Chapter 21 Electric Charge and Electric Field

When you scuff your shoes across a nylon carpet and then reach for a metal door knob, you
may feel an electric spark. This is due to .
Electric currents such as those in flash lights, CD players, are simply streams of .

21.1 Electric Charge

Two plastic rods rubbed with fur repel each other (Fig. 21.1(a)).
Two glass rods rubbed with silk also repel each other (Fig 21.1(b)).
Fur-rubbed plastic rod and silk-rubbed glass rod attract each other (Fig 21.1(c)).

Figure 21.1 Experiments in Electrostatics

Due to rubbing glass rod, the silk acquires negative charges.

Due to rubbing plastic rod, the fur acquires positive charges.
The total charge on fur and plastic rod remains unchanged.
The total charge on silk and glass rod remains unchanged.
Two positive charges or two negative charges i.e. like charges repel each other.
A positive charge and a negative charge i.e. unlike charges attract each other.

1
Application of force between the charges: Laser Printer

Figure 21.2 Schematic diagram of the operation of a laser printer

Electric Charge and the Structure of Matter

Matter is made up of atoms.
Central dense core in the atom is called nucleus which contains positively charged particles
called protons and uncharged particles called neutrons.
Negatively charged particles called electrons revolve around the nucleus in the atom.
Negative charge on the electron is same in magnitude as the positive charge on the proton (Fig
21.3).

Figure 21.3 Structure of an atom

The net charge on the atom is zero.

If one or more electrons are removed from the atom, it acquires a positive charge and the
remaining atom is called a positive ion.

2
 A negative ion is an atom that has gained electrons.
When total number of electrons in any macroscopic body is same as the total number of
protons, it is neutral else it has a net positive or a net negative charge on it.
Principle of Conservation of Charge:
The algebraic sum of all the electric charges in any closed system is always constant.
For example when we rub the plastic rod with fur, the amount of negative charge transferred
to the plastic rod is the same as the positive charge left on the fur. Thus, the net charge on the
closed system of plastic rod and the fur remains unchanged.
In any charging process, charge is not created or destroyed, it is merely transferred from one
body to another.
The magnitude of charge of the electron or the proton is a natural unit of charge. Every
observable charge is an integral multiple of this basic unit.
This is called quantization of charge.

21.2 Conductors, Insulators and Induced Charges

The materials that permit easy movement of electric charge through them are called
conductors. Example: Most metals are good conductors.
The materials that do not permit electric charge to move easily through them are called
insulators. Example: Most non metals such as rubber, nylon, wood etc.
Methods of Charging a Conductor:
There are two simple methods: (i) By transferring charge; (ii) By induction
By transferring charge: Bring the piece of conductor in contact with a charged body.
Conductors allow the charges to flow easily through them. Thus the charge from the charged
body will flow easily to the conductor.
Refer to Figure 21.4a. Metal sphere can be charged by touching the copper wire with a
negatively charged plastic rod. The copper wire forms a conducting path from the plastic rod
to the metal sphere, thus negative charge will flow from the plastic rod to the metal sphere.

Figure 21.4
Charging a conductor by
transferring charge

3
 If a negatively charged rod is brought near this metal sphere, they repel each other due to like
charges on them (Figure 21.4b).
By induction: In this method, no charge is transferred from the plastic rod to the metal sphere.
(Figure 21.5)

Figure 21.5 Charging a metal ball by induction

The charged plastic rod repels the free electrons in the metal ball and shift the electrons further
away. This creates a deficiency of negative charge (i.e excess positive) on the part of metal
ball facing the rod and also causes excess negative charge on the part of ball farthest from the
rod.
These excess positive and negative charges are called induced charges.
With the plastic rod held in the original place, the other end of metal sphere is touched with
one end of a metal wire whose other end is connected to earth (Figure 21.5c).
Earth is a huge conductor. The moment a conducting path is established between earth and the
metal sphere, the negative charge flows from the sphere to the earth.
On removing the metal wire, the ball is left with electron deficient region and thus acquires net
positive charge.
This positive charge redistributes uniformly on the metal sphere (Figure 21.5d and 21.5e).

4
Interaction between a charged and uncharged body: Induced charge effect
After a comb is electrified by running it through hair, it can pick small bits of uncharged paper.
Although paper is an insulator, electric charges therein shift back and forth a little when there
is a charge nearby. This effect is called Polarization.
When a negatively charged comb is brought near a paper, the molecules in the paper orient
themselves in such a way that positive charges get closer to the comb and negative charges
slightly away from the comb.
The process is reversed for a positively charged comb(Figure 21.6 ac).

Figure 21.6 Polarization in insulator

A charged object of either sign exerts an attractive force on the uncharged insulator.
An important application of this phenomenon is electrostatic painting process used in automobile
industry.

5
21.3 Electric force between two charges: Coulombs Law
The magnitude of electric force between two point charges is directly proportional to the
product of the charges and is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
1 |1 2 | (Eq. 21.1)
=
40 2
where 1 and 2 are two point charges separated by a distance .
1
is the constant of proportionality. The value of 0 = 8.85 1012 C2 /Nm2 and thus,
40
1
= 9 109 Nm2 /C2
40
The force between two charges acts along the line joining them (Figure 21.7).
If the charges are of the same nature, the force on the two charges points away from each other
and vice versa.
SI unit of charge is Coulomb (C).
Charge on an electron is 1.6 1019 C. Thus,
1 C = 6 1018 electrons

Figure 21.7 Interaction between point charges

Principle of Superposition of Forces:

Coulombs law provides the electric force of attraction or repulsion between two charges.
If there is a collection of more than two charges, then net electric force on a given charge is
the vector sum of the forces that all the remaining charges would exert individually on the
aforesaid charge.

6
Example 1:
Two point charges are located on the positive x-axis as shown in Figure 21.8. Charge 1 = 1 nC
is 2 cm from the origin. Charge 2 = 3 nC is 4 cm from the origin. What is the total electric
force exerted by these two charges on a charge 3 = 5 nC located at the origin?
Ans: 2.81 105 N towards left

Example 2:
In Figure 21.9, two equal positive point charges
1 = 2 = 2 C interact with a third point charge
= 4 C. Find the magnitude and direction of the
total force on .
Ans: 0.46 N to right.

Figure 21.9

7
21.4 Electric Field
The electric field
at any point is defined as the force 0 experienced by a test charge 0
placed at that point, divided by the charge 0 .
0 (Eq. 21.2)

= lim
0 0 0
Like electric force, electric field is a vector quantity. The SI unit of electric field is N/C.

To find electric field due to a source point charge + at a distance from +, first consider
force 0 on a small test charge 0 placed at that point.
1 |0 | (Eq. 21.3)
0 =
40 2

From (21.2) and (21.3), the magnitude of electric field due to a point charge at a point is
given by:
0 1 || (Eq. 21.4)
= =
0 40 2

Unit vector is equal to the displacement vector from source point to the field point, divided
by the distance = || between these two points.
(Eq. 21.5)
=
||

Using the unit vector we can write the electric field both in magnitude and direction.
1
= (Eq. 21.6)
40 2

Electric field due to a positive charge always points away from the positive charge and due to
a negative charge field points towards the negative charge (Figure 21.10 and Figure 21.11).

Figure 21.10 Electric fields due to positive and negative charge

8
 Figure 21.11 Electric fields due to positive and negative charge in 2D space

Example 3:
A point charge = 8 nC is located at the origin. Find the
electric field vector at the field point = 1.2 m, = 1.6 m
(Figure 21.12).

Ans: = (10.8 + 14.4) N/C

Figure 21.12

9
Example 4:
If we launch an electron into the
electric field perpendicular to
the direction of the field, with a
horizontal velocity 0 (Figure
21.13). Find the equation of its
trajectory.
1
Ans: = 2 ( )2
0

Figure 21.13

21.5 Electric field calculations due to a charge distribution

Consider the charge distribution to be made up of many point charges 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,
At any given point P, each charge produces its own electric field, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , and so on.
So a test charge 0 at P experiences a net force,
0 = 1 + 2 + 3 + = 0 1 + 0 2 + 0 3 + 0 4 +
Net electric field due to the charge distribution is:
0
= = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
0
Thus total electric field at P is the vector sum of fields due to individual charges. This is
principle of superposition of electric fields.

10
Example 5:
Point charges 1 and 2 of 12 nC and 12
nC, respectively, are placed 0.1 m apart
(Figure 21.14). This combination of two
charges with equal magnitude and opposite
sign is called an electric dipole. Compute
the electric field caused by the dipole at
point c.
Ans: net = 4.9 103 N/C towards
right.

Figure 21.14

Various Charge Distributions

When a charge is distributed over one dimension (long thin rod), then linear charge density
is defined by charge per unit length (C/m).
When a charge is distributed over a surface (two dimensions), then surface charge density is
defined by charge per unit area (C/m2 ).
When a charge is distributed over a volume (three dimensions), then volume charge density
is defined by charge per unit volume (C/m3 ).

11
Electric Field due to a ring of charge:
A ring-shaped conductor with radius carries a total charge uniformly distributed over the
ring.
Let us find the electric field at a point P that lies on the axis of the ring at a distance from its
center (Figure 21.15).

Figure 21.15

Charge density on the ring is

Total charge on the Ring
= =
Length of the ring 2
Consider a small length element on the ring with a charge on it. Magnitude of electric
field due to this length element at point P is given by:
1
=
40 2
Now, = and 2 = (2 + 2 ). Substituting these in above equation.
1
=
40 (2 + 2 )
Resolving into x- and y-components.
= cos and = sin
For each length element in the ring, there is another diametrically opposite length element
on it. The contribution to the field at P from these segments have the same x-components
but opposite y-components. Hence the total y-component of the field due to this pair of
segments is zero. This is true for all on the ring.
Thus, net electric field at P is the sum of x-components of fields due to all on the ring.
1
net = cos =
40 (2 + 2 ) 2 + 2
1
net =
40 (2 + 2 )3/2

12
 1 1
net = 2 2 3/2
2 =
40 ( + ) 40 ( + 2 )3/2
2

Direction of electric field is towards +-axis,

1
net = (Eq. 21.7)
40 (2 + 2 )3/2

Question: What is the net electric field at the center of ring?

At the center of ring, = 0. Substituting this in (21.7):
1 0
center of ring = = 0
40 ( + 02 )3/2
2

Note, we can prove this by symmetry also.

Electric Field due to a line of charge:

Positive electric charge is distributed
uniformly along a line with length 2 as
shown in Figure 21.16.
Let us calculate electric field at point P at
a distance on the perpendicular bisector
of the line charge.

Figure 21.16

Charge density on the line is

Total charge on the Rod
= =
Length of the line 2
Consider a small length element with charge at a distance from O. Magnitude of
electric field due to this length element at point P is given by:
1
=
40 2
Now, = and 2 = ( 2 + 2 ). Substituting these in above equation.
1
=
40 ( 2 + 2 )
Resolving into x- and y-components.
= cos and = sin

13
 Due to symmetry about point O, for each length element above O on the line, there is
another length element below O that the y-component of electric field cancels.
Thus, net electric field at P is the sum of x-components of fields due to all on the line.
1
net = cos =
40 ( 2 + 2 ) 2 + 2

1
net = 3
40 ( 2 + 2 )2
1 2
net =
40 2 2 + 2

Substituting = :
2
1
net =
40 2 + 2

Direction of electric field is towards right,

1
net = (Eq. 21.8)
40 2 + 2

Question: What is net if >> ?

If >> , then 2 + 2 2 . Substituting this value in (21.8)
1
net =
40 2
Thus, if P is very far from the line charge, field at P due to the line is the same as that field
due to a point charge.

Question: What is net if the length of line is infinite?

Rewriting equation (21.8):
1 1
net = =
40 2 20 2
1 + 2 1 + 2

2
If , then 2 0. Substituting this in (21.8)
1
=
20

Thus, for an infinitely long line charge, the electric field at P due to line depends only on .

14
Electric Field Lines
Electric field line is an imaginary line or curve drawn through a region of space so that its
tangent at any point is in the direction of electric field vector at that point.

Figure 21.17
The spacing between the lines gives a general idea about the electric field in a region.
If the spacing between electric field lines is larger, the field is weaker and vice versa.
At a given point, the direction of electric field is unique, so only one field line can pass through
each point. Field lines can never intersect.
Figure 21.18 shows 2 dimensional diagrams of electric field lines due to various charge
distributions.

Figure 21.18 Electric field lines due to various charge distributions

15
Example 6:
Positive charge is distributed uniformly along the line from
= 0 to = . A negative point charge q lies at a distance x
from the origin. (Figure 21.19).
(a) Calculate the x- and y-components of the electric field
produced by the charge distribution at points on the positive
x-axis.
(b) Calculate the x- and y-components of the force that the
charge distribution exerts on . Figure 21.19

Ans:
1 1 1 1 1
(a) = 4 [ ] , = 4 [ ] (),
0 2 +2 0 2 + 2
1 1 1
(b) = = 4 [ ] , = 4 [ ]
0 2 +2 0 2 + 2

16