Chapter 1-LESSON 1
quantity with two types: POSITIVE
Electric Charge
Static Electricity
The word “electric” is derived from the Greek
word elektron, meaning amber. As early as
600 BC, the ancient Greeks discovered that if
you rub apiece of amber with a cloth, the
amber attracts small pieces of leaves or dust.
This “amber effect” is now what we called
STATIC ELECTRICITY!
AMBER –a petrified tree resin.
Electric Charge
This Static Electricity also explains what
happened to the comb and the paper cuts.
Because of rubbing, an object becomes
“charged” and is said to possess a net
ELECTRICCHARGE.
The experiment shows that all charged
objects fall into one of two categories:
Either they are attracted to the plastic and
repelled by the glass; Or they are repelled by
the plastic and attracted to the glass. Thus,
there seem to be two and only two types of
electric charge. Each type of charge repels the
same type but attracts the opposite type. That
is; “Like charges repel; unlike charges attract”
“Opposite Attracts”
 Electric charge is a fundamental
and NEGATIVE.
 The unit of electric charge is the
coulomb (C), after the French Scientist
Charles Coulomb who studied
electrical effects.
Law of Conservation of electric Charge
The American statesman, philosopher and
scientist Benjamin Franklin emphasized that
the net change in the amount of charge
produced in any process is ZERO. Presently
stated as; “NO net electric charge can be
created nor destroyed”
Recall
All matter is made up of small particles called
Atoms which are composed in part of
 Negatively charged particles called
electrons
 Positively charged particles called
protons and
 Particles that have no electric charge
(they are electrically neutral) and are
slightly more massive that the protons
called neutrons.
Insulators and Conductors
Some materials permit electric charge to
move easily from one region of the material
to another, while others do not! These
materials are classified as;
An INSULATOR allows no electric charge to
transfer. They serve best as protector against
electric shock or even too much heat.
A CONDUCTOR permits the easy
movement of electric charge through them.
They work best as electrical wires or part of
an electronic circuit.
These are also some materials that are
intermediate in their properties between
good conductors and good insulators and
these are called SEMICONDUCTORS. Some
good examples are carbons, Silicon and
Germanium.
LESSON 2
Electric Force
Recall
The attraction and repulsion between
different types of charges (+ or -) are
described by the law of charges.
“Like the charges repel; unlike charges
attract”
An ELECTRIC FORCE exists between any
two charged particles. The mutual forces on
the particles may be either Attractive or
Repulsive
Attractive Force –between two unlike
charges or a positive and a negative charge.
Repulsive Force –between like charges,
either both positive or both negative.
Let us re-examine what happened in the
comb and the tiny papers:
When a comb is brought near small pieces of
paper, the charges in the paper molecules are
acted on by electric forces—positive charges
are attracted, negative charges repelled—and
the result is an effective separation of charge.
The molecules are then said to be
POLARIZED: they possess definite regions of
charge.
Keep in mind, however, that overall, the
paper is uncharged; it is electrically neutral.
Only molecular regions within the paper are
charged. This procedure is termed Charging
by Induction.
Coulombs Law
Charles Coulomb derived
derived a relationship for the magnitude of
the Electric Force between two charged
bodies. It is expressed mathematically as;
The Electric Force, like the gravitational
force, is an “action-at-a-distance” force. The
idea of a force acting at a distance through
space was difficult for early investigators to
accept, so the concept of a field was
introduced.

In SI units, the constant 𝑘is usually written as
,1/4πεo so the equation becomes;
An Electric Field surrounds a charge and
represents the physical effect of a particular
charge in nearby space. When another charge
is placed in the field, the field will exert an
electric force on that charge.

𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒εo=8.854𝑥10−12𝐶2/𝑁𝑚2 is called the

Permittivity of Free Space.

The directions of the forces that the two

charges exert on each other are always along
the line joining them. When the charges q1
and q2 have the same sign, either both
positive or both negative, the forces are
repulsive; when the charges have opposite
signs, the forces are attractive.

LESSON 3
Electric Field
  An Electric Field surrounds a charge
and represents the physical effect of a
particular charge in nearby space.
 Coulomb’s Law gives the magnitude
of the electrical forces between two
charges, but not the direction.
 The Law of Charges indicates
attraction or repulsion between
different types of charges, giving the
direction of the electric force.
 Static electricity or Electrostatics, is
the study of charge at rest.

LESSON 4
Electric Flux

A box containing a net positive charge q

inside has an outward “flow” of electric field
on the surface. This “flow” is what we called
as Electric Flux. (flux comes from a Latin word
meaning flow)

One of the greatest mathematicians of all time

Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855),
formulated a different way to express the
relationship between electric charge and
electric field, this relationship is now what we
called Gauss’s Law.
CHAPTER 2-LESSON 1
Electric Potential

When a mass is falling downward within

Earth's gravitational field (Let’s say going with
nature), it would result to a decreasing
Potential Energy. Meanwhile, if we bring an
object upward within Earth’s gravitational
field (Say going against nature) this would
require work by an external force and would
in turn increase the Potential Energy of the
object.
In general, Potential energy is the stored
energy of position that is related to the
location of the object within a field. And like
in gravitational field, electric charges also
experience this Electric Potential Energy (PE).
Mathematically expressed as,
The unit of Electric Potential, and of Potential
difference is Joules/Coulomb which is just a
VOLT (1V=1J/C). This is in honor of
Alessandro Volta, who invented the electric
battery.
Potential Difference is also referred as
VOLTAGE.
Similar to heat flow, when the ends of an
electric conductor are at different electric
potentials—there is a POTENTIAL
DIFFERENCE—charges in the conductor
then flow from the higher potential to the
lower potential. The flow of charge persists
until both ends reaches the same potential.
Without a potential difference (voltage), no
flow of charge occurs.

The Joule is a very large unit for dealing with

energies of electrons, atoms or molecules.
For thus purpose, the unit electron volt (eV)
is used.

While Electric Potential Energy has a

dependency upon the charge of the object
experiencing the electric field, Electric
Potential is purely location dependent. It is
expressed as the potential energy per charge.
Note:
 It is important to indicate the sign of
the electric potential to signify the
potential difference and determine the
flow of the charges.
 High voltage at low energy is similar
to the harmless high-temperature
sparks emitted by a FIREWORKS
SPARKLER. Recall that temperature is
average kinetic energy per molecule,
which means total energy is a lot only
for lots of molecules. Similarly, high
voltage means a lot of energy only for
lots charge.
If a voltage is applied across a capacitor, the
two plates quickly become charged. For a
given capacitor, the amount of charge Q
acquired by each plate is proportional to the
magnitude of the potential difference V
between them. Mathematically expressed as;
The unit of Capacitance is called Farad. This
is in honor of the English Physicist Michael
Faraday.

LESSON 2
The capacitance C does not in general depend
Capacitance and Dielectrics
on Q or V. Its value depends only on the size,
shape and relative position of the two
Capacitors
conductors, and also the material that
A device that can store electric charge, and
separates them. For parallel-plate capacitor.
consists of two conducting objects (usually
plates or sheets) placed near each other but
not touching.
  For parallel-plate capacitor, it fills the
space between the two conductors and
increase the capacitance by a factor of
K which is known as the dielectric
constant.

The dielectric constant varies on the

different type of materials.

The dielectric Strength is the maximum

electric field the material can accommodate
before breakdown (Charge flow) occurs.
Dielectrics
in most capacitors, there is an insulating sheet
of material such a paper or plastic between
the plates. This material is called a dielectric.

Dielectrics serve several purposes;

 This strongly block the electric charges

to flow and do not breakdown easily
as air. With this, higher voltages can be
applied without charge passing across
the gap.
 Further more a dielectrics allows the
plates to be placed closer together
without touching, thus allowing an
increased capacitance by decreasing
the gap (d)
LESSON 3
Capacitors in Series and Parallel

Capcitors in Series
Two capacitors are connected in series (one
after the other) by conducting wires between
points a and b. When a constant positive
potential difference Vab is applied between
points a and b, the capacitors become
charged as shown in the figure at the right;

In a Series connection n, the magnitude of

charge, Q on all plates is the same. And Vab
is just the sum of all the voltages across each
capacitor.

Capacitors in Parallel
In this Parallel connection, the upper plates
of the two capacitors are connected by
conducting wires to form an equipotential
surface, and the lower plates form another.
In a parallel connection, the potential
difference for all individual capacitors
is the same and is equal to Vab=V. And
the charges Q1 and Q2 are not
necessarily equal.