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13.1 Introducti~~
Objectives
13.5 Summary
13.6 Answers to SAQs
i
13.1
INTRODUCTION
:I
where C stands for Coulomb, the SI unit of charge. Modern theories have
proposed that some particles, called quarks, which have fractional charges are
the real building blocks of protons. Because of nature of forces between them,
quarks probably cannot be isolated.
of this charge is
where superscripts denote the mass numbers, while the subscripts denote the
atomic numbers. Hence, the total charge on the left side is (7 2)e while that
on the right side is (1 8)e, thus confirming that electric charge is conserved
in a nuclear reaction.
Objectives
After reading this unit, you should be able to:
a
explain what are lines of force and use them to qualitatively describe a
field (SAQ 4),
define the electric field and determine the fields due to discrete and
continuous charge distributions (SAQs 5-10),
explain what is an electric dipole and calculate the field due to it (SAQ
l l ) , and,
The .EleetrfeFleld
-&.
I
!
I
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where Fnl stands for the Coulomb force exerted by the charge q,, on ql.
Equation (13.3) states that the resultant force on a charge ql due to all other
charges is the vector sum of the forces due to each individual charge from the
set (q2,q3,"',qn)Example 1
Compare the electric and the gravitational forces that exist between an
electron and a proton.
Solution :
Since the two are oppositely charged, the electric force between them is
attractive. Gravitational force between any two objects is always attractive.
As both the forces are inverse square in nature,
Figure 13.1 :
CoulombL Law
Example 2
Determine the resultant force on the charge 93 due to the charges ql and 92 in
Fig.13.2. The charges are ql = -2 PC, 92 = 6 PC, and g = 4.5 PC.
Solution :
The force
p1is
10-12
{m
Since the forces are at right angles to each other their resultant
magnitude ( F I=
= 1.12 x
N.
Figure 13.2
fl has a
0
SAQ 1 :
Calculate the force exerted on the charge ql in Fig.(13.3) due to the charges
q2 and q3:Take ql = -2 PC, 92 = 6 pC and 93 = -4.5 PC.
Figure 13.3
-"A
Example 3
~hreeparticlesof equal charges q are located at the vertices of an equilateral
triangle of side a. Find the force on each of the particles.
Solution :
.._
.B
C
Figure 13.4
Forces on C due to A and B are repulsive and are respectively along AC and
BC (Fig.13.4). The magnitude of each force is (1/4.rrco)q2/a2.Thus the
resultant is along the line joining the mid point D of the side AB to C. The
magnitude of this force is obtained by the triangle law to be
C,
(1/4.rrc.)q2/a2(l 1 2cos60)'/~ = (1/4nc0)q2/a2&.
+ +
SAQ 2 : ,
Four partihes of equal charge q are located at the corners of a square of side
a. Find the force on each of the particles.
,
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SAC) 3 :
Thc F
/
Figure 13.5 : The force experienced by a test charge in the field
of a positive
charge Q. B e lines of force are also shown.
Let us examine the electric field I? due to a positive point charge +Q in some
detail. Let this charge +Q be placed at 0 (Fig. 13.5). This charge is a source
of the electric field E which exists in the space around it. A test charge placed
The lines of electric force is a useful concept t o visualise the nature of the
electric field. It may appear rather qualitative, but we shall not be concerned
with the quantitative and accurate representation of the lines of force. Given
a pattern of the lines of force, we may determine : (i) the direction of the
electric field I? at any point, and (ii) the regions where the strength of the
field is relatively strong or .weak. Today, the job of drawing lines of force can
be carried out speedily with the help of a computer. Nevertheless we should
be able f o draw the pattern of electric force for simple charge configuration, as
for example, an electric dipole (Fig.13.6).
SAQ 4
:
Sketch the electric lines of force due to an isolated negative charge -9.
E = lim
is defined
F'
where $ is the electric force acting on a test charge +qt placed in an electric
field I? at a point P. The reason for taking the limit qt + 0 in (13.4) have
been explained earlier. Having determined I? at a point P in space, the force
experienced by any charge +q placed at P can be written as
where flt is a unit vector directed from ql to qt and ~ l ist the distance between
ql and qt. The electric field, Zlt, acting at P due to ql is therefore given by
Zit
1 1 qlqt,
= lirn -[T~lt]
qt-+O qt 4n6, ri,
1 ql2 f l t
- -4~co
Tit
Example 4
Calculate the electric field at the point C (Fig. 13.7) due to a charge 8 pC at
A and a charge -1.5pC at B. The distances AC = 1 m and BC = 0.5m.
Figure 13.7
Solution :
Field at C due to A is (1/4nr0)(8 x 1 0 - ~ / 1 ~=)7.2 x lo4 N/C. The field at C
due to the charge at B is (1/4ac,)(-1.5 x 10-~/0.25) = -5.4 x lo4 N/C. The
field at C due to A and B is therefore d
m x lo4 = 9 x lo4 N/C.'
Example 5
Two point charges 5 pC and -10pC are l m apart. At which point is the field
due to them equal to zero.
Solution :
Clearly, the point must be to the left of the 5 pC charge, so that the force of
repulsion due to the smaller charge can be offset by the attractive force due to
the bigger charge. Suppose the distance of the point in question from the 5pC
charge is d (Fig. 13.8). The distance from the -1OpC charge is 1 d. The
field at P is given by
Figure 13.8
- lp
SAQ 5 :
~ i n d - t h magnitude
e
and the direction of the electric field at the centre of the
square of side 10 cm, due to the charge distribution shown in Fig. 13.9. The
magnitude of the charge q is 5 nC.
I
Figure 13.9
SAQ 6 :
Two charges 5 nC and -10 nC are separated by 1 m. Find a point where the
electric field strength is zero.
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SAQ 7 :
Five equal charges 40 nC each are placed at five vertices of a regular hexagon
of side 6 cm. The sixth vertex is free. Determine the electric field at the
centre of the hexagon due to this distribution.
ii) dq
iii) dq
and then combines the three components to obtain the resultant vector I? as
This procedure is illustrated below with the help of some solved examples.
Example 6
Obtain an expression for the electric field due t o an infinite line charge
containing a charge density A Clm, at any point, a t a distance of R from the
line.
Solution :
Since the line is infinite, we can take the foot of the perpendicular from P to
&he line as the origin (Fig.13.10). Consider the field a t P due to an element dy
of length located at the position y. The magnitude of this field is
' F ~ 13.10
I I ~:
to
line charae
dE =
Xdy
471-to(R2 + y2)
E ,= bT'2d~cos~
-
lTf2
X
-
271-coR o
cos BdB
SAQ 8 :
The field due to a line charge at a distance of 40 cm from it is 100 NJC. What
is the field at 20 cm ?
SAQ 9 :
Find the field due t o a'semi-infinite line charge (i.e., a line which extends to
infinity on one side only) at the point P, located a t a distance R from its finite
end. Show that the direction of the field is independent of the distance R.
Example 7
Find the field on the axis of a charged circular ring of radius c , csntaining a
charge density X per unit length.
Solution :
Consider the ring.to be in the y-z plane, and its axis to be the x - axis. The
field d,!? at a point P on the axis due to a charge dQ is given by
(1/4nco)dQ/(x2 a2), in the direction shown in Fig.13.11. As in the case of
the line charge, we can resolve dl? into a component along the axis and
another perpendicular to it. The perpendicular component cancels out due to
the contribution from a symmetrically placed charge element. The resultant
field is J d E cos 9. On integrating over the circle the magnitude of the field a t
P is
x
The integration is only over
(x2 a2)1/2 '
Q, since the other parameters are constant. The direction of the field is
towards the positive x - axis for x > 0 and towards the negative x - axis for
x < 0. We therfore have
where, we have substituted cos8 =
Example 8
Find the electric field at a point due to an infinite charged sheet, having a
charge density of a C/m2.
Solution
This problem can be solved by summing over the electric field due to two
dimensional charged area elements. This will involve two dimensional
integration. We will instead, do this problem in a slightly different way.
Let us take the charged plane to be the y-z plane containing the origin 0
(Fig.13.12). The point P is located at (x, 0,O). The field at P may be
obtained by summing over contribution from strips in the plane. Consider the
field due to a strip of width dz at (O,O, 2). The strip can be considered as a
line charge with a linear charge density X = adz. In Example 6, we have
calculated the field due to a line charge at a distance R to be X/2?rc,R. The
distance of t'he point P from the strip a t (0,0,z) can be seen to be d m .
You should note that Fig(13.13) is a three dimensional figure, and, we can
find the distance by drawing a perpendicular from the point P to the strip in
the plane containing the strip and the point P. The magnitude
of the field due
to the strip is gjven-by
adz
dE =
2?rc0,/=
The direction of the field is from the strip towards the point P, along the
perpendicular mentioned above. This field can be resolved into components one parallel to the plane and the other perpendicular to it. The parallel
component cancels out, due to a contribution from a symmetrically placed
element at (0,0, -t). The net field, therefore, points along the direction OP,
and is given by 2 J d E cos9. One can easily see that, the angle 9 is given by
cos t9 = % / d m The
. field is, therefore, given by
'
SAQ 10 :
Find the electric field on the axis of a charged disk of radius R with a charge
density a C/m2.
,P
-'
/"
X
Figure 13.13'
To calculate the field due to an electric dipole, let us take the z - axis along
the dipole moment vector, with the origin of the coordinate system being
taken at the mid point of the dipole (Fig.13.13). The charge q is located at
(0,O, a) and -q at (0,0, -a). In the following, we will calculate the field due
to the dipole, in the plane z = 0 which bisects the dipole perpendicularly.
d points at a given
Because of symmetry, the field must be the same at i
distance from the origin. Thus we will calculate the field at a point P(0, R,O),
which lies on the y - axis.
The field at P due to +q is directed dong the line joining +q and the point P,
while the field due to -q is directed from P to the charge -q. We tan resolve
the field vectors along the axis and perpendicular to the axis. From
Fig.(13.13) it is clear that the components along the y-axis cancel. The
resultant is therefore along the - z axis. The magnitude of the field is given by
i
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Most of the time, we are interested in the field due to a dipole at large
distance from the dipole, i.e., R ) a. We can then approximate
1
1
(a2 + R2)3/2
since the direction of p'and
dipole, at large distances as
SAQ 11 :
I
For the orientation of the dipole given in Fig.(ll .l3), find the field along the
z-axis, at far distance from the dipole.
and is directed along the negative y-axis, for the case shown in the figure.
The motion of the particle is similar to a body falling freely in the uniform,
gravitational field of the earth. Since the particle starts from rest, its velocity
5 and vertical distance y at any time t is given by
----------Figure 13.14r
,t tricitp
The same result can be obtained from the work-energy theorem since a
constant force F = qE has acted on the particle when it has moved through a
distance y.
I
Figure 13.14b
Thus the electrons follow a parabolic trajectory in the region between the
plates. After emerging from the plates, the electrons travel along a straight
line to hit the screen S placed OIB the right side and form a bright point image
on the fluorescent screen.
SAQ 12 :
kg) is travelling along the x - axis with a velocity
A proton (m = 1.67 x
of 4 x lo4 m/s enters a region of electric field given by I? = -1670i 3340j.
How far does the proton move parallel to the x - axis before stopping
momentarily ? How much is its y-deflection at this point ?
>Fignre 13.15
The sense of this torque (i.e. vector T ) is such that it tends to align the
electric dipole F i n the direction of the electric field 2. All these properties
can be described through the vector equation
Since the dipole experiences a torque in an electric field, in order to change its
orientation in a field, work (positive or negative) must be done by an external
agency. If the initial orientation of the dipole makes an angle 8, with I!?, the
work done t o change the orientation 8 is
= pE(cos 8, - cos 8)
This work is stored a.the potvntial energy in the dipole. The zero of the
potential energy is usudly chosen such that the dipole is oriented
perpendicular to the field, i.e., 8, = n/2. The potential energy at any positior,
8 is, therefore, given by
Thus the minimum energy configuration of the dipole is parallel to the field.
SAQ 13 :
An electric dipole consists of two equal and opposite charges 1 nC each,
separated by lmm. The dipole is placed in an electric field of strcn:-tb 10'
N/C. Calculate the maximum torque exerted on the dipole. CalcrlHate the
work done in rotating the dipole from this position of maximum torque to an
orientation parallel t o the field.
13.5 SUMMARY
In this unit, we have discussed the interaction between charged bodies a t rest.
rB-,X~p
force between two point charges is given by the inverse square law force.
'The force is repulsive if the charges have similar signs, and is attractive if they
are dissimilar.
Any ch ge distribution, whether discrete or continuous is a source of force
field i the region of space around it. A test charge kept in this region
expedences a force. The region is called the electric field. The nature of
electric field can be visualized in terms of lines of force. These are imaginary
lines in the region of an electric field. A test charge kept in the region
experiences a force, which is directed along the tangent to the line of force at
its location. The density of these lines indicates the strength of the electric
, can calculate the elect& field at a point, if the
field. ~ u a n t i t a t i v e l ione
charge distribution producing the field is known.
$"
p--(J
Figure 13.16
+Q
4. The lines of forces are identical to that shown for a positive charege,
excepting that they converge towards the charge and not diverge away
from it.
Figure 13.17
The resultant is, therefore, directed along the perpendicular from the
centre to the line joining q and -29 and has a magnitude 9 f i x lo3
N/C.
6. The point lies on the extension of the line segment joining the two
charges, 2.41 m from the 5 nC charge.
7. The field at the centre due to the charges located at two opposite
vertices is zero. The resultant field is due to the lone charge q located at
the vertex whose opposite corner is vacant. The field is directed from
the centre to the vacant corner an3 it has a magnitude (1/4rc0)q/a2,
since the distance of the centre from each of the vertices is a.
Substituting numerical values, the magnitude of the field is lo5 N/C.
!*
= JUl2d E cosfl
El
and.
Figure 13.18
EII =
- JT12d~ sin B
"I2 R sec28 sin fl
X
= - -[I2
4rcoR
de
sin 8d8
11. The fields due t o +q and -q are in opposite directions. Clearly, the field
points along the positive z-axis, i.e., along p'. The magnitude of the field
is given by
1
so that
1
- f tacl(z
1
(z - a)2
The field is, therefore, given by
+ a)2 %4a 7
Electricity