Chapter 15: Electric Forces and Fields 15.

1 Properties of electric charges Excessive moisture leads to leaking away of electric charge. Two kinds of electric charge positive and negative Like charges repel one another and opposite charges attract one another. Protons are carriers of positive charge Electrons are carriers of negative charge Charge transfers readily from one type of material to another. Electric charge is always conserved Negative charge is transferred from one object to another. Electrical forces between objects arise when these objects have net charges. Charge always occurs in multiples of a fundamental unit of charge, so charge is quantized. Quantized means occurs in discrete chunks that cant be broken down any further. Objects have charge like 2e,5e etc. value of e is 1.60219*10-19. Unit of charge is the coulomb or C.

15.2 Insulators and Conductors These are categories based on ability to conduct electric charge. Conductors electric charge move freely in response to electric force Insulators are all other objects Semiconductors are a third category and contain some properties of both conductors and insulators. Conduction a method of charging an object that requires direct conduct, results in a charge that is the same as original charged object Induction a method of charging an object that does not require direct conduct, results in a charge opposite of original charged object. 15.3 Coulombs Law Electric force has the following properties o It is directed along a line joining the two particles and is inversely proportional to the square of the separation distance, r between them. o It is proportional to the product of the magnitudes of the charges q1 and q2 of the two particles o It is attractive if the charges are of opposite sign and repulsive if they are the same sign F=ke
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where Ke is coulomb constant 8.99*109 N*m2 /C2

Only applies to point charges 1 micro Coulomb is 10-6

 Electric forces between unmoving charges are electrostatic forces, moving charges also create magnetic forces Force is a vector quantity. The superposition principle: when multiple charges act on charge of interest, each exerts an electric force. Each can be computed separately then added as vectors. 15.4 Electric Field Gravitational and electrostatic force are capable of acting through space and can provide an effect without physical contact. An electric field exists in the region of space around a charged object. E=F/q0 where q is test charge (usually one) and F is electric force Units of electric field are N/C When a positive test charge is used, electric field has same direction as the electric force When a negative test charge is used, electric field has opposite direction as the electric force does. Once a field is known, the force on any particle placed at that point can be found by using F=qE The magnitude of the electric field due to the charge q at the position of original test charge is E=ke q/r2 Electric field at a given point depends only on the charge on the object setting up the field and the distance r from that object to point in space, so field exists at point P whether there is a charge there or not. Electric field is a vector. 15.5 Electric Field Lines Electric field lines are lines that point in direction of the electric rield vector o Electric field vector is tangent to the electric field line at each point o Number of lines per unit area through a surface perpendicular to the lines is proportional to the strength of the electric field in a given region. E is large when lines are close together and small when lines are far apart. Lines point away from + charge and towards charge. To draw electric field lines: o Lines for a group of point charges must begin on positive charges and end on negative charges. o Number of lines drawn is proportional to the magnitude of the charge o No two field lines can cross each other 15.6 conductors in electrostatic equilibrium Electrostatic equilibrium is when no net motion of charge occurs within the conductor Has the following properties:

o o o o

Electric field is zero everywhere inside the conducting material. An excess charge on an isolated conductor resides entirely on its surface Electric field just outside a charged conductor is perpendicular to the conductors surface On an irregularly shaped conductor, charge accumulates at sharp points, where radius curvature of the surface is smallest.

15.9 Electric Flux and Gausss Law Gausss law is used for calculating the average electric field on a closed surface Closed surface has inside and outside. Ex. Sphere Electric flux: measure of how much the electric field vectors penetrate through a given surface. If electric field vectors are tangent to the surface at all points, they dont penetrate the surface and flux would be zero. Flux=EAcos where A is area and is angle with respect to the field.