Lesson 7 - Electric Forces and Fields

Electric
Forces and
Fields
Electric Charges
 There are two kinds of electric charges
 Called positive and negative
 Negative charges are the type possessed by
electrons
 Positive charges are the type possessed by protons
 Charges of the same sign repel one another and charges

with opposite signs attract one another
Electric Charges
More About Electric
Charges
 The net charge in an isolated system is always conserved

 Charge is not created in the process of rubbing two
objects together
 The electrification is due to a transfer of electrons
from one object to another

Quantization of Electric
Charges
 The electric charge, q, is said to be quantized
 q is the standard symbol used for charge as a variable
 Evidenced by Millikan’s experiment in 1909, Electric charge
exists as discrete packets

 q = N e
 N is an integer
 e is the fundamental unit of charge
 |e| = 1.6 x 10-19 C
 Electron: q = -e ; Proton: q = +e
 Quarks (u, c, t): q = 2e/3 ; Quarks (d, s, b): q = -e/3
Conductors
 Electrical conductors are materials in which some of the electrons move
relatively freely
 Free electrons are not bound to the atoms and can move relatively
freely through the material

 Examples of good conductors include copper, aluminum and silver
 When a good conductor is charged in a small region, the charge readily
distributes itself over the entire surface of the material

Insulators
 Electrical insulators are materials in which electric
charges do not move freely
 Examples of good insulators include glass, rubber and
wood
 When a good insulator is charged in a small region, the
charge is unable to move to other regions of the

material
Semiconductors
 The electrical properties of semiconductors are
somewhere between those of insulators and conductors
 Examples of semiconductor materials include silicon and
germanium
 The electrical properties of semiconductors can be
changed over many orders of magnitude by adding
controlled amounts of foreign atoms (impurities) to the
materials
Charging a Metallic Object by
Induction
 Charging by induction requires

no contact with the object
inducing the charge
 Assume we start with a neutral
metallic sphere
 The sphere has the same
number of positive and
negative charges
Charging by
Induction, 2
 A negatively charged rubber rod is

placed near the sphere
 It does not touch the sphere
 The electrons in the neutral sphere
are redistributed
 The migration of electrons leaves
the side near the rod with an
effective positive charge
Charging by
Induction, 3
 The sphere is grounded

 Grounded means the conductor
is connected to an infinite
reservoir for electrons, such as
the Earth
 Some electrons can leave the
sphere through the ground wire
Charging by
Induction, 4
 The ground wire is removed

 There will now be more
positive charges in the sphere
 The positive charge has been
induced in the sphere
Charging by
Induction, 5
 The rod is removed
 The rod has lost none
of its charge during

this process
 The electrons remaining
on the sphere redistribute
themselves
 There is still a net
positive charge on the
sphere
Charge Rearrangement in
Insulators
 A process similar to induction

can take place in insulators
 The charges within the
molecules of the material are
rearranged
 The effect is called polarization
Electric Field – Test
Particle
 The electric field is defined in terms of a test particle, qo
 By convention, the test particle is always a positive
electric charge
 The test particle is used to detect the existence of the field
 It is also used to evaluate the strength of the field
 The test charge is assumed to be small enough not to disturb the
charge distribution responsible for the field
Electric Field –
Definition
 The electric field is defined as the electric force
on the test charge per unit charge
 The electric field vector, , at a point in space is
defined as the electric force, , acting on a
positive test charge, qo placed at that point
divided by the test charge:
Relationship Between F
and E

 
This is valid for aFpoint charge only
E
 If q is positive, and are in the same direction
 
 If q is negative, and
F are
E in opposite directions
Electric Field Notes
 The direction of is that of the force on a
positive test charge
 The SI units of are N/C
 We can also say that an electric field exists at a
point if a test charge at that point experiences an
electric force
Electric Field, Vector
Form
 Remember Coulomb’s Law, between the source and test
charges, can be expressed as
 Then, the electric field will be

More About Electric Field
Direction
 a) q is positive, the force is
directed away from q
 b) The direction of the field is
also away from the positive
source charge
 c) q is negative, the force is
directed toward q
 d) The field is also toward the
negative source charge
Superposition with Electric
Fields
 At any point P, the total electric field due to a group of

source charges equals the vector sum of electric fields at
that point due to all the particles.
Superposition
Example
 Find the electric field due to
q1,
 Find the electric field due to
q2,  

E  E1  E2
 Remember, the fields add as
vectors
 The direction of the
individual fields is the
direction of the force on a
positive test charge
THANK
S

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Electric

 Negative charges are the type possessed by

 Charges of the same sign repel one another and charges

 The net charge in an isolated system is always conserved

from one object to another

 Evidenced by Millikan’s experiment in 1909, Electric charge

exists as discrete packets

freely through the material

 When a good conductor is charged in a small region, the charge readily

distributes itself over the entire surface of the material

charge is unable to move to other regions of the

 Charging by induction requires

 A negatively charged rubber rod is

 The sphere is grounded

 The ground wire is removed

of its charge during

 A process similar to induction

 Then, the electric field will be

 At any point P, the total electric field due to a group of

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