Charge and Its Properties

ELECTRIC CHARGE
Charge is the property associated with matter due to which it produces and experiences
electrical and magnetic effects. There exists two types of charges in nature: positive and
negative.
Similar charges (charges of the same sign) repel one another and dissimilar charges
(charges of opposite sign) attract one another.
Charge is a derived physical quantity. Charge is measured in coulomb in S.I. unit.
Other units (CGS units) of charges are esu and emu and are related to the S.I. units as

Cause of charging : All the bodies consist of atoms, which contain equal amount of
positive and negative charges in the form of protons and electrons respectively. The number of
electrons being equal to the number of protons as an atom is electrically neutral. If the electrons
are removed from a body, it gets positive charged. If the electrons are transferred to a body, it
gets negatively charged.

TYPES OF MATERIALS
There are three types of materials in nature on the basis of their electrical behaviour.
(i)
Conductor : Conductors are the material in which the outer most electrons are
very loosely bounded so they are free to move (flow). So in a conductor, there are large numbers
of free electrons.
Ex. Metals like Cu, Ag, Fe, Al, etc.
(ii)
Insulator or Dielectric or Nonconductor : Nonconductors are the materials in
which outer most electrons are very tightly bounded, so they cannot move (flow). Hence in
nonconductor there is no free electrons. Ex. plastic, rubber, wood, etc.
(iii)
Semiconductor : Semiconductors are the materials which have free electrons but
very less in number.

METHODS OF CHARGING A BODY

(i)
Charging by friction : When two bodies are rubbed together, a transfer of
electrons takes place from one body to another. The body from which electrons have been
transferred is left with an excess of positive charge, so it gets positively charged. The body which
receives the electrons becomes negatively charged. The positive and negative charges produced
by rubbing are always equal in magnitude.
When a glass rod is rubbed with silk, it loses its electrons and gets a positive
charge, while the pieces of silk acquires equal negative charges.
(ii)
Charging by electrostatic induction : If a positive charged rod is brought near an
insulated conductor, the negative charges (electrons) in the conductor will be attracted towards
the rod. As a result, there will be an excess of negative charge at the end of the conductor near
the rod and the excess of positive charge at the far end. This is known as electrostatic induction.
The charges thus induced are found to be equal and opposite to each other. Now if we touch the
far end with a conductor connected to the earth, the positive charges here will be cancelled by
negative charges coming from the earth through the conducting wire. Now, if we remove the
wire first and then the rod, the induced negative charges which were held at the outer end will
spread over the entire conductor. It means that the conductor has become negatively charged by
induction. In the same way one can induce a positive charge on a conductor by bringing a
negatively charged rod near it.

Here, K is the dielectric constant of the uncharged body and it depends on the
nature of material of the body.
Important points regarding electrostatic induction
(a)

Inducing body neither gains nor loses charges.

(b)

The nature of induced charge is always opposite to that of inducing

charge.
(c)
Induced charge can be lesser or equal to inducing charge but it is never
greater than the inducing charge.
(d)
and not in particles.

Induction takes place only in bodies (either conducting or nor conducting)

(iii)
Charging by conduction : Let us consider two conductors, one charged and the other
uncharged. We bring the conductors in contact with each other. The charge (whether negative or
positive) under its own repulsion will spread over both the conductors. Thus the conductors will
be charged with the same sign. This is called charging by conduction (through contact).

(iv)
Thermionic emission : When the metals
is heated at a high temperature then some electrons of
metals are ejected and the metal becomes positively
charged.

(v)
Photoelectric effect : When light of
sufficiently high frequency is incident on metal surface
then some electrons gains energy from light and come
out of the metal surface and remaining metal becomes
positively charged.
(vi)
Field emission : When electric field of
large magnitude is applied near the metal surface then
some electrons come out from the metal surface and
hence the metal gets positively charged.

PROPERTIES OF CHARGES
(i)
Charge is always associated with mass : The charge can not exist without mass
though mass can exist without charge.
(ii)
Addititive Nature of Charge : The total charge of a system is obtained by
adding all the charges in the system. The additive property of charge is due the fact that electric
charge has no direction associated with it, i.e., charge is a scalar.
(iii)
Conservation of Charge : Electric charge can neither be created nor be
destroyed i.e., it is always conserved. Charge is conserved, i.e., total charge on an isolated system
is constant. By isolated system, we here mean a system with a boundary through which no
charge is allowed to either escape or enter. This does not require that the amount of positive and
negative charges are separately conserved. Only their algebraic sum is conserved.
Conservation of charge is also found to hold good in all types of reactions either
chemical or nuclear. No exceptions to the rule have ever been found.

(iv)
Quantization of Charge : When a physical quantity can have only discrete
values rather than any value, the quantity is said to be quantized.
Several experiments (like Millikans oil drop experiment and Faradays laws of
electrolysis) have established that the smallest charge that can exist in nature is the charge of an
electron. If the charge of an electron (e = 1.6 x 10-19 C) is taken as the elementary unit, i.e.,
quanta of charge and is denoted by e, the charge on any body will be some integral multiple of e,
i.e.,

Note : Recently, the existence of particles of charge 1/3 x e and 2/3 x e has been
postulated. These particles are called quarks but still this is not considered as the quantum of
charge because these are unstable particles (they have very short span of life).

(v)
Invariance of Charge : The numerical value of an elementary charge is
independent of velocity. It is provided by the fact that an atom is neutral. The difference in
masses of an electron and a proton suggests that electrons move much faster in an atom than
protons. If the charges were dependent on velocity, the neutrality of atoms would be violated.

(vi)
A charge at rest produces only electric field around itself; a charge having
uniform motion produces electric as well as magnetic field around itself while a charge having
accelerated motion emits electromagnetic radiation.