Physics Class-11

Chapter
10 Electrostatics
SHORT QUESTION AND ANSWERS
1. What is electrostatics?
Ans: Electrostatics is the study of electric charges at rest.
2. What is Coulomb's Law?
Ans: Coulomb's Law states that the force between two points charges is directly
proportional to the product of their charges and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them.
3. What is an electric field?
Ans: An electric field is a region around a charged object where another charged
object experiences a force.
4. What is electric potential?
Ans: Electric potential is the amount of work needed to move a unit positive charge
from a reference point to a specific point in an electric field.
5. What is a capacitor?
Ans: A capacitor is a device that stores electric charge.
6. What is capacitance?
Ans: Capacitance is the ability of a capacitor to store electric charge.
7. What is a dielectric?
Ans: A dielectric is a non-conducting material that is used to increase the capacitance
of a capacitor.
8. What is electric current?
Ans: Electric current is the flow of electric charge.
9. What is voltage?
Ans: Voltage is the difference in electric potential between two points.
10. What is resistance?
Ans: Resistance is the opposition to the flow of electric current.

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11. What does Coulomb's Law describe?

Ans: The electrostatic force between two points charges.
12. What are the two factors that affect the force between charges?
Ans: The magnitude of the charges and the distance between them.
13. Is the force attractive or repulsive between like charges?
Ans: Repulsive.
14. Is the force attractive or repulsive between opposite charges?
Ans: Attractive.
15. What is the mathematical expression for Coulomb's Law?
Ans: F = k * |q1 * q2| / r2 (where F is the force, k is Coulomb's constant, q1 and q2
are the charges, and r is the distance).
16. What does 'k' represent in Coulomb's Law?
Ans: Coulomb's constant (approximately 8.98755 × 109 N⋅m2/C2).
17. How does the force change if the distance between charges is doubled?
Ans: The force decreases to one-fourth of its original value.
18. How does the force change if one of the charges is doubled?
Ans: The force doubles.
19. What are the units of charge?
Ans: Coulombs (C).
20. What kind of force is Coulomb's force?
Ans: A fundamental force, specifically an electrostatic force.
21. What is electric field intensity?
Ans: Electric field intensity (E) at a point is the force per unit test charge experienced
by a small positive charge placed at that point.
22. What is the formula for electric field intensity?
Ans: E = F/q, where F is the force experienced by the test charge q.
23. What are the units of electric field intensity?
Ans: Newtons per Coulomb (N/C).

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24. Is electric field intensity a vector or scalar quantity?

Ans: Vector, it has both magnitude and direction.
25. What is the direction of the electric field intensity?
Ans: The direction of the force that a positive test charge would experience at that
point.
26. How is electric field intensity related to the electric field?
Ans: Electric field intensity is a measure of the strength of the electric field at a
particular point.
27. What does the electric field intensity depend on?
Ans: The source charge creating the field and the distance from the source charge.
28. How does the electric field intensity vary with distance from a point charge?
Ans: It decreases with the square of the distance.
29. What are electric field lines?
Ans: Imaginary lines that represent the direction and strength of the electric field.
The closer the lines, the stronger the field.
30. What is the electric field intensity inside a conductor?
Ans: Zero.
31. What are electric field lines?
Ans: Imaginary lines that represent the direction and strength of an electric field.
32. Who introduced the concept of electric field lines?
Ans: Michael Faraday.
33. What do the arrows on electric field lines indicate?
Ans: The direction of the electric field at that point.
34. In what direction do electric field lines point?
Ans: Away from positive charges and towards negative charges.
35. What does the density of electric field lines indicate?
Ans: The strength of the electric field. Closer lines mean a stronger field.

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36. Do electric field lines ever intersect?

Ans: No, they never intersect.
37. Are electric field lines perpendicular or parallel to the surface of a charged
object?
Ans: Perpendicular.
38. Where do electric field lines originate and terminate?
Ans: They originate from positive charges and terminate on negative charges (or
infinity).
39. What is the electric field inside a conductor?
Ans: Zero.
40. Are electric field lines continuous?
Ans: Yes, in a charge-free region, they are continuous curves.
41. What is potential gradient?
Ans: Potential gradient is the rate of change of electric potential with respect to
distance. It essentially tells you how quickly the electric potential is changing as
you move from one point to another in an electric field.
42. What is the relationship between potential gradient and electric field
intensity?
Ans: The electric field intensity is equal to the negative of the potential gradient. In
simpler terms, the electric field points in the direction of the steepest decrease
in electric potential.
43. What are the units of potential gradient?
Ans: Volts per meter (V/m).
44. What does a large potential gradient indicate?
Ans: A large potential gradient means that the electric potential is changing rapidly
over a short distance. This also implies a strong electric field.
45. What is the significance of potential gradient?
Ans: Potential gradient is important in understanding the behavior of electric fields
and is used in various applications, such as in the design of electrical insulation
and in the study of electric fields in different geometries.

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46. How is potential gradient related to equipotential surfaces?

Ans: The electric field (and thus the potential gradient) is always perpendicular to
equipotential surfaces.
47. In a uniform electric field, what is the potential gradient?
Ans: The potential gradient is constant in a uniform electric field.
48. How can potential gradient be visualized?
Ans: You can think of potential gradient as the "slope" of the electric potential
landscape. A steep slope means a large potential gradient and a strong electric
field.
49. What is the potential gradient inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium?
Ans: Zero.
50. How is potential gradient used in the context of capacitors?
Ans: The potential gradient across the dielectric of a capacitor is related to the
electric field strength within the dielectric.
51. What is a ferrofluid?
Ans: A ferrofluid is a liquid that becomes strongly magnetized in the presence of a
magnetic field.
52. What is a ferrofluid made of?
Ans: It's a colloidal suspension of extremely tiny (nanometer-sized) ferromagnetic
particles in a carrier liquid, like oil or water.
53. What keeps the tiny particles from clumping together?
Ans: The particles are coated with a surfactant (a kind of soap) that prevents them
from sticking to each other.
54. What happens when a magnet is brought near a ferrofluid?
Ans: The ferrofluid is attracted to the magnet and forms spikes along the magnetic
field lines.
55. What are some applications of ferrofluids?
Ans: They are used in loudspeakers, hard drives, seals, and even in some medical
applications.

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56. Are ferrofluids the same as magnetorheological fluids?

Ans: No, although both are magnetic fluids. Ferrofluids have much smaller particles
and are more stable than magnetorheological fluids.
57. Can ferrofluids hold their magnetism permanently?
Ans: No, most ferrofluids lose their magnetism when the external magnetic field is
removed.
58. Are ferrofluids dangerous?
Ans: Generally, they are considered safe, but some can be toxic depending on the
specific materials used.
59. What is the "spike" formation in a ferrofluid called?
Ans: It's called the Rosensweig instability.
60. Where can I see a ferrofluid in action?
Ans: You might find them in science museums or videos online demonstrating their
unique properties.
61. What is a uniform electric field?
Ans: An electric field where the electric field strength and direction are the same at
every point.
62. How are uniform electric fields represented by field lines?
Ans: By equally spaced, parallel lines.
63. Where can you find a uniform electric field?
Ans: Approximately between two large, parallel, oppositely charged plates.
64. What is the force on a charge placed in a uniform electric field?
Ans: A constant force, given by F = qE, where q is the charge and E is the electric field
strength.
65. What is the potential difference between two points in a uniform electric
field?
Ans: V = Ed, where E is the electric field strength and d is the distance between the
points in the direction of the field.

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66. How does a charged particle move in a uniform electric field?

Ans: With constant acceleration, similar to how a mass moves in a uniform
gravitational field.
67. What is the work done by a uniform electric field on a charge moved within
it?
Ans: W = qEd, where q is the charge, E is the electric field strength, and d is the
distance moved in the direction of the field.
68. What is the electric field inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium?
Ans: Zero
69. What is the relationship between electric field and potential gradient in a
uniform electric field?
Ans: E = -dV/dx, where dV/dx is the potential gradient (how potential changes with
distance). In a uniform field, this gradient is constant.
70. Are uniform electric fields common in nature?
Ans: While perfectly uniform fields are idealizations, they are a good approximation
in certain situations, like the region between capacitor plates.
71. What is the inverse square law?
Ans: It describes how the intensity of something (like light, gravity, or electric force)
changes with distance from the source.
It states that the intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
72. Can you give a simple analogy for the inverse square law?
Ans: Imagine a light bulb in a dark room. If you hold a piece of paper close to the
bulb, it's very brightly lit. If you move the paper twice as far away, the light is
much dimmer – only one-fourth as bright.
That's the inverse square law in action.
73. What does "inversely proportional to the square" mean?
Ans: It means that if you double the distance, the intensity decreases by a factor of
four (2 squared). If you triple the distance, the intensity decreases by a factor
of nine (3 squared), and so on.

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74. What are some examples of the inverse square law in action?
Ans:  Light: The brightness of a light source decreases as you move away from it.
 Gravity: The force of gravity between two objects decreases as the
distance between them increases.
 Sound: The loudness of a sound decreases as you move away from the
source.
 Electric force: The force between two electric charges decreases as the
distance between them increases.
75. Why is it called the "inverse square" law?
Ans: Because the intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
The "inverse" part means that as the distance increases, the intensity
decreases.
76. Is the inverse square law exact in all situations?
Ans: It's a good approximation in many cases, but it's not always perfect. For
example, the inverse square law for light assumes a point source in a vacuum.
In reality, factors like the size of the light source and the presence of obstacles
can affect the intensity.

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