: What is the inverse square law of electric
field?
• The strength of an electric field is created by
source charge ‘Q’ is inversely related to the
square of the distance from the source. This is
known as an inverse square law.
• The electric field strength is location
dependent, and its magnitude decreases as
the distance from a location to the source
increases.
Applications of Gauss’s Law:
1. Electric field due to an infinitely long straight uniformly
charged wire:
• Consider an infinitely long thin straight wire
with uniform linear charge density ‘λ’.
• Let ‘p’ be the point at a distance ‘r’ from ‘o’.,
i.e op=r
• Consider a pair of line elements p1 and p2 of the
wire at equal distance on either side of ‘o’.
• The electric fields E1 and E2 at ‘p’ due to the line
elements p1 and p2. Their components, normal
to radius ‘op’ cancel out and the components
along ‘op’ gets added up.
• The total electric field at ‘p’ is radial outward as
shown in the (Fig.a), [Electric field is outward if λ>0
(+ve charge) and inward if λ<0(-ve charge)].
• As the wire is of infinite length, the electric field
does not depend on the position of ‘p’ along the
length of the wire, but depends on the distance
of the point from the wire.
• Therefore the magnitude of electric field ‘E’
depends on the radial distance ‘r’.
• To calculate the magnitude of the electric field, imagined a
cylindrical Gaussian surface.
• The magnitude of electrical field ‘E’ at every point on
curved surface of the cylinder is same because all points
are at the same distance ‘r’ from the line charge.
Electric flux through Gaussian surface ‘s’ is: φ=E.s
The surface area ‘s’ of cylinder is: s = 2πrl,
where l=length of the cylinder, r=radius
The total electric flux through the Gaussian surface of a
cylinder is: φ=E. 2πrl …..(1)
The total charge enclosed by the Gaussian surface is : q=
λ.l |w.k.t (λ= q/l)
• According to Gauss’s law, the total electric flux
through Gaussian surface is:
2) Electric field due to a uniformly charged
infinite plane sheet.
A A
• Consider infinite thin plane sheet having positive charges
uniformly distributed, let ‘σ’ be the surface charge
density on the sheet.
• Let ‘E’ be electric field at any point at a distance ‘r’
perpendicular to the sheet.
• The electric field E on both sides of the sheet has same
magnitude from the sheet and is directed outward
direction.
• The Gaussian surface is chosen to be a closed cylindrical
surface of area of cross section ‘A’ with its end faces at
equal distance ‘r’ from the sheet.
• The electric field lines are normal to the end faces and
parallel to the curve surface of the cylinder.
• The electric flux through each end faces is EA,
and on the curve surface is zero, therefore the
total electric flux across the cylindrical Gaussian
surface is:
+0
The total electric charge enclosed by the Gaussian
surface is :
According to Gauss’s law, we have
3(a). Electric field due to a uniformly charged
spherical shell
Q. Derive an expression for electric field due to
uniformly charged thin spherical shell when the point
is outside the conductor.
• Consider a spherical shell of radius ‘R’ with centre ‘o’,
let a charge +q be distributed uniformly over the
surface of the shell. The surface charge density is σ.
• Consider a point ‘P’ outside a shell at a distance
‘r’ from the centre ‘o’. To calculate the electric
field E at ‘P’, the Gaussian surface chosen is a
sphere of radius ‘r’ with centre ‘o’ passing
through ‘P’.
• The electric field at every point on this spherical
Gaussian surface has the same magnitude and is
along the radius vector.
• The electric flux through the spherical Gaussian
surface is given by:
NOTE:
1. If charge on spherical is positive(q>0), Electric
field E is directed radially outwards.
2. If charge on spherical is Negative(q<0), Electric
field E is directed radially inwards.
3. If the point ‘P’ on the surface of a shell, r=R
3(b). Electric field inside the shell:
• Consider the point ‘P’ inside the shell at a distance ‘r’
from the centre ‘o’. The Gaussian surface is a sphere
of radius ‘r’ with centre ‘o’ passing through ‘P’.
• If E is Electric field at ‘P’, the total electric flux through
the Gaussian surface is:
• According to Gauss law:
NUMERICALS
OR
PROBLEM SOLVING
1. The electrostatic force on a metal sphere of
charge 0.4µC due to another identical metal
sphere of charge 0.8µC in air is 0.2N. Find the
distance between the two spheres and also the
force between the same two spheres of charge
0.2µC when they are brought into contact and
then replaced in their initial positions.
2. Two point charges each of 0.65µC are separated
by a distance 0.5m. i) what is the force of
repulsion?, ii) what is the force of repulsion if
each charge is doubled and the distance
between them is halved?, iii) what is the force of
repulsion if the two charges are placed in water
whose dielectric constant ‘K’ is 80?
3. Three charges each equal to +4nC are placed at
the three corners of a square of side 2cm. Find
the electric field at the fourth corner.
4. ABCD is a square of side √2m charges of 2nC,
3nC, 4nC, 5nC placed at the corners A,B,C and D
respectively. Calculate the resultant electric
intensity at the centre of the square where the
two diagonals meet?
A
5. A,B,C is an equilateral triangle of side 0.1m.
Charges of 4nC and -8nC are placed at the
corners A and B respectively. Calculated the
resultant electric intensity at the corner ‘C’.
6. Two positive charges 9nC and 4nC are placed at
the points A and C respectively of a right angled
triangle ABC in which angle B=900, AB=3cm, and
BC=2cm. Find the magnitude and direction of the
resultant electric field at ‘B’.
7. An electric dipole with dipole moment 4x10-9 Cm
is aligned at 300 with the direction of a uniform
electric field of magnitude 5x104NC-1. Calculate
the magnitude of the torque acting on dipole.
8. Two point charges qA=3µC and qB=-3µC are
located 20cm apart in vacuum, a) what is the
electric field at the mid-point ‘O’ of the line AB
joining the two charges. b)if a negative test
charge of magnitude 1.5x10-9C is placed at the
point, what is the force experience by the test
charge?
9. A uniformly charged conducting sphere of 2.4m
diameter has surface charge density of 80.0µCm-2.
a)Find the charge on the sphere. b) what is the
total electric flux leaving the surface of the
sphere?
10. Consider three charges q1, q2, q3 each equal to q at the
vertices of an equilateral triangle of side ‘l’. What is the
force on a charge ‘Q’ (with same sign as q) placed at the
centroid of the triangle.
11. A positive charge of 10µC is placed 1m away from a
similar negative charge, calculate the electric field at a
point 1m away from each charge.
12. Four point charges qA=2µC, qB= -5 µC, qC=2µC and
qD=-5µC are located at the corners of a square ABCD of
side 10cm. What is the force on a charge of 1 µC placed
at the centre of the square?
MCQs
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