SURYADATTA NATIONAL SCHOOL
CBSE INVESTIGATORY PROJECT
PHYSICS
TOPIC: To estimate charge accumulated on two
identical pith balls by using Coulomb’s law
NAME: Uttiyo Majumder
CLASS: XII Science
ROLL NO:
DATE OF SUBMISSION:
Teacher Signature Student Signature
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CERTIFICATE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
“ There are times when silence speak so much more louder
than words of praise to only as good as belittle a person,
whose words do not express, but only put a veneer
over true feelings, which are of gratitude at this point of time.”
TO ESTIMATE CHARGE
INDUCED ON TWO
IDENTICAL PITH BALLS
BY MAKING USE OF
COLOUMB’S LAW.
INTRODUCTION
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
(14 June 1736 –
23 August 1806) was a French
military engineer and physicist.
He is best known for
developing what is now known
as Coulomb's law, the
description of the electrostatic
force of attraction and
repulsion, but also did
important work on friction.
The SI unit of electric charge, the coulomb, was named
in his honour in 1908. In 1785, Coulomb presented his first three
reports on Electricity and Magnetism.
Coulomb describes "How to construct and use an
electric balance (torsion balance) based on the property of the
metal wires of having a reaction torsion force proportional to
the torsion angle." Coulomb also experimentally determined the
law that explains how "two bodies electrified of the same kind
of Electricity exert on each other."
Coulomb explained the laws of attraction and
repulsion between electric charges and magnetic poles, although
he did not find any relationship between the two phenomena. He
thought that the attraction and repulsion were due to different
kinds of fluids.
COULUMB’s LAW
Coulomb's law, or Coulomb's inverse-square law, is a law of physics for
quantifying Coulomb's force, or electrostatic force. Electrostatic force is
the amount of force with which stationary, electrically charged particles
either repel, or attract each other. This force and the law for quantifying
it, represent one of the most basic forms of force used in the physical
sciences, and were an essential basis to the study and development of the
theory and field of classical electromagnetism. The law was first
published in 1785 by French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb.
In its scalar form, the law is:
• “k” is Coulomb's constant (k ≈ 9×109 N m2 C-2).
• “q1” and “q2” are the signed magnitudes of the charges.
• The scalar “r” is the distance between the charges.
The force of the interaction between the charges is attractive if the
charges have opposite signs (i.e., F is negative) and repulsive if like-
signed (i.e., F is positive).
Being an inverse-square law, the law is analogous to Isaac Newton's
inverse-square law of universal gravitation. Coulomb's law can be used
to derive Gauss's law, and vice versa. The law has been tested
extensively, and all observations have upheld the laws of Newton.
OBJECTIVE:-
To estimate the charge induced on each of the two
identical pith (or styrofoam) balls suspended in a vertical
plane by making use of Coulomb’s law.
MATERIALS REQUIRED:-
• Small size identical styrofoam balls
• Physical balance or electronic balance
• Meter Scale
• Teflon thread
• Stand
• Glass rod (or plastic rod)
• Silk cloth (or wool cloth)
THEORY:-
The fundamental concept in electrostatics is electrical charge. We are all
familiar with the fact that rubbing two materials together — for
example, a rubber comb on cat fur — produces a “static” charge. This
process is called charging by friction. Surprisingly, the exact physics of
the process of charging by friction is poorly understood
However, it is known that the making and breaking of contact between
the two materials transfers the charge.
The charged particles which make up the universe come in three kinds:
positive, negative, and neutral. Neutral particles do not interact with
electrical forces. Charged particles exert electrical and magnetic forces
on one another, but if the charges
are stationary, the mutual force is very simple in form and is given by
Coulomb's Law:
where F is the electrical force between any two stationary charged
particles with charges q2 and q2(measured in coulombs), r is the
separation between the charges (measured in meters), and k is a
constant of nature (equal to 9×109 Nm2/C2 in SI units).
The study of the Coulomb forces among arrangements of stationary
charged particles is called electrostatics. Coulomb's Law describes
three properties of the electrical force:
• The force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between the charges, and is directed along the straight line that
connects their centers.
• The force is proportional to the product of the magnitude of the
charges.
• Two particles of the same charge exert a repulsive force on each other,
and two particles of opposite charge exert an attractive force on each
other.
Most of the common objects we deal with in the macroscopic
(human-sized) world are electrically neutral. They are composed
of atoms that consist of negatively charged electrons moving in
quantum motion around a positively charged nucleus. The total
negative charge of the electrons is normally exactly equal to the
total positive charge of the nuclei, so the atoms (and therefore
the entire object) have no net electrical charge. When we charge
a material by friction, we are transferring some of the electrons
from one material to another.
Materials such as metals are conductors. Each metal atom
contributes one or two electrons that can move relatively freely
through the material. A conductor will carry an electrical
current. Other materials such as glass are insulators. Their
electrons are bound tightly and cannot move. Charge sticks on
an insulator, but does not move freely through it.
A neutral particle is not
affected by electrical forces.
Nevertheless, a charged object
will attract a neutral
macroscopic object by the
process of electrical
polarization. For example, if a
negatively charged rod is
brought close to an isolated, neutral insulator, the electrons in
the atoms of the insulator will be pushed slightly away from the
negative rod, and the positive nuclei will be attracted slightly toward
the negative rod. We say that the rod
has induced polarization in the insulator, but its net charge is still zero.
The polarization of charge in the insulator is small, but now it’s positive
charge is a bit closer to the negative rod, and its negative charge is a bit
farther away. Thus, the positive charge is attracted to the rod more
strongly than the negative charge is repelled, and there is an overall net
attraction.
If the negative rod is brought near an isolated, neutral conductor, the
conductor will also be polarized. In the conductor, electrons are free to
move through the material, and some of them are repelled over to the
opposite surface of the conductor, leaving the surface near the negative
rod with a net positive charge. The conductor has been polarized, and
will now be attracted to the charged rod.
Now if we connect a conducting wire or any other conducting material
from the polarized conductor to the ground, we provide a “path” through
which the electrons can move. Electrons will actually move along this
path to the ground. If the wire or path is subsequently disconnected, the
conductor as a whole is left with a net positive charge. The conductor has
been charged without
actually being touched with the charged rod, and its charge is opposite that
of the rod. This procedure is called charging by induction.
Let the force between two stationary charges be F.
PROCEDURE:-
I. Weight the mass of each identical pith balls by
balance and note down it.
II. Tie the balls with two silk or cotton threads and
suspend at a point on a stand or a rigid support.
Measure the length of threads by meter scale. The
length of threads should be equal. Note down the
length.
III. Rub the glass rod with silk cloth and touch with
both balls together so that the balls acquired equal
charge.
IV. Suspend the balls freely and the balls stay away a
certain distance between the balls when they
become stationary. Note down the distance.
V. Touch any one suspended ball with other
uncharged third ball and takes the third ball away
and repeat the step 4.
VI. Touch other suspended ball with other uncharged
fourth ball and takes the fourth ball away and repeat
the step 4.
OBSERVATION:-
• Mass of each ball, = g.
(m)
• Radius of each ball, = mm
(r) .
• Length of each = cm.
thread, (l)
S.NO CHARGE ON BALL A CHARGE ON BALL DISTANCE BETWEEN
() B THE BALLS
() (x cm)
1.
2.
3.
4.
CALCULATIONS:-
By using the relation (as derived in theory section)
Calculate the charge in each case.
RESULTS:-
The charge on each ball = C
PRECAUTIONS:-
• The suspended balls should not be touched by any
conducting body.
• Rub the glass rod properly with the silk cloth to produce
more charge.
• Weight the mass of the balls accurately.
SOURCES OF ERROR:-
• The balls may not be of equal size and mass.
• The distance between the balls may be measured accurately.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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