Preview: Electric Charge Electric Force The Electric Field
Preview: Electric Charge Electric Force The Electric Field
Preview: Electric Charge Electric Force The Electric Field
Preview
Electric Charge
• There are two types of
charge, positive and
negative.
• Like charges repel.
– Positive and positive
– Negative and negative
– The two balloons
• Opposite charges attract.
– Positive and negative
– The balloon and the hair.
Millikan’s Results
• Millikan found that the amount of charge on objects was
always a multiple of some fundamental charge (e).
• In other words, charge is quantized.
– e turned out to be the amount of charge on an electron.
• e = 1.602176 10-19 coulombs
• Coulomb is the SI unit of charge.
Visual Concept
Charging by Contact
• Both insulators and conductors can be charged
by contact.
– Rubbing two materials together results in a transfer of
electrons.
– When charging metal, the charge may move through
your body into the ground.
• The metal and your body are conductors, so the charge
moves through them.
• You must hold the conductor with an insulating material, such
as rubber gloves, to keep the charge on the metal.
Charging by Induction
• A charged rod is held near
a metal sphere. Why do
the charges in the metal
arrange themselves as
shown?
Charging by Induction
• The conductor connecting
the sphere to ground is
removed. What type of net
charge does the sphere
now possess?
Surface Charges
• Why does a charged balloon stick
to the wall?
• A positive surface charge is
induced on the wall by the
negatively-charged balloon.
– Electrons shift within atoms due to
attraction or repulsion.
– The insulator does not have a net
charge.
• The diagram shows the opposite
case.
• Why can a charged comb pick up
little pieces of paper?
Coulomb’s Law
• The force between two charged particles depends on the
amount of charge and on the distance between them.
– Force has a direct relationship with both charges.
– Force has an inverse square relationship with distance.
Coulomb’s Law
Superposition Principle
• The net force on a charged
object is the sum of all of the
forces due to other charged
objects.
• Charge q3 shown has two
forces acting on it.
– q2 pulls to the left.
– q1 pushes up and to the right.
• The vector sum is shown in
the lower diagram.
Electric Force
• Like gravity, the electric force is a field force.
• Similarities
– Both forces are related to distance in the same way.
• Differences
– Two types of charge and only one type of mass
– Electric forces can attract or repel while gravity only
attracts.
– Electric forces are far stronger than gravitational
forces.
Coulomb’s Apparatus
• Coulomb developed his
law using a torsion
balance like that shown.
• He measured the force
between the two charged
spheres by the amount of
twisting in the wire.
q0
Visual Concept
Test Charges
• A small test charge • If the test charge (q0) is large,
will not significantly it will affect the way the
affect the field. charges are distributed on the
charged conductor.
– This would
change the
field around
the
conductor.
• SI unit: N/C
• The field strength does not depend on the test charge.
Visual Concept
Visual Concept
Electrostatic Equilibrium
• Electrostatic equilibrium occurs in conductors when no
net motion of charges exists within the conductor.
• Charges in a conductor are free to move, but are not
moving when equilibrium exists.
– The rules below result from this fact.