Physics IGCSE

Electricity
Charge & Current

There are two types of charges (bipolar).

- Positive charge
- Negative charge

A Van de Graaff generator as shown in figure below is a machine that can be used to
produce and store charges.

When the Van de Graaff generator is switched on,

- It drives the rubber belt.
- This causes the rubber belt to rub against the roller and hence becomes charged.
- The charged is then carried by the moving belt up to the metal done where it is
collected.
- A large amount of charge is built up on the dome.
(Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmbhU_a7tjs&ab_channel=jordi3736)

The wires in an electric circuit are made of metal, because metal is a good conductor of
electric current. In the wires, the current is a flow of negatively charged electrons.

Prepared by: Xian Cong

SI Unit of charge is measured in Coulomb (C). Each electrons carries a negative charge
𝟏𝟏. 𝟔𝟔 × 𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏−𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏 𝑪𝑪.
A charge ‘flow rate’ can be defined as Coulomb/second and we name it electric current.

Electric current is the rate of flow charge.

Hence, the relationship between electric current and charge is shown in formula below:

𝑄𝑄 = 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼

Where:
𝑄𝑄 = charge measured in Coulombs (𝐶𝐶),
𝐼𝐼 = current measured in Ampere (𝐴𝐴),
𝑡𝑡 = time measured in seconds (𝑠𝑠).
Example
1. The current flowing through a resistor is 0.3A. What is the time required for 60C of
charge to flow through the resistor?

2. Find the number of electrons accumulated at the dome of a Van de Graff generator
when a current of 20mA flows through the galvanometer in 3s.

3. The diagram below shows light bulbs X and Y.

Q coulombs of charge flows through the light bulb X in t seconds and 2Q coulombs of
charge takes 3t seconds to flow through the light bulb Y. What is the ratio of current
flowing through X to the current flowing through Y?

Prepared by: Xian Cong