Week001-Electric Charge, Coulomb's Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux pUb7UF
Week001-Electric Charge, Coulomb's Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux pUb7UF
Week001-Electric Charge, Coulomb's Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux pUb7UF
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
Coulomb. Mathematically, we can say that a charge is the number of electrons multiplied
by the charge on 1 electron. Symbolically, it is
Q = ne
where q is a charge, n is a number of electrons and e is a charge on 1 electron (1.6 × 10-
19
C). The two very basic natures of electric charges are
• Like charges repel each other.
• Unlike charges attract each other.
This means that while protons repel protons, they attract electrons. The nature of charges
is responsible for the forces acting on them and coordinating the direction of flow of
them. The charge on electron and proton is same in magnitude which is 1.6 × 10-19 C.
The difference is only the sign that we use to denote them, + and -.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
Quantization of Charge
This signifies the fact that charge is a quantized quantity and we can express it as integral
multiples of the basic unit of charge (e – charge on one electron). Suppose charge on a
body is q, then we can write it as
q = ne
where n is an integer and not fraction or irrational number, like ‘n’ can be any positive or
negative integer like 1, 2, 3, -5 etc. The basic unit of charge is the charge that an electron
or proton carries. By convention, we take charge on the electron as negative and denote it
as “-e” and charge on a proton is simply “e”.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
English experimentalist Faraday was the first to propose the quantization of charge
principle. He did this when he put forward his experimental laws of electrolysis. Millikan
in 1912, finally demonstrated and proved this principle.
1 A Coulomb of charge contains around 6 × 1018 electrons. Particles don’t have a high
magnitude of charge and we use micro coulombs or milli coulombs in order to express
charge of a particle.
• 1 μC = 10-6 C
• 1 mC = 10-3 C
We can use the principle of quantization to calculate the total amount of charge present in
a body and also to calculate a number of electrons or protons in a body. Suppose a system
has n1 number of electrons and n2 number of protons, then the total amount of charge
will be n2e – n1e.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
Conductors:
In a conductor, electric current can flow freely, in an insulator it cannot. Metals such as
copper typify conductors, while most non-metallic solids are said to be good insulators,
having extremely high resistance to the flow of charge through them. "Conductor"
implies that the outer electrons of the atoms are loosely bound and free to move through
the material. Most atoms hold on to their electrons tightly and are insulators. In copper,
the valence electrons are essentially free and strongly repel each other. Any external
influence which moves one of them will cause a repulsion of other electrons which
propagates, "domino fashion" through the conductor.
Simply stated, most metals are good electrical conductors, most nonmetals are not.
Metals are also generally good heat conductors while nonmetals are not.
Insulators:
Most solid materials are classified as insulators because they offer very large resistance to
the flow of electric current. Metals are classified as conductors because their outer
electrons are not tightly bound, but in most materials even the outermost electrons are so
tightly bound that there is essentially zero electron flow through them with
ordinary voltages. Some materials are particularly good insulators and can be
characterized by their high resistivities:
Resistivity (ohm m)
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
Glass 1012
Mica 9 x 1013
Resistivity (ohm m)
Coulomb’s Law
The force between two point charges is… directly proportional to the magnitude of each
charge (q1, q2),
• inversely proportional to square of the separation between their centers (r),
• When two charges have the same sign their product is positive, which means the
force vector is directed with the separation vector (r̂) and the action is repulsive.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
• When two charges have the opposite sign their product is negative, which means
the force vector is directed against the separation vector (r̂ ) and the action is
attractive.
d = 1.00 m
The next and final step of the strategy involves substituting known values into the
Coulomb's law equation and using proper algebraic steps to solve for the unknown
information. This step is shown below.
Felect = k • Q1 • Q2 / d2
Felect = (9.0 x 109 N•m2/C2) • (1.00 C) • (1.00 C) / (1.00 m)2
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
The force of repulsion of two +1.00 Coulomb charges held 1.00 meter apart is 9 billion
Newton. This is an incredibly large force that compares in magnitude to the weight of
more than 2000 jetliners.
This problem was chosen primarily for its conceptual message. Objects simply do not
acquire charges on the order of 1.00 Coulomb. In fact, more likely Q values are on the
order of 10-9 or possibly 10-6 Coulombs. For this reason, a Greek prefix is often used in
front of the Coulomb as a unit of charge. Charge is often expressed in units of
microCoulomb (µC) and nanoCoulomb (nC). If a problem states the charge in these units,
it is advisable to first convert to Coulombs prior to substitution into the Coulomb's law
equation. The following unit equivalencies will assist in such conversions.
1 Coulomb = 106 microCoulomb
1 Coulomb = 109 nanoCoulomb
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
Figure 1
To define the electric field in mathematical terms, imagine a single point charge q in
space. When this is the only charge present, there is no force acting on it. But let's
imagine a small positive charge q0, called a test charge, placed at a distance r from q.
Now both q and q0 experience the Coulomb force
F=Keqq0/r2r
F = q 0 (K e q / r 2 r)
The quantity in the parentheses does not depend on the magnitude of the test charge, but
only on its distance from q. The test charge detects the force, but the quantity in brackets
exist whether or not q 0 is there to detect it. That quantity is denoted by E and is called
the electric field generated by an isolated point charge q.
E=Keq/r2r
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
They extend radially from the charge. A vector is sketched at point a to represent the
force that would be exerted on a positive test charge there (its direction shows that like
charges repel). Other points b,c,d,e and f, are all located at the same distance from the
positive charge.
Draw a vector at each point b - f to show the force on the same test charge.
2. The electric field about a negative charge is shown to the right. The field lines point
radially inward, in the same direction a positive test charge would be forced. Assume the
magnitude of the negative charge is the same as the charge above.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
3. The pair of equal and opposite charges of questions 1 and 2 is shown below. Their
individual fields, drawn uninfluenced by each other, over lap to form a field pattern that
can be constructed by vector rules. This is shown at locations a and b, where the two
forces combine to a single resultant force. Note that point b overlaps point m, and also
points c and l overlap. Note how the size of each vector depends on its distance from the
charge (inverse-square law). Every point in the field is the result of both the positive and
the negative charges.
a. By vector rules, show the resultant of all the vector pairs shown.
b. Sketch in sample vector resultants at a few other places. Does the pattern that
emerges agree with the field pattern shown in Figure a on the next page?
4. Three points, (a,b,c) are indicated on each electric field pattern. Point a in each pattern
shows the electric field vector at that point. The vector indicates the magnitude and
direction of the force that a positive test charge would experience at that point (a curved
field indicates that the force on a nearby test charge would be different in magnitude and
direction). Use the vector at points a as a reference and sketch in the electric field vectors
for points b and c in each pattern, using colored ink or pencil.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
The question of pushes and pulls without actual contact centers on the idea of "action at a
distance", a concept that bothered even Isaac Newton in his description of universal
gravitation. Michael Faraday first proposed the notion that a charge alters the space
around itself and creates a force field.
What is the difference between the electric charge on an object and the associated
electric field?
An electric field does not deal with the body itself, but the region surrounding it. It
describes the alteration of the space in the region surrounding the body and results in an
electric force detected by a test charge entering the region. In other words, the charge is
the "thing" that causes the field. An analogy might be the difference between a rose and
the pleasant fragrance which surrounds it.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
Electric field strength is a vector quantity; it has both magnitude and direction. The
magnitude of the electric field strength is defined in terms of how it is measured. Let's
suppose that an electric charge can be denoted by the symbol Q. This electric charge
creates an electric field; since Q is the source of the electric field, we will refer to it as
the source charge. The strength of the source charge's electric field could be measured by
any other charge placed somewhere in its surroundings. The charge that is used to
measure the electric field strength is referred to as a test charge since it is used to test the
field strength. The test charge has a quantity of charge denoted by the symbol q. When
placed within the electric field, the test charge will experience an electric force - either
attractive or repulsive. As is usually the case, this force will be denoted by the symbol F.
The magnitude of the electric field is simply defined as the force per charge on the test
charge.
If the electric field strength is denoted by the symbol E, then the equation can be
rewritten in symbolic form as
.
The standard metric units on electric field strength arise from its definition. Since electric
field is defined as a force per charge, its units would be force units divided by charge
units. In this case, the standard metric units are Newton/Coulomb or N/C.
In the above discussion, you will note that two charges are mentioned - the source charge
and the test charge. Two charges would always be necessary to encounter a force. In the
electric world, it takes two to attract or repel. The equation for electric field strength (E)
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
has one of the two charge quantities listed in it. Since there are two charges involved, a
student will have to be ultimately careful to use the correct charge quantity when
computing the electric field strength. The symbol q in the equation is the quantity of
charge on the test charge (not the source charge). Recall that the electric field strength is
defined in terms of how it is measured or tested; thus, the test charge finds its way into
the equation. Electric field is the force per quantity of charge on the test charge.
The electric field strength is not dependent upon the quantity of charge on the test charge.
If you think about that statement for a little while, you might be bothered by it. (Of
course if you don't think at all - ever - nothing really bothers you. Ignorance is bliss.)
After all, the quantity of charge on the test charge (q) is in the equation for electric field.
So how could electric field strength not be dependent upon q if q is in the equation?
Good question. But if you think about it a little while longer, you will be able to answer
your own question. (Ignorance might be bliss. But with a little extra thinking you might
achieve insight, a state much better than bliss.) Increasing the quantity of charge on the
test charge - say, by a factor of 2 - would increase the denominator of the equation by a
factor of 2. But according to Coulomb's law, more charge also means more electric force
(F). In fact, a twofold increase in q would be accompanied by a twofold increase in F. So
as the denominator in the equation increases by a factor of two (or three or four), the
numerator increases by the same factor. These two changes offset each other such that
one can safely say that the electric field strength is not dependent upon the quantity of
charge on the test charge. So regardless of what test charge is used, the electric field
strength at any given location around the source charge Q will be measured to be the
same.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
charges - the source charge (Q) and the test charge (q) - the formula for electric force
can be written as
If the expression for electric force as given by Coulomb's law is substituted for force in
the above E =F/q equation, a new equation can be derived as shown below.
Note that the derivation above shows that the test charge q was canceled from both
numerator and denominator of the equation. The new formula for electric field strength
(shown inside the box) expresses the field strength in terms of the two variables that
affect it. The electric field strength is dependent upon the quantity of charge on the source
charge (Q) and the distance of separation (d) from the source charge.
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Course Title: Electric Charge, Coulomb’s Law, Electric Fields, and Electric Flux
Week No. 001/ Module 001
References:
• https://www.toppr.com/guides/physics/electric-charges-and-fields/basic-properties-
electric-charge/
• http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/conins.html
• https://physics.info/coulomb/
• https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/estatics/Lesson-3/Coulomb-s-Law
• http://www.as.wvu.edu/phys/rotter/phys201/6_Electricity/Electric_Forces_and_Fields.ht
m
• https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/estatics/Lesson-4/Electric-Field-Intensity
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