Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Electrostatics
Electrostatics
Electric charge
Conservation of charge
Insulators & conductors
Charging objects
Electroscopes
Lightning
Van de Graff generators
Equilibrium problems
Grounding
Static electricity
Coulombs law
Systems of charges
Electric Charge
Just as most particles have an attribute known as mass, many
possess another attribute called charge. Charge and mass are intrinsic
properties, defining properties that particles possess by their very
nature.
Unlike mass, there are two different kinds of charge: positive and
negative.
Particles with a unlike charges attract, while those with like charges
repel.
Most everyday objects are comprised of billions of charged, but
usually there are about the same number of positive charges as
negative, leaving the object as a whole neutral.
A charged object is an object that has an excess of one type of
charge, e.g., more positive than negative. The amount of excess
charge is the charge we assign to that object.
Conservation of Charge
Charged particles can be transferred from one object to another, but the total
amount of charge is conserved. Experiments have shown that whenever
subatomic particles are transferred between objects or interact to produce
other subatomic particles, the total charge before and after is the same (along
with the total energy and momentum). Example: An object with 5 excess
units of positive charge and another with 2 units of excess negative charge
are released from rest and attract each other. (By Newtons 3
rd
law, the forces
are equal strength, opposite directions, but their accelerations depend on
their masses too.) Since there is no net force on the system, their center of
mass does not accelerate, and they collide there. As they fall toward each
other, electric potential energy is converted to kinetic energy. When contact
is made charge may be exchanged but they total amount before and after
must be the same. After the collision the total momentum must still be zero.
+5 -2
+1.5 +1.5
Before After
Total charge: +3 Total charge: +3
Conservation of Charge: -decay
The stability of the nucleus of an atom depends on its size and its
proton-neutron ratio. This instability sometimes results in a
radioactive process known as -decay.
A neutron can turn into a proton, but in the process an electron
(beta particle) is ejected at high speed from the nucleus to conserve
charge.
A proton can turn into a neutron. In this case the beta particle is an
positron (an antielectron: same mass as an electron but a positive
charge) to make up for the loss of positive charge of the proton.
In either case, charge, momentum, and energy are conserved.
SI unit of Charge: the Coulomb
Just as we have an SI unit for mass, the kilogram, we have one
for charge as well. Its called the coulomb, and its symbol is C.
Its named after a French physicist, Charles Coulomb, who did
research on charges in the mid and late 1700s.
A coulomb is a fairly large amount of charge, so sometimes we
measure small amounts of charge in C (mircocoloumbs).
An electron has a charge of -1.6 10
-19
C.
A proton has a charge of +1.6 10
-19
C.
In a wire, if one coulomb of charge flows past a point in one
second, we say the current in the wire is one ampere.
Elementary Charge
Charges come in small, discrete bundles. Another way to say this
is that charge is quantized. This means an object can possess charge
in incremental, rather than continuous, amounts.
Imagine the graph of a linear function buy when you zoom in
very close you see that it really is a step function with very small
steps.
The smallest amount of charge that can be added or removed from
an object is the elementary charge, e = 1.6 10
-19
C.
The charge of a proton is +e, an electron -e.
The charge of an object, Q, is always a multiple of this
elementary charge: Q = N e, where N is an integer.
How many excess protons are required for an object to have 1 C
of charge?
Insulators vs. Conductors
A conductor is a material in which excess charge freely flows.
Metals are typically excellent conductors because the valence (outer
shell) electrons in metal atoms are not confined to any one atom.
Rather, they roam freely about a metal object. Metal are excellent
conductors of electricity (and heat) for this reason.
An insulator is a material in which excess charge, for the most
part, resides where it is deposited. That is, once placed, it does not
move. Most nonmetallic material are good insulators. Valence
electrons are much more tightly bound to the atoms and are not free
to roam about. Insulators are useful for studying electrostatics (the
study of charge that can be localized and contained).
Semi-conductors, like silicon used in computer chips, have
electrical conductivity between that of conductors and insulators.
Details on Conductors, Semiconductors, and Insulators
Electrons and Chemical Bonds
All chemical bonding is due to forces between electrostatic charges.
Covalent bonding: A pair of electrons is shared between two nonmetal
atoms, allowing each atom to have access to enough electrons to fill
its outer shell. Except for hydrogen, this usually means 8 electrons in
the outer shell (octet rule).
Ionic bonding: One or more valence electrons of a metal atom are
stolen by a nonmetal atom, leaving a positive metal ion and a
negative nonmetal ion, which then attract one another.
Metallic bonding: Valence electrons of metals flow freely throughout
a metal object. These delocalized electrons are attracted to the nuclei
of the atoms through which they are moving about. This produces a
strong binding force that holds the atoms together. In an iron bar, for
example, there is no covalent or ionic bonding. Metallic bonding hold
the metal together.
Charging up Objects
Charging up an object does not mean creating new charges. Charging
implies either adding electrons to an object, removing electrons from
an object, or separating out positive and negative charges within an
object. This can be accomplish in 3 different ways:
Friction: Rubbing two materials together can rub electrons off of
one and onto the other.
Conduction: Touching an object to a charged object could lead to a
flow of charge between them.
Induction: If a charged object is brought near (but not touching) a
second object, the charged object could attract or repel electrons
(depending on its charge) in the second object. This yields a
separation charge in the second object, an induced charge separation.
Electroscopes
An electroscope is an apparatus comprised of a metal sphere and
very light metal leaves. A metal rod connects the leaves to the
sphere. The leaves are enclosed in an insulating, transparent
container. When the electroscope is uncharged the leaves hang
vertically. The scope is charged by placing a charged rod near the
sphere. The rod is charged by friction. If a rubber rod is rubbed
with fur, electrons will be rubbed off the fur and
onto the rubber rod, leaving the rod negatively
Electroscopes
uncharged
charged. If a glass rod is rubbed with silk,
electrons will be rubbed off the rod onto the silk,
leaving the glass rod positively charged. Either
rod, if brought near, will charge the scope by
induction. Also, either rod, if contact is made with
the sphere, will charge the scope by conduction.
continued
Electroscopes (cont.)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
When a positively charged rod is placed near but not touching the
metal sphere, some of the valence electrons in the metal leaves are
drawn up into the sphere, leaving the sphere negatively charged and
the leaves positively charged. Thus, the rod has induced a charge
separation in the scope. The light,
positive leaves repel each other and
separate. The electroscope as a whole
is still electrically neutral, but it has
undergone a charge separation. As
soon as the rod is removed from the
vicinity, the charge separation will
cease to exist and the leaves the drop.
Note: Only the electron are mobile;
the positives on the leaves represent
missing electrons.
+
+
+ +
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
continued
Electroscopes (cont.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When a negatively charged rod is placed near but not touching the
metal sphere, some of the valence electrons in the sphere are repelled
down into the metal leaves, leaving the sphere positively charged and
the leaves negatively charged. The rod has again induced a charge
separation in the scope. The light,
negative leaves repel each other as
before. Again, the electroscope as a
whole is electrically neutral, but the
charge separation will remain so long
as the rod remains nearby. Note that
this situation is indistinguishable from
the situation with the positive rod.
Since the effects are the same, how do
we know that the rods really do have
different charges?
-
-
- -
-
-
+ +
+ +
+ +
continued
Electroscopes (cont.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now lets touch the negative rod to the sphere. Some of the electrons
can actually hop onto the sphere and spread throughout the scope.
This is charging by conduction since, instead of rearranging charges
in the scope, new charges have been added; the scope is no longer
neutral. The extra electrons force the leaves apart, even when the rod
is removed. If the negative rod returns, it charges the leaves further,
but this time by induction (by driving some of
electrons on the sphere down
to the leaves). This causes an
increased separation of the
leaves. When the rod is
removed, the scope will return
to the state on the left.
-
-
- -
-
-
- -
- -
- -
Continued
extra e
-
s added
-
-
- -
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -
leaf spread increases
Electroscopes (cont.)
The pic on the left shows a scope that has acquired extra electrons
from a negative rod that has since been removed. Now we bring a
positive rod nearby. This has the opposite effect of bringing the
negative rod near. This time some of the extra electrons in the leaves
head to the sphere and the spread of the leaves diminishes. Note: the
scope is still negatively charged overall, but the presence of the
positive rod means more of the
excess negative charge will
reside in the sphere and less in
the leaves. When the rod is
removed, the scope return to
the state on the left.
-
-
- -
-
-
- -
- -
- -
Continued
extra e
-