ELECTRICITY

Chapter 17
 ELECTROSTATICS
Electrostatics, or electricity at rest, involves electric charges, the forces
between them, and their behavior in materials.
 ELECTRICAL FORCES AND CHARGES
The fundamental rule at the base of all electrical phenomena is that like
charges repel and opposite charges attract.
Electrical forces arise from particles in atoms.
The protons in the nucleus attract the electrons and hold them in orbit.
Electrons are attracted to protons, but electrons repel other electrons.
PRINCIPLE OF CONSERVATION OF CHARGE
Electrons are neither created nor destroyed but are simply transferred
from one material to another.
In every event, whether large-scale or at the atomic and nuclear level,
the principle of conservation of charge applies.
 COULOMBS LAW
Coulombs law states that for charged particles or objects that are small
compared with the distance between them, the force between the
charges varies directly as the product of the charges and inversely as the
square of the distance between them.
 FORCE, CHARGES, AND
DISTANCE
The electrical force between any two objects obeys a similar inverse-square
relationship with distance.
For charged objects, the force between the charges varies directly as the
product of the charges and inversely as the square of the distance between
them.
 CONDUCTOR & INSULATORS
Electrons move easily in
good conductors and poorly
in good insulators.
Conductors transmit
charges readily.
Semiconductors are
intermediate; their
conductivity can depend on
impurities and can be
manipulated by external
voltages.
Insulators do not transmit
charge at all.
 CHARGING
Charging by Friction & Contact
Two ways electric charge can be transferred are by friction and by
contact.
 ELECTROSCOPE
An electroscope may be used to determine if an object is electrically
charged.
 ELECTRIC FIELDS
An electric field is a force field that surrounds an electric charge or
group of charges.
An electric field has both magnitude and direction. The magnitude
can be measured by its effect on charges located in the field.
If the charge that sets up the field is positive, the field points away
from that charge.
If the charge that sets up the field is negative, the field points toward
that charge.
ELECTRIC FIELD LINES
 ELECTRICAL POTENTIAL ENERGY
The electrical potential energy of a charged particle is increased
when work is done to push it against the electric field of something
else that is charged.
A charged object can have potential energy by virtue of its location
in an electric field.
 ELECTRICAL POTENTIAL
Electric potential is electrical potential energy per charge.
The SI unit of measurement for electric potential is the volt, V.
Potential energy is measured in joules and charge is measured in
coulombs,
Since electric potential is measured in volts, it is commonly called
voltage.
 CHARGE FLOW
Charge flows when there is a potential difference, or difference in
potential (voltage), between the ends of a conductor.
The flow continues until both ends reach the same potential.
 ELECTRIC CURRENT
Electric current is the flow of electric charge.
A current-carrying wire has a net electric charge of zero.
Current is charge per time.
SI unit of current: the ampere, A.
 VOLTAGE
Voltage Sources
Voltage sources such as batteries and generators supply energy
that allows charges to move steadily.
 ELECTRIC RESISTANCE & OHMS LAW

The resistance of a wire depends on the conductivity of the

material used in the wire (that is, how well it conducts) and also on
the thickness and length of the wire.
Voltage is proportional to the current and the resistance. SI unit of
resistance: the ohm, .
 DIRECT CURRENT-DC AND
ALTERNATING CURRENT-AC
Direct current (DC) refers to a flow of charge that always flows in one
direction.
A battery produces direct current in a circuit.
Alternating current (AC), as the name implies, is electric current that
repeatedly reverses direction.
 ELECTRIC CIRCUITS
There are 2 types of circuit, parallel and series.
When connected in series, the devices in a circuit form a single pathway
for electron flow.
When connected in parallel, the devices in a circuit form branches, each
of which is a separate path for electron flow.