CBSE-Class XII

EXAM PRACTICE Physics

Past Year Board Questions Electric Charges and Fields

Section A (1 mark each)

Question 1. In which orientation, a dipole placed in a uniform electric field

is in:
a. Stable,
b. Unstable equilibrium? (2010)

Question 2. Figure shows three point charges, + 2q, —q and + 3q. Two
charges +2q and — q are enclosed within a surface 'S'. What is
the electric flux due to this configuration through the surface
'S'?

(2010)

Question 3. A point charge Q is placed at point O as shown in the figure. Is

the potential difference VA-VB positive, negative or zero, if Q
is:
a. positive
b. negative

(2011)

Question 4. Define electric dipole moment. Write its S.I. unit. (2011)

Question 5. Why must electrostatic field be normal to the surface at every

point of a charged conductor? (2014)

Question 6. Two equal balls having equal positive charge „q‟ coulombs are

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 suspended by two insulating strings of equal length. What
would be the effect on the force when a plastic sheet is
inserted between the two? (2014)

Question 7. Why do the electrostatic field lines not form closed loops? (2014)

Question 8. Why do the electric field lines never cross each other? (2014)

Question 9. What is the electric flux through a cube of side 1 cm which

encloses an electric dipole? (2015)

Question 10. The field lines of a negative point charge are as shown in the
figure. Does the kinetic energy of a small negative charge
increase or decrease in going from B to A?

(2015)

Section B (2 marks each)

Question 11. A spherical conducting shell of inner radius r 1 and outer

radius r2 has a charge 'Q‟. A charge 'q' is placed at the centre of
the shell.
a. What is the surface charge density on the:
1. Inner surface,
2. outer surface of the shell?
b. Write the expression for the electric field at a point x > r 2
from the centre of the shell. (2010)

Question 12. Show that the electric field at the surface of a charged
conductor is given by , where σ is the surface charge
density and is a unit vector normal to the surface in the (2010)
outward direction.

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Question 13. Two small identical electrical dipoles AB and CD, each of
dipole moment 'p' are kept at an angle of 120° as shown in the
figure. What is the resultant dipole moment of this
combination? If this system is subjected to electric field ( )
directed along + X direction, what will be the magnitude and
direction of the torque acting on this?

(2010)

Question 14. A thin straight infinitely long conducting wire having charge
density is enclosed by a cylindrical surface of radius and
length , its axis coinciding with the length of the wire. Find
the expression for the electric flux through the surface of the
(2011)
cylinder.

Question 15. Plot a graph showing the variation of Coulomb force ( ) versus
( ); Where is the distance between the two charges of
each pair of charges: (1 μC, 2 μC) and (2 μC, —3 μC). Interpret
the graphs obtained. (2011)

Question 16. Given a uniform electric field , find the flux of

this field through a square of side 20 cm, whose plane is
parallel to the y-z plane. What would be the flux through the
same square, if the plane makes an angle of 30° with the x-
axis? (2014)

Section C (3 marks each)

Question 17. Using Gauss's law, obtain the expression for the electric field
due to a uniformly charged thin spherical shell of radius at a
point outside the shell. Draw a graph showing the variation of
electric field with , for and . (2011)

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Question 18. A hollow cylindrical box of length 1m and area of cross section
25cm2 is placed in a three dimensional coordinate system (
whose axis along X- axis and nearer cross section at 1m from
the origin). The electric field in the region is given by
, where is in NC-1 and is in meters. Find:
a. Net flux through the cylinder.
b. Charge enclosed by the cylinder. (2013)

Section D (5 marks each)

Question 19. a. Define electric flux. Write its S.I. units.

b. Using Gauss's law, prove that the electric field at a point
due to a uniformly charged infinite plane sheet is
independent of the distance from it.
c. How is the field directed if:
1. The sheet is positively charged,
(2012)
2. Negatively charged?

Question 20. a. Deduce the expression for the torque acting on a dipole of
dipole moment in the presence of uniform electric field .
b. Consider two hollow concentric spheres, S 1 and S2,
enclosing charges 2Q and 4Q respectively as shown in the
figure.
1. Find out the ratio of the electric flux through them.
2. How will the electric flux through the sphere S1 change
if a medium of dielectric constant 'εr' is introduced in the
space inside S1 in place of air? Deduce the necessary
expression.

(2014)

Question 21. ( a) An electric dipole of dipole moment consists of point

charges and separated by a distance apart.
Deduce the expression for the electric field due to
the dipole at a distance from the centre of the dipole

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 on its axial line in terms of the dipole moment . Hence
show that in the limit :

(b) Given the electric field in the region , find the net
electric flux through the cube and the charge enclosed
by it.

OR

(a) Explain, using suitable diagrams, the difference in the

behaviour of a (i) conductor and (ii) dielectric in the
presence of external electric field. Define the terms
polariazation of a dielectric and write its relation with
susceptibility.

(b) A thin metallic spherical shell of radius carries a

charge on its surface. point charge is placed at
its centre C and another charge is placed outside
the shell at a distance from the centre as shown in
the figure. Find (i) the force on the charge at the centre
of shell and at the point A, (ii) the electric flux through
the shell.

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 (2015)

Question 22. (a) “The outward electric flux due to charge is

independent of the shape and size of the surface which
encloses it.” Give two reasons to justify this statement.

(b) Two identical circular loops „1‟ and „2‟ of radius R each
have linear charge densities and
respectively. The loops are replaced coaxially with their
centers distance apart. Find the magnitude and
(2015)
direction of the net field at the centre of loop „1‟.

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 Answer Key

Section A (1 mark each)

Answer 1: a. The orientation of the electric dipole along the electric field
corresponds to the stable equilibrium.
b. The orientation of the electric dipole perpendicular to the electric
field corresponds to the unstable equilibrium.

Answer 2: Net electric charge inside the surface S = +2q + (-q) = q

Thus, the electric flux due to the configuration of charge through the
surface S is,

Answer 3: a. If Q is positive, then the potential difference VA-VB is positive.

b. If Q is negative, then the potential difference VA-VB is negative.

Answer 4: The electric dipole moment is defined as the product of either charge
and the length of the electric dipole. Its SI unit is coulomb meter (Cm).

Answer 5: The electric field inside the charged conductor is zero. If electric field is
not normal to the surface of a charged conductor then it would have
some non-zero component along the surface. As a result of which the
free charges on the surface would experience force due to this
component of electric filed and they would start to move. For static
charges, the electrostatic field should not have tangential component.
Thus electrostatic field must be normal to the surface at every point of a
charged conductor.

Answer 6: Decreases

Answer 7: Because they start from the positive charge and end at negative charge.

Answer 8: If electric field lines cross each other, then at the point of intersection of
the two field lines there will be two directions of electric field which is
not possible.

Answer 9: Net electric flux enclosed through a cube of side 1 cm which encloses an
electric dipole is zero because net charge enclosed by cube is zero.

Answer 10: The kinetic energy of a small negative charge decrease in going from B
to A. This is so because the negative charge always experience a force in

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 a direction opposite to that of the external electric field.

Section B (2 marks each)

Answer 11: a. 1. The surface charge density on the inner surface of the shell is:

2. The surface charge density on the outer surface of the shell is:

b. The electric field at a point x > r2 from the centre of the shell:

Answer 12:

Answer 13: The resultant dipole moment is given by:

The resultant dipole moment makes an angle of 60° with Y-axis.

Torque is given by,

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Answer 14:

Suppose q is the charge enclosed by the cylindrical Gaussian surface.

From Gauss‟s law,

Answer 15:

The slope of (2 μC, -3 μC) pair of charge is more than that of (1 μC, 2 μC)
pair of charge.

Answer 16: Using the relation:

The flux of the field through a square of side 20 cm, whose plane is parallel
to the y-z plane is

The flux through the same square, if the plane makes an angle of 30° with
the x-axis is:

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 Section C (3 marks each)

Answer 17:

Using Gauss‟s theorem,

Graph showing the variation of electric field with , for and

is:

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Answer 18: Given: l=1m
A = 25 × 10-4 m2
,

a. Net flux through the cylinder is given by,

b. Charge enclosed by the cylinder is,

Section D (5 marks each)

Answer 19: a. The electric flux linked with a surface in an electric field is
defined as the surface integral of the electric field over that
surface. Its SI unit is Nm2C-1.

b.

The electric field at a point P due to a uniformly charged infinite

plane sheet is given by,

where σ is surface charge density on both sides of the sheet.

c. 1. Electric field is normally outwards

2. Electric field is normally inwards

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Answer 20:

b. 1. Using Gauss theorem,

2. If S1 is filled with medium of dielectric constant 'εr', then

Answer 21: (a) Expression for the electric field due to the dipole at a
distance from the centre of the dipole on its axial line:

Consider an electric dipole of dipole moment consists of point

charges and separated by a distance apart.

Electric field at a distance from the centre of the dipole due t

o charge is:

Electric field at a distance from the centre of the dipole due

to charge is:

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 Net electric field at a distance from the centre of the dipole
due to dipole is:

If ,

(b) The electric flux through the faces parallel to xy and xz planes
is zero because the electric field is parallel to these faces.

Electric flux through the left face, [As the electric field
is zero at this face since x = 0]

Electric flux through the right face is:

OR

(a) (i)

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 When a conductor is placed in an external electric field, the electrons
in the conductor experience a force in a direction opposite to that of
electric field and hence get collected on the left hand side. As a result
a positive charge is induced on the right hand side. This creates on
internal electric field that balances the external electric field. The net
electric field inside the conductor therefore becomes zero.

(ii)

When a dielectric is placed in an external electric field, dipoles are

created in non-polar dielectrics and dipoles are aligned in polar
dielectrics. Due to this an internal electric field is set up which
reduces the external electric field.

Polarization of a dielectric (P) is defined as the dipole moment per

unit volume of the polarized dielectric. It is given as:

Where is the susceptibility

(b)
(i) The force on the charge placed at the centre of the shell is zero
because the electric field inside a spherical shell is zero.

At point A, the total charge inside the shell is

Suppose is the distance between charges and ,
therefore, electric force is given as:

(ii) The total charge enclosed by the shell is , therefore the total
flux is:

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Answer 22: (a) “The outward electric flux due to charge is independent of
the shape and size of the surface which encloses it.” This is so
because electric flux is nothing but the number of electric field
lines coming out of the surface which are independent of the
shape and size of the surface. Also they are independent of the
position of the charge inside the surface.

(b) The magnitude of electric field on the axis at a distance r from

the centre of the charged loop of radius R and linear charge
density is given by:

Suppose loops are replaced coaxially with their centers

distance apart.

The electric field at the centre of loop 1 due to charge on it = 0

Thus the electric field at the centre of the loop is due to the
charge present on the loop 2. It is given by:

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