Class Objectives

• Coulomb’s Law
– Chapter 21, sections 1, 2 and 3

• Electric Fields
– Chapter 21, sections 4, 5 and 6
– Chapter 22, sections 1 and 2
 Electric charge and the structure of matter
– The particles of the atom
are the negative electron,
the positive proton, and
the uncharged neutron.
– Protons and neutrons
make up the tiny dense
nucleus which is
surrounded by electrons
(see Figure 21.3 at the
right).
– The electric attraction
between protons and
electrons holds the atom
together.
 Conductors and insulators
• A conductor permits the
easy movement of
charge through it. An
insulator does not.
• Most metals are good
conductors, while most
nonmetals are
insulators.
• Semiconductors are
intermediate in their
properties between
good conductors and
good insulators.
 Coulomb’s law
• Coulomb’s Law: The
magnitude of the electric
force between two point
charges is directly
proportional to the
product of their charges
and inversely proportional
to the square of the
distance between them.
(See the figure at the
right.)
• Mathematically:
F = k|q1q2|/r2 = (1/4π0)|q1q2|/r2
Coulomb’s Law
 Coulomb’s Law
• The forces act along the line connecting the
two point charges.

• The charges will repel if the forces are alike

and attract if unlike
 Coulomb’s Law - Applications

• Coulomb’s law is employed in meteorology to test models of thunderstorm

charge distributions.

• Atmospheric physics, planetary physics, astrophysics, and plasma physics are

vast domains of application of coulomb’s law.

• Another application of Coulomb's law is in the study of crystal structure. Crystals

are made of charged particles called ions. Ions arrange themselves in any
particular crystal (such as a crystal of sodium chloride, or table salt) so that
electrical forces are balanced. By studying these forces, mineralogists can better
understand the nature of specific crystal structures.
 Coulomb’s Law Example
• Two small spheres in vacuum are 1.5 m apart center-to-
center. They carry identical charges. Approximately how large
is the charge on each if each sphere experiences a force of 2
N?
The diameters of the sphere are small compared to the 1.5 m
separation. We may therefore approximate them as point charges.
on  4 C charge
2
kq q (8.99E9 NCm2 )(-4E - 6C)(-6E - 6C)
Fe  12 2   .86304 N , .86304 N []
d (.5m) 2
2
kq q (8.99E9 NCm2 )(-4E - 6C)(9E - 6C)
Fe  12 2   .32364 N , .32364 N []
d (1m) 2
.86304 N []  .32364 N []  .5394 N [left ]

on  6 C charge
2
kq q (8.99E9 NCm2 )(-4E - 6C)(-6E - 6C)
Fe  12 2   .86304 N , .86304 N []
d (.5m) 2
2
kq q (8.99E9 NCm2 )(-6E - 6C)(9E - 6C)
Fe  12 2   1.94184 N , 1.94184 N []
d (.5m) 2
.86304 N []  1.94184 N []  2.8 N [right ]

on  9C charge
(8.99E9 NCm2 )(-9E - 6C)(9E - 6C)
2
kq q
Fe  12 2   1.94184 N , 1.94184 N []
d (.5m) 2
2
kq q (8.99E9 NCm2 )(-4E - 6C)(9E - 6C)
Fe  12 2   .32364 N , .32364 N []
d (1m) 2
1.94184 N []  .32364 N []  2.26 N [left ]
 Fields
• Scalar Fields:
– Temperature – T(r)
– Pressure – P(r)
– Potential energy – U(r)
• Vector Fields:
 
– Velocity field – v (r )
 
– Gravitational field – g (r )
 
– Electric field – E (r )
 
– Magnetic field – B (r )

September 18, 2007

 Vector Field Due to Gravity
• When you consider the force
of Earth’s gravity in space, it
points everywhere in the
direction of the center of the m

Earth. But remember that

the strength is:
 Mm M
F  G 2 rˆ
r
• This is an example of an
inverse-square force
(proportional to the inverse
square of the distance).

September 18, 2007

 Electric Field
• Electric field is said to exist in the region of space around a
charged object: the source charge.
• Concept of test charge:
– Small and positive
– Does not affect charge distribution

• Electric field:

 F
E
q0
– Existence of an electric field is a property of its source;
– Presence of test charge is not necessary for the field to exist;
 Electric Field Lines
• The lines must begin on a positive
charge and terminate on a negative
charge. In the case of an excess of one
type of charge, some lines will begin or
end infinitely far away.

• The number of lines drawn leaving a

positive charge or approaching a
negative charge is proportional to the
magnitude of the charge.

• No two field lines can cross.

September 18, 2007

 Electric Field Lines
• The electric field vector is tangent to the
electric field line at each point. The line
has a direction, indicated by an arrowhead,
that is the same as that of the electric field
vector. The direction of the line is that of
the force on a positive test charge placed
in the field.

• The number of lines per unit area through

a surface perpendicular to the lines is
proportional to the magnitude of the
electric field in that region. Thus, the field
lines are close together where the electric
field is strong and far apart where the field
is weak.

September 18, 2007

 Motion of a Charged Particle in a Uniform
Electric Field
 
F  qE  If the electric field E is uniform
   (magnitude and direction), the electric
F  qE  ma force F on the particle is constant.

 qE
a  If the particle has a positive charge, its
m acceleration a and electric force F are in
the direction of the electric field E.

 If the particle has a negative charge, its

acceleration a and electric force F are in
the direction opposite the electric field E.

September 18, 2007

 Electric Field
  Magnitude: E=F/q0
 F Direction: is that of the force that acts on the
E 
positive test charge
q0
 SI unit: N/C

Situation Value
Inside a copper wire of household circuits 10-2 N/C
Near a charged comb 103 N/C
Inside a TV picture tube 105 N/C
Near the charged drum of a photocopier 105 N/C
Electric breakdown across an air gap 3×106 N/C
At the electron’s orbit in a hydrogen atom 5×1011 N/C
On the suface of a Uranium nucleus 3×1021 N/C

September 18, 2007

 Electric Field due to a Point Charge Q
 1 Qq0
F rˆ
4 0 r 2

B

 F 1 Q
E  rˆ Q A
q0 4 0 r 2 
r

 Direction is radial: outward for +|Q|

inward for -|Q|
 Magnitude: constant on any spherical
shell
 Flux through any shell enclosing Q is
the same: EAAA = EBAB
Electric Field due to a group of individual charge

   
F0  F01  F02  ...  F0 n

   
 F0 F01 F02 F
E    ...  0 n
q0 q0 q0 q0
  
 E1  E2  ...  En

 1 qi
E 
4 0 i ri
rˆ
2 i

Superposition of electric field = The total electric field at a

point is the vector sum of the fields due to all the charges
present
Electric Field of a Continuous Charge Distribution

  Find an expression for dq:

1 q
E  rˆ  dq = λdl for a line distribution
4 0 r 2
 dq = σdA for a surface distribution
 dq = ρdV for a volume distribution
 1 qi Represent field contributions at P
E 
4 0 i ri
rˆ
2 i

due to point charges dq located in
the distribution. Use symmetry,
 dq
dE  rˆ
 1 qi 1 dq 4 0 r 2
E lim  ˆ
r   rˆ
4 0 q 0
i ri
2 i
4 0 r 2
 Add up (integrate the contributions)
over the whole distribution, varying
the displacement as needed,

E   dE

September 18, 2007

 Summary
• Electric field E at any point is defined in terms of the electric force F that acts on a small
positive test charge placed at that point divided by the magnitude q0 of the test charge:

 F
E
q0
• Electric field lines provide a means for visualizing the direction and magnitude of
electric fields. The electric field vector at any point is tangent to a field line through
that point. The density of field lines in any region is proportional to the magnitude of
the electric field in that region.  F

1 Q
E  ˆ r
q0 4 0 r 2

• Field lines originate on positive charge and terminate on negative charge.

1 p
E
• Field due to a point charge: 2 0 z 3

The direction is away from the point charge if the charge is positive and toward it if the
charge is negative.  
F  qE

• Field due to a continuous charge distribution: treat charge elements as point charges
and then summing via integration, the electric field vectors produced by all the charge
elements.
• Force on a point charge in an electric field:
 Electric field example

15 cm
The electric field lines show the force on a positive charge. (A positive charge would be repelled to the right by the
positive plate and attracted to the right by the negative plate.) An electron, being negative, will experience a force in
the opposite direction, towards the left, of magnitude
 Electric field example continued
Because of this force, the electron experiences an acceleration
toward the left given by
• The charges represented in the figure below are held stationary
in a vacuum. Find the force on the 4.0 µC charge due to the
others.