CLASS VIII - UNIT III, SECOND SEMESTER

 In Class VII, we have read about winds, storms and

cyclones. We learnt that cyclones can cause a lot of damage
to human life and property.
 We also learnt that we can protect ourselves from these
destructive phenomena to some extent. In this chapter we
shall discuss two other destructive natural phenomena.
 These are lightning and earthquakes. We shall also discuss
what steps we can take to minimise the destruction caused
by them.
 You might have seen sparks on a electric pole when wires become loose. This phenomenon is
quite common when wind is blowing and shaking the wires. You might also have seen sparks
when a plug is loose in its socket. Lightning is also an electric spark, but on a huge scale.
 In ancient times, people did not understand the cause of these sparks. They were, therefore,
afraid of lightning and thought that the wrath of gods was visiting them. Now, of course, we
understand that lightning is caused by the accumulation of charges in the clouds. We
need not be afraid of lightning.
 The ancient Greeks knew as early as 600 B.C. that when amber (amber is a kind
of resin) was rubbed with fur, it attracted light objects such as hair. You might
have seen that when you take off woollen or polyester clothes, your hair
stands on end. If you take off these clothes in the dark, you even see a
spark and hear a crackling sound.
 In 1752 Benjamin Franklin, an American scientist, showed that lightning and the
spark from your clothes are essentially the same phenomena. However, it took
2000 years for this realisation to occur!!!
The kite flying experiment
Franklin‘s kite flying
experiment demonstrated
the connection between
lightning and electricity.
 The Greek word for amber, electron, was thus the source of the word
'electricity'. Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric
charges exert on each other.

 Electrostatics is a branch of physics that is a study of electric charges at

rest.
Let us learn about electric charge
•Electric charge, is a basic property of matter which is carried by
some fundamental particles that govern how the particles are affected by
an electric or magnetic field.
• The S.I. unit of charge is coulomb(C).

•Two types of charges are present in nature – positive charge and negative
charge.
Atom is defined as the smallest particle of an element that
retains the chemical properties of an element . It is made of
subatomic particles electrons , protons and neutrons.
 Atoms consist of three basic particles: protons, electrons, and neutrons.
 The nucleus is the central part of an atom and contains the protons and
the neutrons.
 The outermost regions of the atom are called electron shells and contain
the electrons. Atoms have different properties based on the arrangement
and number of their basic particles.
 Structure of an atom

• Electrons have negative charge and protons have

positive charge, while neutrons do not possess any
charge.

 The negative charge of each electron (is found by

experiment) to have the same magnitude, as that of
the positive charge of each proton.

 Charge on one electron= -1.6 x 10 -19C

 Charge on one proton= +1.6 x 10 -19C

• Charge thus exists in natural units equal to the

charge of an electron or a proton (or we can say that
charge is quantized).
 As all objects surrounding us (including people!) are made of atoms so
they all contain large amounts of electric charge!!!
 If the same amounts of negative and positive charge are found in an
object, there is no net charge and the object is said to be
electrically neutral.
 If there is an excess of any one type of charge than the other on the object
then the object is said to be electrically charged.
Types of electrically charged objects
 Positively charged objects: Positively charged objects are those
which have an excess of positive charge.(electrons are removed from a
neutral object so that the number of protons becomes more). For example
, glass rod rubbed with silk cloth acquires positive charge.
 Negatively charged: Negatively charged objects are those which have
an excess of negative charge.( electrons are added to a neutral object so
that the number of electrons becomes more). For example, ebonite rod
rubbed with fur or woolen cloth acquires negative charge.
 A charged object attracts a neutral body.
 When you rubbed the balloon in your hair,
electrons moved from the atoms in your hair
into the atoms in the balloon, making your
hair positively charged and the balloon
negatively charged. Your hair stands up
because objects with opposite charges are
attracted to each other.
Properties of electric charge
1. Charge remains conserved: The charge is a conserved quantity which
means charge can neither be created nor be destroyed but can be
transferred from one body.

2.Charge is quantized.

3.Like charges repel each other while unlike charges attract each
other.
Recapitulation
 Electrostatics is a study of electric charges at rest.
 Characteristic properties of charge:
1. Charge remains conserved .
2. Charge is quantized .
3. Like charges repel each other while unlike charges attract each other.
 A charged body contains an excess amount of any one type of charge.
 A neutral body has equal amounts of positive and negative charge.
 Atoms are the building blocks of matter.
 The amount of charge on a single proton is equal and opposite to the amount of
charge possessed by a single electron. Thus, as an atom contains equal numbers
of protons and electrons, the atom is described as being electrically neutral.
Home Assignment
 Revise the lesson I.

 https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php?hesc1=15-18