Professional Documents
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Negatively
charged
Nylon
thread
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Conducting sphere Parallel conducting plates
Figure 18-5 Figures for Examples
18-2 and 18-3.
E
xample 18-3 Charge Distributions on Conductors, II
Figure 18-5c shows an edge view of two thin conducting metal plates (the
thickness is exaggerated in the diagrams) separated by a nonconducting gap.
Equal and opposite amounts of charge are effectively transferred to small
regions of the plates at some instant. How is this charge distributed when the
system reaches electrostatic equilibrium? STOP&
T
hink Once again, try to do
the reasoning yourself before reading the solution.
Solution
Choice of approach. We can again apply Procedure 18-1.
Diagrams and reasoning. As in Example 18-2, and for the same reason, the
excess charge on each conductor spreads out over its surface, but this time
not uniformly over the entire surface. Because the opposite charges on the two
plates attract each other, they will move as close to each other as they can.
Thus nearly all the excess charge will end up on the inner faces of the two
plates (Figure 18-5d). The distribution will be essentially uniform over the inner
faces, except near the edges.
Related homework: Problem 18-17.
If the charges in Figure 18-5d are truly in equilibrium, there must be con-
straining forces on the charges that are equal and opposite to the forces that the
positive and negative charges exert on each other. The constraining forces are
exerted either by the conducting surfaces or the intervening medium; we will not
concern ourselves with the details. If the two opposite concentrations of charge
become sufciently large, the electrostatic forces on the charges will exceed the
maximum constraining forces, and charges will jump across the gap between the
charged objects. This happens when charges build up on clouds, causing an oppo-
site buildup of charge on Earths surface, until nally there is the discharge that
we know as lightning.
The forces that individual charges exert on each other are directed toward
each other if attractive, away from each other if repulsive. When like charges are
on a at or gently curving surface of a conductor, the repulsive forces they exert
are essentially along the surface (Figure 18-6a), causing the charge to spread out
on the surface. On a needle-like projection (Figure 18-6b), the forces those same
charges exert on each other would be essentially perpendicular to the surface
and thus would not contribute signicantly to spreading. Consequently, on irreg-
ularly shaped conducting bodies, charge tends to concentrate at sharp projections.
It is for this reason that lightning tends to strike tall trees or lightning rods rather
than at expanses of ground or roof.
Figure 18-6 Repulsive forces that
surface charges on conductors
exert on each other. (a) Forces
mostly parallel to gently rounded
surface. (b) Forces mostly perpendi-
cular to the surface of a sharp point.
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550 Chapter 18 Electrical Phenomena: Forces, Charges, Currents
18-2 Charge Carriers
In addition to the terms weve dened so far to describe our underlying model,
we will also suppose (and later provide evidence) that there are charge carriers:
Charge carriers: Particles that have the property of charge as an inherent and unal-
terable trait. As the carriers move, their charge goes with them.
In general, we will refer to the movement or ow of charge from one place
to another as an electric current, or simply a current. This denition is pre-
liminary. Later we will dene current quantitatively, but we will retain the notion
that there is a ow of charge if and only if there is a ow of charge carriers.
Strictly speaking, a ow of charge doesnt require us to assume the existence
of charge-carrying particles. The 1771 Encyclopaedia Britannica, reecting the
prevalent views of the time, described electricity as a very subtile uid . . . capa-
ble of uniting with almost every body. Whether it be uid or particles, we assume
it gets set in motion because an electrostatic force is exerted on it. If we also
assume that the relationship between forces and motion is always governed by
Newtons second law of motion, we must attribute inertial mass as well as elec-
tric charge to whatever is moving.
Subsequent experimentation validated viewing electrical phenomena in terms
of forces and motion. Eighteenth-century investigators found that by rapidly rotat-
ing a large glass globe against a suitable rubbing surface using a wheel and belt
mechanism (Figure 18-7a), the rubbing would result in a very substantial charge
on the globe. A modern device that makes more sophisticated use of a continu-
ous belt conveyor to develop charge on a metallic globe is the Van de Graaff
generator (Figure 18-7b), invented by Robert J. Van de Graaff in 1929. A con-
ductor brought in contact with the globe also becomes charged (Figure 18-8).
Investigators using either device have found that when a large enough charge is
developed on the globe and a conducting body is brought sufciently close, a
visible and audible spark jumps from the globe to the conducting body (Figure
18-7b), much as lightning jumps from clouds to Earth. The charges that remain
after the spark are found to be reduced, indicating that charge has jumped the
gap, and providing evidence of motion brought about by electrostatic forces.
Figure 18-7 Devices for generating large build-ups of electric charge. (a) 18th century:
Joseph Priestlys electrical machine (plate 73 of vol. 2 of 1771 Encyclopaedia Brittanica).
(b) 20th century: The giant Van de Graaff generator at the Boston Museum of Science.
A note on language: Although
electric current has sometimes been
called electricity, the word electric-
ity in common usage has a variety
of related meanings, such as the
study of all electrical phenomena.
To avoid confusion, we introduce a
less ambiguous term.
A note on language: We use the
term electrostatic forces even when
charge carriers are in motion, because
unless their speeds exceed 0.1c, the
electrical forces on them are essen-
tially the same as when they are sta-
tionary or static. This is not a concern
in electric circuits.
(a) (b)
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18-2 Charge Carriers 551
STOP&
T
hink Why wont the spark jump
to an insulator? Draw diagrams showing
the conguration of charges on the con-
ductor before and after it is brought near
a positively charged sphere. Does your
after conguration account for a force
that could cause charge to jump the gap?
Why cant you get the same after con-
guration for the insulator?
By the late nineteenth century, inves-
tigators were able to obtain not just brief
sparks but sustained rays or beams
between two conducting terminals on
which opposite charges were continuously replenished. These beams were pro-
duced within sealed glass chambers and caused a glow where they struck the
uorescent material coating the glass surface at one end (Figure 18-9). Because
the negatively charged terminal was called a cathode, the beams were called
cathode rays, and the glass chambers cathode ray tubes. These were the prim-
itive ancestors of most television, personal computer, and oscilloscope tubes
(before widespread use of liquid crystal displays), in which, by rapidly varying
the direction of the beam, a pattern of light is produced on the end of the tube
that the viewer sees.
English physicist J. J. Thomson (18561940) observed that when oppositely
charged plates were positioned above and below the beam, the beam deected
toward the positive plate, indicating that the beam itself was negatively charged.
Moreover, for any given amount of charge on the plates, the beam deected a
xed amount; there was no spreading out of the beam. Thomson reasoned as
follows: (1) Imagine the beam to be a stream of separate tiny particles. Thom-
son called these particles cathode corpuscles. (2) The electrostatic force will be
the same on all particles having the same charge. (3) The force will produce an
acceleration, and thus a deection perpendicular to the beam direction.
(4) But by Newtons second law, the acceleration varies inversely as the mass.
(5) Thus, if there were no relationship between charge and mass, that is, if par-
ticles having equal charge could have different masses, the particles would
undergo different accelerations. They would therefore deect by different amounts,
and there would be a spread. (6) But there is no spread. So particles with the
same charge must have the same mass (and vice versa), and so the ratio of charge
to mass must have a xed value.
Thomsons cathode corpuscles are today called electrons, and for establish-
ing its charge-to-mass ratio (treated in Chapter 24), Thomson is generally cred-
ited with being the electrons discoverer. His reasoning established clearly that a
given amount of charge moves with a xed amount of mass. This supports our
idea of charge carriers. Thomson further surmised that his particles were funda-
mental components of all matter, as we now know electrons to be.
But there is nothing in this reasoning that logically requires the carriers to be
separate particles rather than a continuous ow of matter. (People knew there
y
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Uncharged
electroscope
Metallic leaves
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become positively
charged and repel
each other.
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Figure 18-8 Transfer of charge
from Van de Graaff generator to
conducting bodies.
Figure 18-9 The cathode ray tube.
Heated anode ()
emits electrons...
...which are
accelerated
through cathode
Plates to deflect
beam vertically
Plates to deflect
beam horizontally
Glow where
beam strikes
fluoresent
coating
Beam
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552 Chapter 18 Electrical Phenomena: Forces, Charges, Currents
was a xed ratio of hydrogen to oxygen in water long before they knew that
what we experience as a continuous uid was made up of individual molecules,
each containing two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.) The particle nature
was conrmed, however, by American physicist Robert A. Millikan (18651953).
In his famous oil drop experiment (19101913), Millikan put oil in an atom-
izer to obtain tiny individual droplets that could acquire electric charge from con-
tact with ions in the air. By allowing the droplets to enter a region between oppo-
sitely charged plates, he could measure their terminal velocities. Knowing all the
other forces on each droplet, he could determine the electrostatic force on it and
from that its charge. He found that the charges on the droplets were always inte-
ger multiples of the same value, which he inferred must be the smallest possible
chunk of charge. This he took to be the charge of the electron. Charge, then,
was made up of pieces of xed size, and if the ratio of mass to charge was con-
stant, then the xed amounts of charge must be carried by pieces of matter with
xed amounts of mass, in other words, particles.
Experiments such as these began to shape our present-day ideas about the
structure of matter. Atoms contain positive nuclei surrounded by negative elec-
trons. The nuclei are in turn made up of positive protons and neutral neutrons.
The positive and negative particles exert electrostatic forces on one another. Under
some circumstances, an outer electron of an atom may be more attracted to the
positive nucleus of a neighbor atom than to its own, and will be pulled to the
other nucleus, giving its new home atom a net negative charge and leaving its
previous home atom with a net positive charge. Atoms charged in this way are
called positive and negative ions.
Moving ions are also charge carriers. Electric currents in liquids generally
involve the movement of ions. This is the case in many processes that you are
likely to encounter in more detail in your chemistry course, such as electrolysis,
electroplating, and the operation of certain types of batteries. In your own body
and in all living things, which are mostly water, some kinds of ions can pass
through particular cell membranes more readily than others (the membrane is said
to be permeable to these ions). This can result in net positive and negative charges
on opposite sides of a membrane. Such charge distributions have great impor-
tance for biological systems. In neurons (nerve cells), for example, the properties
of a membrane may change in response to a stimulus such as heat or light or a
signal from a neighboring neuron. This information to the cell membrane may
itself take the form of the arrival of charge carriers to the membrane, which in
turn can react chemically with components of the membrane. When the mem-
brane changes properties, its permeability for different ions changes, and there is
an ion ow across the membrane. This ow, or current, passed on from neuron
to neuron, is the signal that carries information in the nervous system.
Chemical reactions are likewise the result of electrostatic forces. In ionic bond-
ing, ions of opposite charge attract each other electrostatically; in covalent bond-
ing, electrostatic forces are exerted on shared electrons by more than one nucleus.
Roughly speaking, chemical reactionschanges in the bonding situationare a
change in the conguration of charge carriers (positive nuclei and negative elec-
trons) in response to electrostatic forces. (We will need to rene this description
in Chapter 27.) This is true both of the simplest reaction between two atoms and
all the multistep reactions among complex molecules that make up the processes
of life. (The totality of all these reactions in a living thing is called its metabolism.)
In certain very large molecules, shared electrons can move among many
atoms that make up the molecule. This is true, for example, in pigment mole-
cules, such as rhodopsin in the rods and cones of the human eye and chloro-
phyll in green plants. In a sense, over distances smaller than their total size,
these molecules are conductors, and this property is critical to their role in vision
or in photosynthesis.
Metals carry this property to an extreme. The outermost electrons are shared
by all the atoms making up a piece of metal and so can travel throughout the
Nerve cells or neurons. An electric
current consisting of a ow of ions
from neuron to neuron is the signal
that carries information in the nerv-
ous system. The neurons here are
magnied 2500 times by a scanning
electron microscope.
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18-3 The Electron Gas and the Effect of Uneven Charge Distributions 553
metal. This is why metals are conductors. The rest of each atoma positive ion
remains stationary. To t with this picture, we must rene the model we have
developed so far. The charge carriers in metals, and therefore in the wires of
ordinary electrical devices, are electrons. When electrons move from a region,
they leave positive ions behind. Thus, if a negatively charged object is brought
near a piece of metal, the nearest part of the metals surface becomes positive
not because positive charge carriers move onto that part but because electrons
leave it. For a step-by-step graphic presentation of this reasoning, work through
WebLink 18-2.
Because most electrical devices use metal wires in which the carriers are elec-
trons, the currents we deal with most often turn out to be ows of negative charge.
But as Figure 18-4 showed, a ow of negative charge in one direction is equiva-
lent in its effect to a ow of positive charge in the other. The ow of positive charge
is called a conventional current (conventional means it is something that we
agree on) and is usually what is meant by current in quantitative treatments.
POLARIZATION We mentioned earlier that after you run a comb through your
hair, it attracts small bits of paper. But paper is not a conductor. Placing paper
between copper wires prevents current from passing from one to the other. Card-
board cylinders serve as insulators in the bulb sockets of older light xtures. In
explaining why aluminum foil is attracted to the comb, we assumed that a sep-
aration of charge could occur in the aluminum (Figure 18-2b) because charge can
move through a conductor. Then what happens in the paper?
Understanding that molecules have both positive and negative parts enables
us to propose a satisfactory model of what goes on in this case. We suppose that
although the molecule is neutral overall, it may have more of its positive charge
at one end and more of its negative charge at the other. Because it has two oppo-
sitely charged poles, it is called an electric dipole.
Like other atoms and molecules, these dipoles will jiggle about in thermal
motion, and will ordinarily be randomly oriented (Figure 18-10a). But a charged
rod brought near them causes them to pivot into alignment with the oppositely
charged poles drawn towards the rod and the like charged poles repelled (Fig-
ure 18-10b). The resulting separation between the average positions of the posi-
tive and negative constituents is called polarization. Because the positive charges
on average are slightly closer to the rod, there is a small net attraction.
18-3 The Electron Gas and the Effect
of Uneven Charge Distributions
An image that physicists sometimes nd useful in describing metals is that of a
negative electron gas pervading a connected lattice of positive ions (Figure 18-11).
The electrons are pictured as mobile in somewhat the same way that molecules
in an ordinary gas are mobile, and, like the molecules in an ordinary gas, the elec-
trons move around randomly when there is no net ow overall.
For WebLink 18-2:
Movement of Charge
in Metals, go to
www.wiley.com/college/touger
Some molecules (called polar
molecules) are dipolar even in elec-
trically neutral surroundings; others
become polarized only if another
charged body exerts opposite elec-
trical forces on their positive and
negative components.
Figure 18-10 Polarization: a model
to explain the attraction of non-
conducting materials to charged
bodies. (Adapted from A. Arons,
Development of Concepts in Physics,
Addison-Wesley, 1965.) (a) Thermal
motion ordinarily keeps dipole mole-
cules randomly oriented. (b) But they
partially align in the presence of a
charged object. (Thermal agitation
prevents complete alignment.)
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Figure 18-11 Simple model of a
metal: lattice of positive ions
electron gas.
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Attracted toward
region with more
positive surface
charge
Repelled by
region with more
negative surface
charge
SUMMARY
In this chapter, we developed an underlying model to explain
a range of observed behaviors. The model involves a number
of key ideas:
Electrostatic forces are a class of action-at-a-distance
forces, both attractive and repulsive, that bodies exert on one
another, which are demonstrably not gravitational or magnetic.
We call these forces electrostatic because they occur even
when there is no motion of the charge carriers responsible
for the forces. The forces are weaker when the bodies are fur-
ther apart.
Electric charge is a property we attribute to matter that
exerts electrostatic forces (just as gravitational mass is respon-
sible for gravitational forces). We postulate that it comes in two
varieties, positive and negative. Oppositely charged bodies
attract each other, and bodies of like charge repel each other.
Neutral bodies contain equal amounts of positive and nega-
tive charge.
We can explain certain observations by supposing that
charge can move through some matter in response to electro-
static forces. We developed specic vocabulary for describing
this motion.
Electric current, or simply current, is the rate of
movement or flow of chargea from one place to another
(later we will make this quantitative). Electrostatic equi-
librium is the state or condition of a body or system in
which there is no net movement of charge (and consequently
no net current).
Conductors are materials that permit a current to pass
through them. Insulators are materials that in contrast to con-
ductors do not permit the passage of a current. Conductor and
insulator are not absolute terms. Materials may be conducting
or insulating to various degrees. Ground refers to a conduct-
ing body (such as the Earth) that is large in comparison to the
other bodies in a situation, so that charge may ow onto it or
from it without apparent limit.
To put these concepts together in a coherent, connected
picture, it is useful to try to explain behaviors by means of
charge conguration diagrams (see Procedure 18-1).
Charge carriers are particles that have the property of
charge as an inherent and unalterable trait. In a current, as the
carriers move, their charge goes with them.
Experiments such as Thomsons cathode ray experi-
ment and Millikans oil drop experiment led to a model
of matter in which atoms are understood to be made up of
positive nuclei and negative electrons. In metals, which are
conductors, the mobile charge carriers are electrons.
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EQA
Conventional current is a ow of positive charge equal
and opposite to the ow of charge carried by electrons.
A useful model of a metal is one in which a negative
electron gas is free to move about a lattice of positive
nuclei. Excess charge always ends up on the surfaces of
conductors.
Conventional current will ow from higher to lower surf-
ace charge density. When positive charges concentrate in one
region, their mutual repulsion will produce a net movement
away from this regiona ow of charge or currentif a con-
ducting path is available.
In explaining the behavior of circuits, we looked at sev-
eral common circuit elements:
Batteries set up a surface charge density difference by
exerting non-electrostatic forces to pump charge from one ter-
minal to the other. The resulting charge distributions in turn exert
electrostatic forces on carriers in regions where there is a charge
density gradient, causing them to reach a certain average drift
velocity.
Current will ow whenever there is a net force on available
charge carriers due to an uneven distribution of charge,
whether caused by a battery or not.
Capacitors are charge storage devices consisting of two
conducting surfaces separated by a nonconducting gap. Capaci-
tance is a measure of the extent to which they can hold charge.
Bulbs contain laments that glow visibly when sufcient
current passes through them. The laments are characterized
by their resistance to the passage of current. If two bulbs are
connected one at a time between the same charge density dif-
ference, the higher-resistance bulb will allow charge to pass
through at a lesser rate, and will glow less brightly (see Case
18-2). But if the two bulbs are connected so that the same
current passes through them sequentially, most of the charge
density difference will be across the higher-resistance bulb, so
more work will be done and energy will be dissipated at a
greater rate in that bulb, and it will glow more brightly.
Qualitative and Quantitative Problems 559
attract or repel each other? What does this tell you about
the way like charges respond to each other?
18-2. Hands-On Activity. See instructions before Problem 18-1.
Attach the two strips of tape to each other front to back (sticky
side to nonsticky side) for their entire lengths, handles excepted.
Run your ngers along them to remove any surplus charge, so
that you can start out knowing the pair of strips is neutral.
a. If you were now to pull the two strips apart (dont do it
yet), could they both end up with the same charge? Could
they end up with opposite charges? What does neutral tell
you about the charges that are initially present?
b. Now quickly separate the two strips of tape, and then bring
them close together. Do they attract or repel each other?
Does this demonstrate anything about how opposite charges
respond to each other? If so, what?
18-3. Hands-On Activity. See instructions before Problem
18-1. In this activity you will rub two suitable objects together
to charge them. A comb and your hair, a Styrofoam cup and
your hair, a plastic (polyethylene) bag and a garment made of
synthetic fabric are good possibilities. But rst, produce two
oppositely charged strips of tape as in Problem 18-2, and sus-
pend both from a table edge about a foot apart.
a. Suppose you brought a charged object near each of the two
strips in turn without touching and both responded in the
same way (attraction or repulsion). Could the object have the
same charge as either strip of tape? What would you have to
conclude about whether there are just two kinds of charge?
b. Now lets see if the behavior we hypothesized in a actually
occurs. Rub various objects to charge them and bring each
object near (but never touching) each strip in turn. (If you
spend much time on this, you may have to replace the tape
strips with a fresh pair produced in the same way.) How
do the two strips respond to each object? Do they ever
respond in the same way to the same object?
c. Is there any evidence in your observations for a third kind
of charge? Figure 18-19 Problems 18-1, 18-2, and 18-3
QUALI TATI VE AND QUANTI TATI VE PROBLEMS
Hands - On Ac t i vi t i e s and Di s c us s i on Que s t i ons
The questions and activities in this group are particularly suitable for
in-class use.
In doing the activities in Problems 18-1 to 18-3, try to forget
anything you know ahead of time about how like or opposite charges
affect each other. The goal of these activities is to deduce what they
do from what you observe. To do these activities you will need several
strips of ordinary transparent sticky tape (Magic Scotch tape works
best) about 10 cm (4 in) in length, with one end of each doubled over
(Figure 18-19a) to provide a nonstick handle. These should be used
just after being torn off the roll. Use fresh strips for each question.
(These activities are adapted from A. Arons, A Guide to
Introductory Physics Teaching [Wiley, 1990] and The Electrostatics
Workshop [AAPT, 1991], with additional helpful suggestions
by Robert Morse.)
18-1. Hands-On Activity. Attach two strips of tape (described
above) in different locations on a smooth, at, clean, dry sur-
face (Formica and plastic surfaces work especially well) so that
the entire length of each strip except for the handle is stuck
at to the surface. Run your thumbnail over the strips to ensure
good uniform contact.
a. Suppose you were to take both strips by their handles and
pull them quickly off the surface in the same way (dont
do it yet). Should the two strips have like or opposite
charges? Explain.
b. Now pull the strips off by their handles and bring the free
ends very close (less than a cm) to each other. Do they
Fold over to produce
non-stick handle
Tape as
electroscope
leaf
Shown sticky
side up
(a) (b)
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18-4. Discussion Question.
Figure 18-20 shows a loop of
conducting wire. The wire is
neutral, but nine typical con-
duction electrons, equally
spaced, have been singled
out for your attention.
a. Suppose something (such
as a battery) exerts a non-electrostatic force on electron 1
and moves it from point A to point B. How does moving
electron 1 affect the total force on electron 2? How does
electron 2 move in response?
b. How does moving electron 1 affect the total force on elec-
tron 9? How does electron 9 move in response?
c. Are electrons 2 and 9 slow to respond to the motion of elec-
tron 1, or is the response more nearly instantaneous? Explain.
d. When electrons 2 and 9 move, how does that in turn affect
electrons 3 and 8?
e. Are electrons 4 and 7 ultimately affected? Are 5 and 6?
Sketch the resulting arrangement of all nine electrons on the
loop.
f. Suppose a battery between A and B continues to pump
electrons from A to B. How do the electrons elsewhere in
the loop respond?
g. Suppose now that all the electrons are drifting slowly in the
direction shown by the arrow. Suppose the resistance
between A and B is increased. How would that affect the
motion of electron 1?
h. Because electron 1 contributes to the total electrostatic force
on electrons 2 and 9, how is the motion of those electrons
affected? How, in turn, is the motion of the remaining elec-
trons affected?
i. What effect does increasing the resistance between A and
B have on the current in the loop? Is the current more
affected in one part of the loop than in another? Explain.
j. Would any of your reasoning be changed if instead of a
ow of electrons, you considered a conventional current of
positive charges moving the other way? Briey explain.
18-5. Discussion Question. Popular descriptions of science
are not always accurate and may generate confusion when you
wish to use concepts carefully for orderly reasoning. A staff
member of a major science museum in a large U.S. city made
the following statement when introducing their electricity show
to a large audience: When positive and negative attract, the
force generated in that process is electricity.
a. What inaccuracies can you detect in this statement? First try to
answer this without going on to the specic hints in part b.
b. Is a force something different than an attraction or a repul-
sion? Does it mean anything to say that an attraction gene-
rates a force? Is electricity a force, or charge, or a current,
or what? Which of these terms have we dened carefully?
Did we dene electricity ?
c. How many different meanings can you nd for the word
electricity in ordinary (non-physics) usage?
d. Can you suggest any incorrect conclusions to which the staff
members statement might lead a listener?
560 Chapter 18 Electrical Phenomena: Forces, Charges, Currents 560 Chapter 18 Electrical Phenomena: Forces, Charges, Currents
Re vi e w and Prac t i c e
Section 18-1 Developing an Underlying Model
to Account for the Observations
18-6. A positively charged rod is brought toward two small
conducting spheres suspended by insulating cords. Sphere A
is attracted to the rod; sphere B is repelled by it. Indicate
whether each of the following statements about the total
charges on the spheres is denitely true, possibly true, or false:
a. A is positively charged. d. A is neutral.
b. B is positively charged. e. B is neutral.
c. A is negatively charged.
18-7. SSM Suppose two objects A and B start out neutral, but
when they are rubbed together, object A becomes negatively
charged.
a. If charge cannot be created or destroyed, where does As
charge come from?
b. What is the effect of this on object B?
c. Does a neutral object contain any positive charge? Does it
contain any negative charge? Briey explain.
18-8. In Figure 18-2c, what happens to the arrangement of
charge on the piece of foil if the foil is carried far from the
comb without being brought in contact with a conductor?
18-9. In Step 2 of Case 18-1, the comb is replaced by a bar
magnet with its north pole forward. How will the piece of alu-
minum foil be affected when the magnet is brought near it?
18-10. After you run a comb through your hair, the comb will
attract tiny bits of both newspaper and aluminum foil. If the
bits are of equal mass, which would you expect to be attracted
more strongly to the comb? Briey explain.
18-11. Suppose you have tiny bits of aluminum foil and scraps
of newspaper all having the same mass. You charge a plastic
comb by running it through your hair. What could you do exper-
imentally to determine which is more strongly attracted to the
comb? Be very specic about your procedure and how it permits
you to make distinguishable observations for the two situations.
18-12.
a. Describe a situation that will cause electrons to ow onto
a neutral object when it is grounded. What will the result-
ing charge on the object be?
b. Describe a situation that will cause electrons to ow away
from a neutral object when it is grounded. What will the
resulting charge on the object be?
18-13. SSM A negatively charged rod is brought near a con-
ducting sphere suspended by a copper wire from a metal ceil-
ing. The sphere is attracted to the rod.
a. Was the sphere initially positively charged, negatively charged,
or neutral ? Briey explain.
b. The piece of aluminum foil in Case 18-1 was subsequently
repelled by the rod. Will the same thing happen to the con-
ducting sphere in this situation? Briey explain.
1
2
3
4
5
9
8
7
6
A
B
Figure 18-20 Problem 18-4
SSM Solution is in the Student Solutions Manual WWW Solution is at http://www.wiley.com/college/touger
0540T_c18_543-565.qxd 9/22/04 18:00 Page 560
EQA
18-14. A conducting metal rod is suspended by an insulating
nylon wire (Figure 18-21). A small, lightweight metal ball sus-
pended by a nylon thread is very close to one end of the rod
but not touching it. If a positively charged rod is briey
touched to the other end of the metal rod, what will happen
to the ball if it is initially a. has a small positive charge (com-
pared to the charge on the rod)? b. has a small negative
charge? c. is neutral?
18-15. Sketch charge conguration diagrams to explain what
is happening in each part of Problem 8-14.
18-16. A negatively charged rod is held a small distance to the
left of a positively charged solid conducting sphere. Because
the sphere is conducting, the excess charge on the sphere will
be mostly
____
(within the left half of the sphere; on the sur-
face of the left half of the sphere; within the right half of the
sphere; on the surface of the right half of the sphere).
18-17. SSM Two at metal plates are initially very far apart.
Plate A is positively charged; plate B is neutral. Plate B is then
moved until it is parallel to A and very close to it. Sketch the
initial and nal charge congurations on both plates.
18-18. Use our underlying model for electrostatic forces to
explain in detail why the hair of the person in Figure 18-8b
appears as it does.
18-19.
a. Why are you at greater risk of being struck by lightning if
you are standing in the middle of an open eld?
b. If you cannot quickly get to cover, what could you do to
reduce the risk?
Section 18-2 Charge Carriers
18-20. When radioactivity was rst discovered, three different
kinds of radioactive rays were identied; they were called
alpha ( ), beta ( ), and gamma ( ) rays. When a beam of
each kind of ray was passed between oppositely charged
plates, the alpha ray beam bent very slightly toward the neg-
ative plate, the beta ray beam bent quite substantially toward
the positive plate, and the gamma ray beam passed through
without bending at all.
a. Which of these rays might possibly be made up of elec-
trons? Briey explain.
b. If the alpha and beta rays both turned out to be made up
of particles, which particles would you expect to have a
greater charge-to-mass ratio? Briey explain.
18-21. Are the charge carriers always electrons when there is
an electric current? Briey explain.
18-22. In your own words, tell what is meant by a conven-
tional current.
g b a
18-23. If a conventional current ows from left to right along
a copper wire, which way are the electrons owing?
18-24. Explain in your own words why a ow of electrons
with a certain total charge in one direction along a wire is
equivalent to the ow of an equal amount of positive charge
in the opposite direction.
18-25.
a. Compare the movement of charge carriers in large mole-
cules such as pigments and in metals.
b. Comment on the validity of the idea that what goes on in a
metal is like one giant covalent bond among all of its
atoms.
18-26. Positive and negative electrodes are connected to the
two terminals of a battery and dipped into a tank containing a
solution of sodium chloride (table salt) in water. This means
there are equal numbers of positive sodium ions and negative
chloride ions in the water. When the electrodes are dipped into
opposite ends of the tank, a current ows between them. Sup-
pose we could chemically remove all the chloride ions, leaving
the number of sodium ions the same as before. When the elec-
trodes are dipped into the tank as before, it would produce
____
(a current greater than the current that occurred with both
kinds of ions present; a current equal to that current; a current
less than that current but not zero; no current at all). Briey
explain.
18-27. How does the permeability of a cell membrane to var-
ious chemical species affect the electrical current crossing the
membrane?
Section 18-3 The Electron Gas and the Effect
of Uneven Charge Distributions
18-28. A student argues as follows: Batteries are the source
of current in simple electric circuits. There is a certain amount
of current that the battery can provide, and when the battery
dies, or if I take the battery away, there is no more current.
Comment on the correctness or incorrectness of this argument.
In your comments, be sure to address the question of whether
there can ever be a current when there is no battery in the
circuit.
18-29. SSM WWW Suppose you start out with two identical
capacitors and two bulbs, A and B. First you charge the capac-
itors, one at a time. Then you discharge one capacitor through
each bulb. What can you conclude about either the capacitors
or the bulbs if a. bulb A glows more brightly but for a shorter
time interval than bulb B? Briey explain. b. A glows more
brightly and also for a longer time interval than B? Briey
explain.
18-30. When you connect the ends of a wire to a battery so
that a current ows through the wire, does the total charge
on the wire remain zero or is the wire electrically charged?
Briey explain.
18-31. It is common to speak of charging a battery. Are you
transferring any charge to the battery when you do this? Briey
explain.
18-32.
a. When you charge a capacitor by connecting it to a battery,
where does the charge go, and where does it come from?
b. Does the battery act as a source or supplier of charge? Explain?
Qualitative and Quantitative Problems 561
Nylon
threads
Metal rod
Metal
ball
Positively
charged
rod
+
+
+
+
+
Figure 18-21 Problem 18-14
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18-33. When a battery is connected through a small bulb to
a capacitor, the fact that the bulb dims and goes out after a
brief interval is evidence that the capacitor plates do not keep
gaining charge indenitely. Use what you know about elec-
trostatic forces on electrons to explain why a. the negative
plate of the capacitor doesnt keep getting more negative indef-
initely. b. the positive plate of the capacitor doesnt keep get-
ting more positive indenitely.
18-34. A team of students nds that in Case 18-2, when they
charge and discharge the capacitor through bulb A, the bulb
glows very brightly. When they charge and discharge it through
bulb B, this bulb glows less brightly. They hypothesize that
because bulb A glows more brightly, it is permitting more total
charge to pass through and be stored on the capacitor. To test
this hypothesis, they decide to charge the capacitor through
bulb B and discharge it through bulb A.
a. If their hypothesis is right, how would the brightness of
bulb A during discharge compare with its brightness during
discharge when the capacitor was also charged through bulb
A? Why?
b. When they do the test, they observe that when they dis-
charge the capacitor through bulb A, it glows just as brightly
and for just as long as when the capacitor was charged
through bulb A. What can you conclude from this obser-
vation? (Adapted from M. Steinberg et al., Electricity Visualized, 1990.)
18-35. Suppose that in the circuit in Case 18-2, the capacitor
is replaced by one with plates that are twice as big. If noth-
ing else is changed, how would this affect a. the maximum
brightness of the bulb? Use the underlying model to briey
explain your answer. b. the time it takes to dim to half its
initial brightness? Use the underlying model to briey explain
your answer.
18-36. After the circuit in Figure 18-16a has been connected
for a few minutes, does the battery produce a surface charge
density difference? What effect, if any, does this have on cur-
rent owing in the depicted circuit? Justify your answers by
sketching the location(s) of any excess charge.
18-37. When the last connection has just been made in the
circuit in Figure 18-16b and the capacitor is just beginning to
discharge, tell whether each of the following is positively
charged, negatively charged, or neutral:
a. the surface of the wire 1 cm from the positive plate of the
capacitor
b. the interior of the wire 1 cm from the positive plate of the
capacitor
c. the surface of the wire 1 cm from the negative plate of the
capacitor
d. the interior of the wire 1 cm from the negative plate of the
capacitor
e. the entire capacitor (consider the net overall charge)
f. the entire circuit (consider the net overall charge)
18-38. Figure 18-22 shows a sim-
ple closed circuit consisting of a
bulb, a battery, and connecting
wires. Three points in the circuit
are labeled (point B is on the l-
ament of the bulb). Rank the three
labeled points according to each
of the following, listing them in
order from least to greatest and
indicating any equalities: a. the
density of surface charge at each point. b. the current at each
point.
18-39. Figure 18-23 shows a sim-
ple closed circuit consisting of a
two bulbs A and B, a battery
(labeled C for cell), and connect-
ing wires. Rank the three circuit
elements in order, from least to
greatest, according to the current
that passes through each one.
Indicate any equalities.
18-40.
a. In which of the two bulbs in Figure 18-23 is the rate of
energy expenditure greater? Briey explain.
b. Which of the two bulbs will glow more brightly?
562 Chapter 18 Electrical Phenomena: Forces, Charges, Currents 562 Chapter 18 Electrical Phenomena: Forces, Charges, Currents
Goi ng Fur t he r
The questions and problems in this group are not organized by sec-
tion heading, so you must determine for yourself which ideas apply.
Some of them will be more challenging than the Review and Practice
questions and problems (especially those marked with a or ).
18-41. Suppose there are equal amounts of positively and neg-
atively charged matter in the universe.
a. How would this matter tend to rearrange itself over time if
like charges attracted and opposites repelled? Does this
agree with or contradict what we actually observe in the
universe?
b. What if opposite charges didnt react to each other at all
(as gravitational charge doesnt react to electric charge), but
instead charges of one kind (say, positive) were mutually
attractive and charges of the other kind were mutually
repulsive? How would this matter tend to rearrange itself
over time? Does this agree with or contradict what we actu-
ally observe in the universe?
18-42. Two objects A and B are attracted to each other. When
a negatively charged body C is brought near them, both are
attracted to C. What can you conclude about the charges on
A and B?
18-43. A student holds an iron bar magnet in her hand. If a
positively charged Styrofoam sphere is initially half a centimeter
from the north pole and is free to move, it will be
____
(attracted to the north pole; repelled by the north pole; attracted
then repelled; unaffected by the magnet ).
18-44.
a. In Case 18-1, estimate the gravitational force that the comb
and the piece of aluminum foil exert on each other at a
separation of 0.01 m.
+
A C
B
Figure 18-22 Problem
18-38
R
B
> R
A
Cell C
Bulb A Bulb B
Figure 18-23 Problems
18-39 and 18-40
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EQA
b. Estimate the time it takes for the piece of aluminum foil to
jump the gap to the comb and use this to nd an approx-
imate value for the average acceleration of the foil during
this interval.
c. Calculate the force necessary to produce this acceleration.
d. Compare the values youve obtained in a and c. Express
the comparison as a ratio Briey explain the sig-
nicance of this comparison (or this ratio).
18-45. SSM WWW A common device for detecting electric
charge is the electroscope (Figure 18-24a). The metal knob at
the top is connected via the conducting metal post below it
to two metal foil leaves suspended from the bottom of the
post.
a. When a charge is transferred to the knob, what will hap-
pen to the foil leaves? Why? How does this compare to the
effect shown in Figure 18-8b?
b. Suppose you temporarily ground the electroscope by touch-
ing the knob with a nger to neutralize it. You then remove
your nger and bring a positively charged rod very near but
not touching the knob of the electroscope. What happens
to the leaves when the rod is close? Sketch a charge dia-
gram to explain what happens. Is there a net charge on the
electroscope? How is it distributed?
c. What happens to the leaves when the rod is moved a lit-
tle further from the knob? Explain your answer in terms of
the forces that charge carriers exert on one another.
F found in a
F found in c
.
Figure 18-24 Problems 18-45, 18-46, and 18-67
18-46. Charging by induction. A positively charged rod is
again brought close to the knob of a neutral electroscope with-
out touching it, and the leaves respond as in Problem 18-45.
a. With the rod kept in this position, a student places her n-
ger in contact with the knob, as in Figure 18-24b. What
happens to the foil leaves? Why? Draw a charge congura-
tion diagram to support your explanation. Is there a net
charge on the electroscope? How is it distributed?
b. The student then removes her nger while the rod remains
in the same position. Now what happens to the foil leaves?
Why? Again, draw a charge conguration diagram to sup-
port your explanation. Is there a net charge on the elec-
troscope? How is it distributed?
c. Finally the rod is removed. At this point there is a net charge
on the electroscope. Is it positive or negative? How is this
charge distributed? What would you see as evidence that
the electroscope is charged?
d. This is called charging by induction. We say the nal
charge on the electroscope was induced by the charged
rod because it was not transferred from the rod, but it was
caused by the presence of the rod. Where did the nal
charge on the electroscope come from? Briey explain.
18-47. Are fabrics that develop static cling conductors or insu-
lators? Briey explain how you can tell.
18-48. Golfers are frequent lightning victims. What are some
of the factors that contribute to this? (Assume golfers have as
much common sense as other people.)
18-49. A lightning rod always has a wire connected to its
lower end. To what should the other end of the wire be con-
nected? Why?
18-50. Jumper cables are used to recharge a car battery by
connecting it to the battery of another car. It is possible (but
not safe) to do this by connecting one cable between the pos-
itive terminals of the two batteries and the other between the
negative terminals of the two batteries.
a. Why do the safety instructions tell you that instead, you
should connect an end of one cable to your engine block
or car frame?
b. What would happen if you ran each cable between the pos-
itive terminal of one battery and the negative terminal of
the other?
18-51. SSM A positively
charged rod is brought
close to a grounded con-
ducting sphere (Figure
18-25). Unlike the usual
charge conguration dia-
gram that shows only
excess charge, the g-
ure shows representative
charges on the sphere in
its initial (neutral) state.
Show what happens to these charges by drawing the resulting
charge conguration on the sphere
a. if only positive charges are free to move in conductors.
b. if only negative charges are free to move in conductors.
c. if both positive and negative charges are free to move in
conductors.
d. Now draw a usual charge conguration diagram showing
only the nal distribution of excess charge for each of these
cases. Does the distribution of excess charge depend on
whether you think about a ow of electrons or about a con-
ventional current of positive charge? Explain.
18-52. What advantage is gained by making the upper part of
the Van de Graaff generator spherical?
18-53. If the bottom of a small bulb is placed against one ter-
minal of a battery, and no other connections are made, a. will
there be any ow of charge at any time? Briey explain. b. will
the bulb light up? Briey explain.
18-54. If the circuit in Figure 18-16a were assembled using a
capacitor with only a thousandth of the capacitance of the one
shown, a. would there still be a transient current through the
bulb? Briey explain. b. would you still see the bulb light up?
Briey explain.
Qualitative and Quantitative Problems 563
(a) Metal foil leaves of
electroscope hang
straight down
when uncharged
Metal foil
leaves
Glass
(b) A step in charging
the electroscope
by induction
Metal ball and
stem provide
conducting path
to leaves
+
+
+
+
++
+
Charge configuration before
rod is brought near
Ground
+++
++
+ +
+
+
+
+
+
+
Figure 18-25 Problem 18-51
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EQA
18-55. In the circuit in
Figure 18-26, bulbs A and
B are connected between
the same points 1 and 2.
Bulb B has greater resist-
ance than bulb A.
a. Sketch a charge cong-
uration diagram show-
ing the distribution of excess surface charge along this cir-
cuit at an instant when the capacitor has just begun to
charge (after the switch is closed).
b. Repeat a for an instant when the capacitor is fully charged.
18-56. In the circuit in Figure 18-26, bulbs A and B are con-
nected between the same points 1 and 2. Bulb B has greater
resistance than bulb A.
a. At an instant when the capacitor has just begun to charge,
is the difference in surface charge density between the ends
of bulb A less than, equal to, or greater than the difference
between the ends of bulb B? Briey explain your answer.
b. Through which bulb will more current ow? Briey explain
your answer.
c. Which bulb will glow more brightly? Briey explain your
answer.
d. Consider the extreme case in which the resistance of bulb
Bs lament is so great that the lament is in effect an insu-
lator. In this case, through which bulb will more current ow?
e. In the case described in d, which bulb will glow more
brightly?
f. Are your answers to d and e the same as your answers to
b and c? Should they be? Briey explain.
18-57. Compare and contrast the behavior of the circuits in
Figures 18-26 and 18-17.
18-58. Batteries make use of chemical reactions in which one
chemical species gives up electrons and another acquires them.
a. Why does a battery wear out when an external conducting
path is established between its terminals?
b. Why is it especially unwise to keep a very low-resistance
conductor like a short length of copper wire connected
between the terminals of the battery?
18-59. SSM The circuit in Figure 18-27
is identical to the circuit in Figure
18-16a, except that a second capac-
itor identical to the rst one has been
connected between points 1 and 2.
a. Compare the brightness of the
bulbs in the two circuits just after
clip B is connected to complete
the circuit. Briey explain.
b. Compare how long the bulbs in
the two circuits glow once clip B
is connected. Briey explain.
18-60. The circuit in Figure 18-28 has the
same elements as the circuit in Figure
18-16a, but they are arranged differently.
a. Compare the brightness of the bulbs
in the two circuits just after clip B is
connected to complete the circuit.
Briey explain.
b. Compare how quickly the capacitors in the two circuits
charge once clip B is connected. Briey explain.
18-61. Draw the simplest schematic circuit diagram you can
for the circuit depicted in Figure 18-29.
18-62. In a series of popular lectures in 1934, British Nobel
laureate W. L. Bragg proposed the following analogy: Now
suppose I take the spare cash in my pocket and hand it over
to you. Ought I to say that a current of riches has passed from
me to you, or that a current of poverty has passed from you
to me? Unfortunately . . . it was as if everyone agreed to say
that the current of poverty passed from you to me, before it
was realized that the actual cash . . . went from pocket to
pocket in the opposite direction (W. L. Bragg, Electricity, Macmillan,
New York, 1936, p. 57). To what situation in physics was Bragg
referring? What in the physics situation is like the cash in the
situation Bragg described? What in the physics situation is like
the current of poverty in this situation?
18-63. When a positively charged rod is brought near some
tiny shreds of newspaper, the shreds are attracted to the rod.
What would happen if the rod were negative instead? Why?
18-64. Suppose you have
only the bulb, battery, and
single piece of exible con-
ducting wire that are shown in
Figure 18-30. Very carefully
sketch a way of arranging
these circuit elements that
would make the bulb light. Be
sure that your sketch shows
clearly where the wire is making contact with other objects.
18-65. A simple closed circuit consists of a battery connected
to a bulb by wires. Within the battery, does the conventional
current ow from the negative terminal to the positive terminal
or from the positive terminal to the negative terminal? Briey
explain.
18-66. In each of two set-ups, a capacitor is charged by con-
necting its plates to the two terminals of a battery. The set-
ups are identical, except that the wires in set-up B have greater
resistance than the wires in set-up A. Is the charge acquired
by the capacitor in A less than, equal to, or greater than the
charge acquired by the capacitor in B? Briey explain.
18-67. The leaves of an electroscope (Figure 18-24a) spread
out when a positively charged rod is brought close to but not
touching the ball at the top. In this situation, the ball is ____
and the leaves ____. Briey explain.
a. positively charged . . . are both negatively charged
b. negatively charged . . . are both positively charged
Figure 18-29 Problems 18-61
564 Chapter 18 Electrical Phenomena: Forces, Charges, Currents 564 Chapter 18 Electrical Phenomena: Forces, Charges, Currents
A
B
1 2 (R
B
> R
A
)
+
Figure 18-26 Problems 18-55,
18-56, and 18-57
1 2
Clip B
+
Figure 18-27 Problem
18-59
+ +
+
Figure 18-30 Problem 18-64
Clip B
+
Figure 18-28
Problem 18-60
0540T_c18_543-565.qxd 9/22/04 15:10 Page 564
EQA
c. neutral . . . are both negatively charged
d. neutral . . . are both positively charged
e. neutral . . . have equal but opposite charges
18-68. In Case 18-1, we assumed that the suspended piece of
aluminum foil started out neutral before being attracted to the
negatively charged comb. We can best show that this is actu-
ally the case by bringing (a positively charged rod; other neg-
atively charged objects; a second, identically treated piece of
aluminum foil) close to it and seeing what happens. Give a
reason for your choice.
18-69. If you think of your bodys circulatory system as being
analogous to an electric circuit, a. what in your circulatory sys-
tem is analogous to a battery in the electric circuit? b. what in
the circuit is analogous to blood pressure in your circulatory
system?
18-70. Example 18-2 (Figure 18-5) involved an effective trans-
fer of positive charge. Suppose that the conducting sphere is
metallic, so that the charge carriers that are free to move are
actually negative electrons. How do the electrons move? Sketch
diagrams showing the stages of the motion.
18-71. A positively charged rod is held a small distance to the
left of a neutral solid conducting sphere. Because the sphere
is conducting, there will be excess electrons ____ (within the
left half of the sphere; on the surface of the left half of the
sphere; within the right half of the sphere; on the surface of the
right half of the sphere).
Qualitative and Quantitative Problems 565
Pr obl e ms on We bLi nks
18-72. Suppose you wanted to show that the piece of alu-
minum foil involved in the observations in WebLink 18-1
started out neutral.
a. Could you accomplish this by putting it next to a charged
object to see what happened? If so, tell whether the object
should be positively or negatively charged. If not, briey
explain why not.
b. Could you accomplish this by putting it next to an identi-
cal piece of aluminum foil to see what happened? Briey
explain.
18-73. Which (one or more) of the following ideas is neces-
sary to explain why the aluminum foil is attracted to the
charged comb in WebLink 18-1?
a. Opposite charges attract.
b. Like charges repel.
c. The foil acquires an opposite charge from the comb.
d. Charge can travel in conductors.
e. Charges exert less force on each other when further apart.
18-74. Suppose the aluminum foil in WebLink 18-2 is replaced
by a kind of metal foil that has only one conduction electron
contributed by each atom. Just before the foil actually touches
the comb, is the number of conduction electrons in the part
of foil furthest from the comb less than, equal to, or greater
than the number of positive ions in that part of the foil?
18-75. In WebLink 18-3, the conduction electrons on the lower
wire surface dont all get pumped to the upper wire surface
because as more electrons accumulate on the upper wire ____
(the battery runs down; the electrostatic force they exert on
other electrons increases; the pressure builds up; the battery
runs out of electrons).
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