Ph-1101 Physics-I

Electricity & Magnetism

Sunday, February 6, 2022 1

Electricity & Magnetism
• Electric Charge,
• Coulomb’s law,
• Electric Field,
• Calculation of the Electric Field
Strength,
• A dipole in an Electric Field,
• electric Flux and Gauss’s Law.
• Electric Potential (V),
• Relation between E & V,
• Electric Potential Energy,
• Capacitor and Capacitance.

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Concepts of Electric Charge:

The Laws of Electric Charges:

• Opposite electric charges attract each other.
• Similar electric charges repel each other.
• Charged objects attract some neutral objects.

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Conductors & insulators
• An electric conductor is a solid in which electrons are able to move easily from
one atom to another. Most metals, such as silver, gold, copper, and aluminum,
are conductors. Certain liquids are also conductors of electricity.
• An insulator is a solid in which the electrons are not free to move easily from
atom to atom. Plastic, cork, glass, wood, and rubber are insulators.
• Pure water contains essentially only neutral molecules and is therefore an
insulator. However, when a chemical such as table salt (or copper sulphate,
potassium nitrate, hydrochloric acid, chlorine, etc.) is added to the water, the
solution becomes a conductor.

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Electric Forces: Coulomb’s Law 1
𝐹𝐸 ∝ 2 𝐹𝐸 ∝ 𝑞1 𝑞2
𝑟
𝑞1 𝑞2
Combining, 𝐹𝐸 ∝ 2
𝑟
𝑘𝑞1 𝑞2
𝐹𝐸 =
𝑟2
where k is known as Coulomb’s constant. 𝑘 = 9.0 × 109 𝑁. 𝑚2 /𝐶 2

Coulomb’s Law
The force between two point charges is inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between the charges and directly proportional to the
product of the charges. Coulomb (C) the SI unit of electric charge.

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A Sample Problem:

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Where the net force is zero?
 The region in which a force is exerted on an electric
Electric Fields: charge. A small positive test charge is used to
determine the direction of the electric field lines
around a charge.
𝑞1
𝑞
positively
charged
sphere

The electric field 𝐸 at any point is defined as the electric force per unit
𝐹Ԧ𝐸
positive charge and is a vector quantity: 𝐸 = 𝑞
, where the units are
newtons per coulomb (N/C) in SI. So, we get,
𝐹𝐸 𝑘𝑞1 𝑞 𝑘𝑞1
𝐸= = 2 = 2
𝑞 𝑟 𝑞 𝑟
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A sample problem
What is the electric field 0.60 m away from a small sphere with a
positive charge of 1.2 × 10−8 C?
Solution:
𝑞 = 1.2 × 10−8 C
𝑟 = 0.60 𝑚
𝐸 =?
2
9 𝑁. 𝑚 −8 𝐶)
𝑘𝑞 9.0 × 10 (1.2 × 10
𝐶2
𝐸= 2=
𝑟 0.60 𝑚 2
= 3.0 × 102 𝑁/𝐶

𝐸 = 3.0 × 102 𝑁/𝐶 [radially outward]

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Drawing Electric Fields

The electric field lines of two

Negatively equal positive charges. Notice The electric field of
charged the electric field is zero at the two equal but opposite
sphere midpoint of the two charges. charges (dipole).

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The path followed by a unit positive charge in an electric field is called a line of force. We
assign the following properties to the lines of force representing the electric field E.

1. Lines of force start from positive charges and terminate on negative charges.
2. Lines of force never intersect.
3. The tangent to a line of force at any point gives the direction of the electric field E at
that point.
4. Where the lines of force are close together, E is large and that where they are far
apart, E is small.
Motion of a Charged Particle in a Uniform Electric Field
When a particle of charge q and mass m is
placed in an electric field 𝑬, the electric force
exerted on the charge is 𝑞𝑬. If that is the only
force exerted on the particle, it must be the net
force, and it causes the particle to accelerate
according to the particle under a net force
model (𝐹Ԧ = 𝑚𝑎).
Ԧ Therefore,
𝐹Ԧ𝐸 = 𝑞𝐸 = 𝑚𝑎Ԧ

𝑎Ԧ = 𝑞𝐸/𝑚

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Solution:

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Electric Flux:
Uniform electric
Uniform
field
electric field
penetrating an
penetrating a
area A whose
plane of area
normal is at an
perpendicular
angle 𝜃to the
to the field.
field.
The total number of lines penetrating the surface is proportional to the
product EA. This product of the magnitude of the electric field and
surface area perpendicular to the field is called the electric flux:
Φ𝐸 = 𝐸𝐴⊥ = 𝐸𝐴 cos 𝜃
This is true for a small element of area over which the field is constant.

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Electric Flux (Cont.):
Consider a general surface divided into a large
number of small elements, each of area
∆𝐴Ԧ𝑖 , whose magnitude represents the area of the
ith element of the large surface and whose
direction is defined to be perpendicular to the
surface element as shown in Fig. The electric
flux: Φ𝐸,𝑖 = 𝐸𝑖 ∆𝐴𝑖 cos 𝜃𝑖 = 𝐸𝑖 . ∆𝐴Ԧ𝑖
Summing all elements: Φ𝐸 ≈ σ 𝐸𝑖 . ∆𝐴Ԧ𝑖
If the area of each element approaches zero, the number of elements
approaches infinity and the sum is replaced by an integral. Therefore, the
electric flux is

Φ𝐸 ≡ න 𝐸. 𝑑 𝐴Ԧ
𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒
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Flux through a closed surface
The net flux through the surface is
proportional to the net number of lines
leaving the surface, where the net
number means the number of lines
leaving the surface minus the number
of lines entering the surface. If more
lines are leaving than entering, the net
flux is positive. If more lines are
entering than leaving, the net flux is
negative.
Φ𝐸 = ර 𝐸. 𝑑𝐴Ԧ = ර 𝐸𝑛 𝑑𝐴

where 𝐸𝑛 is the component normal to the

surface.
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Consider a uniform electric field 𝑬 oriented
in the x direction in empty space. A cube of
edge length 𝑙, is placed in the field, oriented
as shown in Fig. Find the net electric flux
through the surface of the cube.

Find the net flux by

adding the flux over
all six faces:

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Assignment:

1. Consider a plane surface in a uniform electric field as in Fig., where 𝑑 =

15.0 cm and 𝜃 = 70.00 . If the net flux through the surface is 6.00 𝑁. 𝑚2 /
𝐶, find the magnitude of the electric field.
2. Find the electric flux through the plane surface shown in Fig. if 𝜃 = 600 ,
𝐸 = 350 N/C, and 𝑑 = 5.00 cm. The electric field is uniform over the
entire area of the surface.

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Gauss’s Law
A general relationship between the net electric
flux through a closed surface and the charge
enclosed by the surface is known as Gauss’s law.
The magnitude of the electric field everywhere on
the surface of the sphere is 𝐸 = 𝑘𝑒 𝑞/𝑟 2 .
The net flux through the gaussian surface is
𝑘𝑒 𝑞
Ԧ
Φ𝐸 = ර 𝐸. 𝑑𝐴 = ර 𝐸𝑑𝐴 = 𝐸 ර 𝑑𝐴 = 4𝜋𝑟 2
𝑟2
𝑞
= 4𝜋𝑘𝑒 𝑞 =
𝜖0
Gauss’s law says that the net electric flux Φ𝐸 through any closed
gaussian surface is equal to the net charge 𝑞𝑖𝑛 inside the surface
divided by 𝜖0 :
𝑞𝑖𝑛
Φ𝐸 = ර 𝐸. 𝑑𝐴 = Ԧ
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𝜖0 19
Find the electric field a distance r
from a line of positive charge of
infinite length and constant charge
per unit length 𝜆.
Solution:

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