CHAPTER - 01

ELECTRIC CHARGE AND FIELD

INTRODUCTION
 Electrostatics deals with the study of forces, fields and potentials arising from static charges.
 Static charges means those charges that does not move.
ELECTRIC CHARGE
Charge is the property associated with matter due to which it produces and experiences electrical
and magnetic field; SI unit of charge is coulomb (C). The property which differentiates the two kinds
of charges is called the polarity of charge. A simple apparatus to detect charge on a body is the gold-
leaf electroscope [Fig.(a)]. It consists of a vertical metal rod housed in a box, with two thin gold leaves
attached to its bottom end. When a charged object touches the metal knob at the top of the rod,
charge flows on to the leaves and they diverge. The degree of divergence is an indicator of the
amount of charge.

A body can be charged positively by losing some of its electrons. Similarly, a body can be charged
negatively by gaining electrons.
Conductors and insulators
 Conductors : Materials that allow electricity to pass through easily. eg. Metals, earth
 Insulators : Materials that do not allow electricity to pass through. eg. non metals like glass, plastic,
nylon.

1
 Grounding or earthing : The process of sharing the charges with the earth through a connecting
wire. Earthing provides a safety for electrical circuits and appliances.
METHODS OF CHARGING
A body can be charged in different ways 1) Charging by friction 2) Charging by conduction 3) Charging
by induction
 Charging by friction
When two bodies are rubbed each other, electrons in one body (in which electrons are held less
tightly) transferred to second body ( in which electrons are held more tightly)
Example : When a glass rod is rubbed with silk, some of the electrons from the glass are transferred
to silk. Hence glass rod gets +ve charge and silk gets –ve charge.
 Charging by conduction
Charging a body with actual contact of another body is called charging by conduction. If a neutral
conducting body (A) is brought in contact with positively charged conducting body (B), the neutral
body gets positively charged.
 Charging by induction
The phenomenon by which a neutral body gets charged by the presence of neighboring charged
body is called electrostatic induction.
Step I : Place two metal spheres on an insulating stand and bring in contact as shown in figure (a).
Step II : Bring a positively charged rod near to these spheres. The free electrons in the spheres are
attracted figure (b).
Step III : Separate the spheres by a small distance by keeping the rod near to sphere A. The two
spheres are found to be oppositely charged as shown in figure (c).
Step IV : Remove the rod, the charge on spheres rearrange themselves are shown in figure (d)

In this process, equal and opposite charges are developed on each sphere.
PROPERTIES OF CHARGES
 Conservation of charge : Total charge of an isolated system is always conserved.
 Additive property : Total charge on a system is equal to the algebraic sum of charges of individual
charges present in it.
 Quantisation of charge : Total charge on a body is an integral multiple of fundamental charge ‘e’.
i.e., q = ne; ( n = 1, 2, 3, .......) where e = 1.6 × 10–19 C
 Charge is a scalar quantity.
 Charge is transferable : If a charged body is put in contact with an uncharged body becomes
charged due to transfer of electrons from one body to the other.

2
COULOMB’S LAW
The force of attraction or repulsion between any two charges is directly proportional to the product of
their charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

q1 q2
r
1
Mathematically, the force between q1 and q2 is F  q1q 2 , F  .
r2
q1q 2
Combining, F 
r2

 1 
 Here k  4  9  10 Nm / C
9 2 2
qq 
F  k 1 2 2  0

r  0  Permittivity of free space  8.854  1012 C2 N 1m 2 

1 q1q 2
If the charges are in air on in vacuum Fair  4 r 2
0

If the charges are in a medium of permittivity, 

1 q1q 2 1 qq
Fmedium  . 2  . 12 2
4 r 40  r r

 Permittivity of medium 
 r   
 Permittivity of air or free space 0 

 Fvac
here  = (dielectric constant K)  F
0 Med

1 q1q 2
Fmedium 
4 0 K r 2 . For vacuum K = 1
Coulomb’s law in vector form : Since force is a vector, it is better to write Coulomb’s law in the
vector notation. Let the position vectors of charges q1 and q2 be r1 and r2 respectively [see Fig.(a)].
We denote force on q1 due to q2 by F12 and force on q2 due to q1 by F21. The two point charges q1 and
q2 have been numbered 1 and 2 for convenience and the vector leading from 1 to 2 is denoted by r21 :
r21 = r2 – r1
r12 = r1 - r2 = –r21

3
 Coulomb’s force law between two point charges q1 and q2 located at r1 and r2 is then expressed as

1 q1q 2
F21  rˆ21
40 r212
The force F12 on charge q1 due to charge q2, is obtained from Eq. (1.3), by simply interchanging 1 and
2, i.e.,

1 q1 q 2
F12  rˆ12  F21
40 r122
Thus, Coulomb’s law agrees with the Newton’s third law.
Forces between multiple charges
Principle of superposition : Force on any charge due to a number of other charges is the vector
sum of all the forces on that charge due to other charges.

Consider a system of three charges q1, q2 and q3 as shown.

The force on q1 due to q2
 1 q1q 2
F12  . rˆ12 ( r̂ is a unit vector)
40 r122 12

Similarly the force on q1 due to q3

 1 q1q3
F13  . rˆ13
40 r132

 Total force F on q1 due to the two charges q2 and q3 is
   1 q1q 2 1 q1q3
F1  F12  F13  . 2 ˆr12  . rˆ13
4 0 r12 40 r132
If the system contains ‘n’ charges, total force acting on the charge q1.
    q n q
F1  F12  F13  ..........F1n  1  2i rˆ1i
40 i  2 r1i

4
Electric field
The region surrounding a charge in which its electrical effects are felt is called the electric field of the
given charge. SI unit : N/C

Electric field intensity ( E ) : Electric field intensity at any point in the electric field is the force on unit
 F
positive charge placed at that point. E  lim q 0 q

Q q
r
In the figure the force acting at q due to Q

1 Qq
F .
4 0 r 2
 Electric field intensity at q due to Q
 F 1 Q
E  .
q 4 0 r 2
Electric field due to a system of charges
  
Consider a system of charges q1, q2 .......qn with position vectors r1 , r2 ........ rn relative to same origin.

    1 n qi
E  r   E1 r   E 2 r   .........E n  r   . rˆip
4 0 11 rip2
Electric field line
In electric field line is an imaginary smooth curve along which an isolated free positive test charge will
move.
Properties of Electrostatic field lines
1. They are continuous with no breaks.
2. They start from positive charge and end at negative charge. They do not form closed loops.
3. The tangent to a electric field line drawn at any point gives the direction of the electric field at that point.
4. They do not cross each other.
5
 Electric flux
It is the measure of total number of electric field lines passing normally through that area. For a
normal area it is given by
 
E  EScos   E.S

Electric dipole
An electric dipole is a system consisting of two equal and opposite charges separated by a small
distance.
+q -q
2a

The strength of the dipole is expressed in terms of a quantity known as dipole moment p .
Dipole moment is defined as the product of one of the charges and the distance between the charges
(dipole length)
Its direction is from negative charge to positive charge.  Dipole moment P=q2a; where 2a is the
dipole length. The unit of dipole moment is coulomb - metre [C m]

6
Electric field at axial point of a dipole

-q +q
A O B P
I a I I a I

I P I

Derivation :
Electric field due to charge -q at P is

  q 
EA  k (directed left)
r  a
2

Electric field due to charge +q at P is,

 q
EB  k (directed right)
r  a
2

The resultant electric field a point P is

    1 1 
E axial  E A  E B  kq   
  r  a   r  a  
2 2

4ar
 kq.  p  2aq 
r  a2 
2 2

 
2kp
E axial  3 (towards right), (if r >>>a)
r
Note: Direction of electric field at an axial point of the dipole is along the dipole axis from negative to
positive charge. ie, in the direction of dipole moment
Electric field at an equatorial point of a dipole

Electric field at P due to +q charge is

7
  q
E A  k. (along BP)
r  a2
2

Electric field at P due to -q charge is

 q
E B  k. (along PA)
r  a22

 
The magnitudes of E A and E B are equal.

q
Let E A  E B  k.
r  a2
2

E A sin  and E B sin  will cancel out


 E equa  2E cos  (Total E is opposite to P)

q a
 2  k. .
r a22
r  a2
2

 a 
 cos   2 
 r a 
2

 p  p
E equa   k. ; E equa  k. 3  if r  a 
r 2
a 
2 3/ 2 r

Note : The direction of electric field at any point on the equatorial line of the dipole will be opposite to
the dipole moment

E axial  2E equa

 Torque on a dipole placed in a uniform electric field.

(Torque : rotational effect due to two forces)

Rotational effect on the dipole, Torque = Magnitude of either force × perpendicular distance between
the line of action of forces.
  qE  BC ,   qE  2a sin   2qaE sin 
  
  pE  sin  . In vector form   p  E
 
Direction of torque is perpendicular to the plane containing p and E .

8
Continuous Charge Distribution
Charges on a body may be distributed in different ways according to the nature of the body. Hence
there will be different types of charge densities.
(i) Linear charge density  : Charge per unit length.
(ii) Surface charge density  : Charge per unit area.
(iii) Volume charge density  : Charge per unit volume

Gauss’s Law

It states that the total flux through a closed surface is 1  times the net charge enclosed by the
0
closed surface.

 q
E  
 E.dS  0
(i) It is true for any closed surface, whatever be the shape.
(ii) The charge may be located anywhere inside the closed surface.
(iii) The surface used for the application of Gauss’s law is called the Gaussian surface.
(iv) It is based on the inverse square of distance. Any violation of Gauss’s law will indicate departure
from the inverse square law.

9
 APPLICATIONS OF GAUSS’S LAW
1. Electric field due to an infinitely long straight charged wire.
Consider an infinitely long straight charged wire of linear charge density (charge per unit length)  . To
o
find the electric field at point P at a distance r from the wire, consider a Gaussian cylinder of radius r
and length h coaxial with the wire. Now the point P is on the radial surface of the cylinder. The electric
field E at P is radially outward.

Now the electric flux through the curved surface,

E  Ex area of the curved surface.

ie E  Ex2 rh .
Flux through the two end surfaces = 0.

 Total flux through the Gaussian cylinder, E  Ex2 rh .................(1)

Charge enclosed by the Gaussian cylinder, q  h

h
Now by Gauss’s theorem, E   ..................................................(2)
0

h 
E 
From (1) and (2), E x 2rh.   20 r
0

2. Electric intensity of electric field due to an infinite plane sheet of charge.

Consider a thin, infinite plane sheet of charge of charge density  coulomb/m2. The electric field E is
perpendicular to the sheet everywhere. The electric field has same magnitude at equal distance from
the surface but points in opposite directions on either side of the sheet. The field points away from the
plane.
Imagine a cylindrical surface of cross-sectional area S passing normally through the sheet. Let P1
and P2 be two points on either side of the sheet and along the axis of the cylinder, at equal distances
from the sheet. The electric fields at P1 and P2 are same in magnitude. Hence total area of Gaussian
surface = 2S. [the curved surface area of the cylinder is not considered since E is parallel to the area]

 E.ds  2ES ....................................(1)

Also charge density   q/S

 q   S ............................................(2)
10
 q
Now by Gauss’s theorem,  E  ds   0

S
Substituting from (1) and (2), 2ES  
0

S 
E
 Field due to a plane sheet of charge, E  2S i.e. 2 0
0

Hence E is independent of the distance of the point from the infinite sheet of charge.
3. Electric field due to a uniformly charged spherical shell.
A spherical shell is a hollow sphere of small thickness. Consider a spherical shell of radius R with its
centre at the origin. Let a charge q be given to the shell. It gets distributed over the shell uniformly. Let
the charge density of the surface be  .

Then total charge, q  4R 2  .........................(1)

Here the electric field is acting radially outwards.
Case 1. Field at a point outside the shell.
Consider a point P outside the shell at a distance r form the centre of the shell. Let E be the electric
field at P.
Now imagine a spherical surface of radius r and center coinciding with the centre of the shell as the
Gaussian surface.

Then  Eds  E ds.

But for Gaussian surface, ds  4r 2

 E  ds  4r 2 E

11
 q
But by Gauss’s theorem, E ds  
0

q q
 4r 2 E  or E  4 r 2
0 0

Substituting the value of q from (1),

4R 2  R 2
E E
ie r 2 0
4 0 r 2

Case 2. Field at a point on the surface of the shell.


For a point on the surface of the shell, r = R. Then field E  
0

Case 3. Field at a point inside the shell.

For a point inside the shell, the Gaussian surface lies inside the shell and hence encloses no
charge.
Therefore E  ds  0 .

 E  0 since  E  0 .

ie the field inside a uniformly charged spherical shell is always zero.

This is true for a shell of any shape or size. This disappearance of electric field inside a cavity in a
conductor is called electrostatic shielding.
Objective Type Questions

1. The number of electrons in a charge of  1.6 C will be

A) 1020 B) 6.251018 C) 1019 D) 6.25  1019

2. Three positive charges of equal magnitude, q are placed at vertices of an equilateral triangle of side
a. Another positive charge Q is placed at the centroid of this triangle. What will be the net force acting
on Q ?

q Qq 3 Qq 3 Qq
A) . B) . C) . D) Zero
4 0 a 2 4 0 a 2 4 0 a 2
3. Consider two point charges Q1 = 2×10–7C and Q2 = 3 ×10–7 C separated by 30 cm. Then the
electrostatic force between them will be

A) 3  10 3 N B) 9  10 3 N C) 6  10 3 N D) 1 103 N

4. Two point charges q A  3C and q B  3C are located 20 cm apart in vacuum. What is the electric
field at the mid point O of the line AB joining the two charges ?

A) o B) 2.7  10 6 N/C C) 5.4  106 N/C D) 10.2  10 6 N/C

12
5. A system has two charges 2C and 2C located at points A(0, 15 cm) and at B(0, –15 cm)
respectively. The electric dipole moment at the system is,

A) 0 B) 6  107 C-m C) 10 8 C-m D) 7 10 7 C-m

6. Two large thin metal plates are parallel and close to each other. On their inner faces, the plates have
surface charge densities of opposite signs and of magnitude 17.7 × 10–22 Cm–2. What is the electric
field (in N/C) in the outer region of the first plate and in region between the plates.

A) zero, 2 ×10–10 B) 10-10, 10–10 C) 10–10, zero D) zero, zero

7. A cube is placed in a uniform electric field. If net flux through the cube in 1.05 Nm2C–1, the charge
within the cube is

A) 9.29  10 12 C B) 9.29  10 12 C C) 6.18  1012 C D) 6.18  1012 C

8. If some charge q is placed inside a sphere and cube having radius 1m and side 4 m respectively,
what will be the ratio of flux passing through them ?

A) 1 : 8 B) 1 :16 C) 16:1 D) 1:1

9. A uniformly charged conducting sphere of diameter 2m, has a surface charge density of 80 Cm 2 .
What is the charge on the sphere ?

A) 2 ×10–2 C B) 1 ×10–2 C C) 1 ×10–3 C D) 2 ×10–3 C

10. Two electric dipoles of moment p and 64 p are placed in opposite direction on a line at a distance of
25 cm. The electric field will be zero at a point between the dipoles, whose distance from the dipole
of moment p is

A) 10 cm B) 5 cm C) 25 cm D) 13 cm

Descriptive Type Questions

1. Four point charges qA = 2 C , qB = 5 C , qC = 2 C and qD = 5 C are located at the corners of a

square ABCD of side 10 cm. What is the force on a charge of 1C placed at the centre of the
square ?

2. [a] An electrostatic field line is a continuous curve. That is, a field line cannot have sudden breaks.
Why not ?

[b] Explain why two field lines never cross each other at any point ?

3. An electric dipole with dipole moment 4 ×10–9 C m is aligned at 30o with the direction of a uniform
electric field of magnitude 5 ×104 NC–1. Calculate the magnitude of the torque acting on the dipole.

4. A polythene piece rubbed with wool is found to have a negative charge of 3 ×10–7C.

[a] Estimate the number of electrons transferred (from which to which?)

[b] Is there a transfer of mass from wool to polythene ?

13
5. Consider a uniform electric field E = 3×103 I N/C.

[a] What is the flux of this field through a square of 10 cm on a side whose plane is parallel to the yz
plane ?

[b] What is the flux through the same square if the normal to its plane makes a 60o angle with the x-
axis ?

6. Careful measurement of the electric field at the surface of a black box indicates that the net outward
flux through the surface of the box is 8.0×103 Nm2/C.

[a] What is the net charge inside the box ?

[b] If the net outward flux through the surface of the box were zero, could you conclude that there
were no charges inside the box ? Why or Why not ?

7. A point charge 10 C is a distance 5 cm directly above the centre of a square of side 10 cm. as
shown in Figure. What is the magnitude of the electric flux through the square ? (Hint : Think of the
square as one face of a cube with edge 10 cm)

8. A point charge causes an electric flux of –1.0 ×103 Nm2/C to pass through a spherical Gaussian
surface of 10.0 cm radius centred on the charge.

[a] If the radius of the Gaussian surface were doubled, how much flux would pass through the surface?

[b] What is the value of the point charge ?

9. A uniformly charged conducting sphere of 2.4 m diameter has a surface charge density of 80.0μC/m 2 .

[a] Find the charge on the sphere.

[b] What is the total electric flux leaving the surface of the sphere ?

10. An infinite line charge produces a field of 9×104 N/C at a distance of 2 cm. Calculate the linear charge
density.

14
Objective Type Questions- Answer Key
1. C
2. D
3. C
4. C
5. B
6. A
7. A
8. D
9. B
10. B

15