CONSERVATION OF CHARGE

QUARK (types) SYMBOL CHARGE

❖ The principle of the Conservation of charge memorize niyo to
sakalin ko kayo e
states that the total charge of an isolated
system remains constant. 1. UP U +2/3
❖ It means that charges can neither be created
nor destroyed. 2. DOWN D -1/3
❖ In any charging process, charges are merely
3. CHARM C +2/3
transferred from one body to another.
4. STRANGE S -1/3
➔ In one of his experiments, Coulomb showed that
when a sphere with an initial charge 𝑞0 is 5. TOP T +2/3
brought in contact with an identically uncharged
6. BOTTOM B -1/3
sphere, they equally share the total charge.
➔ If the spheres are not identical, they share the MeV- Mega electron volt
total charge according to their radii, with the GeV – Gega electron volt
quantity of charge directly proportional to their
radii. Do quarks violate the quantization of charge?
❖ No. An isolated quark has never been observed.
● The principle of conservation of charge is Quarks always come in combinations, with a
universal law. total being an integral multiple of e.
● No experimental evidence of a violation of this
law has been observed. ➢ A quark – antiquark pair is called a meson; a
combination of three quarks, a baryon; and a
Electric Charge combination of three antiquarks, an antibaryon.
❖ Most important property of the protons and ➢ A proton is a baryon consisting of two up
the electrons quarks and one down quark.
➔ A body becomes charged either by gaining or ➢ A neutron is a baryon consisting of two down
losing electrons. It follows that the charge of a quarks and one up quark.
body must be integral multiples of e. ➢ Mesons and baryons are collectively called
➔ In other words, a charged is “quantized” with e hadrons.
as the smallest charge. ➢ In 2015 and 2016, the existence of pentaquarks
❖ Quantization of charge implies that charge and tetraquarks, respectively, was discovered.
can assume only certain discrete values. That ➢ Tetraquarks consist of four quarks, while
is to say the observed value of electric charge (q) pentaquarks consist of four quarks nad one
of a particle will be integral multiples of (e) 1. antiquarks.
❖ However, in 1963, physicists Murray Gell –
Mann and George Zweig proposed the COULOMB’S LAW
existence of quarks. Like charges repel and unlike charges attract, but how
❖ Quarks have the unusual property of carrying great is the force of attraction or repulsion between
fractional charges of an electron. charges?
❖ The name quark was taken from a line in James
Joyce’s poem “Three Quarks for Muster Coulomb’s torsion balance
Mark” in his book Finnegans Wake ❖ Coulomb used a torsion balance to measure
this force. The torsion balance consists of two
There are six types of quarks, and each quark has a identical metal spheres connected by an
corresponding antiquark (antiparticle of a quark that has insulating rod. This rod is suspended at the
the same mass but opposite charge) middle by a thin wire. All these are enclosed in a
glass container to avoid the effects of wind.
 ❖ Another charged metal sphere is inserted Gravitational force 𝐹𝐺 between two masses 𝑚1 and 𝑚2
through a hole in the glass case. The force is given by
between the spheres creates a torque, which in
turn twists the wire. The force is then calculated M1 - F1 M2 - F2
from the angle of wire. r

q1 q2 F1 = F2 = G m1 x m2
r R2
Fig. 1.6. The force between two point charges is directly
proportional to the product of the charges divided by the where G is the universal gravitation constant
square of the distance between them. approximately equal to 6.674 x 10−11 N.𝑚2/𝑘𝑔2.

❖ Through experimentation, Coulomb discovered

that the magnitude of the electric force
Electric force Similarities Gravitational
between two charged particles is directly force
proportional to the product of the magnitudes
of the charges and inversely proportional to charge Both forces mass
the square of the distance between them. This follow the
statement is called Coulomb’s law. inverse square
law for distance
Mathematically, this can be written as
𝐹𝐸 = k /𝑞1𝑞2/ may be Both forces are only an
𝑟(squared) attractive or also attractive force
repulsive proportional to
➔ where 𝐹𝐸 is the magnitude of the electric force the product of
in newton, 𝑞1 and 𝑞2 are charges in coulombs, r the quantity that
causes the force
is the distance in meters, and k is the Coulomb’s
constant, which is approximately value of 9x109 both forces are much weaker
N.𝑚2/𝐶2 conservative than the electric
and noncontact. force.
➔ Note that only the absolute value of the product
of 𝑞1 and 𝑞2 is determined because only the
magnitude of the force is to be computed. PRINCIPLE OF SUPERPOSITION
➔ The force magnitude F is always positive.
➔ However, the electric force is a vector quantity, ❖ Electric Forces obey the superposition principle.
which may be positive or negative depending on ❖ The superposition principle –states that each
its direction, which is along the line joining 𝑞1 charge will exert a force on another charge as
and 𝑞2. The vectors representing the force that if no other charges are present.
𝑞1 exerts on 𝑞2and vice versa are pointing ❖ The total force that a particular charge
toward each other for attraction and away from experiences due to a collection of charges is the
each other for repulsion. These forces are equal, vector sum of all the individual forces
but opposite in direction in accordance with
Newton’s third law of motion. ELECTRIC FIELD

● Coulomb’s law bears a strong resemblance to
Newton’s law of universal gravitation. Both
equations have the same form. Newton’s Law of
Universal Gravitation
How is an electric field produced by an object with an
electric charge?
● Electric force is a noncontact force. An electric
charge q can exert force on other charged
objects even though they are some distance
away. The space surrounding a charged body
 is called an electric field. An electric field
causes any charged particle placed in it to
experience an electric force. Every charge has an
electric field associated with it.

❖ Michael Faraday, an English scientist who

made important discoveries in electricity and
magnetism, introduced the use of electric lines
of force to map out electric field. Electrical Field and Electric Potential

What are the properties of the lines of force?
1. Lines of force start from positively charged
particles and end on negatively charge particles or
continue toward infinity.
2. Lines of force neither intersect nor break as they
pass from one charge to another.
3. The greater the number of lines of force, the
stronger the electric field. The neutral point is the
point where no lines of force pass. The electric field is
zero at the neutral point. Thus, the neutral points are
points where the resultant field is subtractive and the
electric fields are equal but oppositely directed.
❖ A neutral point between two like charges is a
point between the two charges and nearer the
smaller charge. For two unlike charges, lines of
force can pass from positive to negative charge.
The neutral point cannot be between them; it is
an external point along the line joining them and
nearer the small charge.
Fig. 1-8. shows these three properties of electric lines of
force.
Mapping of an electric field using lines of force of
different charge configurations:
Concept Map:
Electric force being a conservative force is associated
with electric potential energy which is a measure of
work needed to move a charge which may be stored in
capacitors that is possibly connected to parallel and
series or to and from points of different electric
potentials due to amount and distribution of charges.
❖ Gravitational force and electrostatic force are
both conservative forces.
❖ For a conservative force, there is an associated
potential energy U.
❖ The associated potential energy for gravitational
force is gravitational potential energy.
❖ Thus, an electrical potential energy that is
analogous to gravitational potential energy
exists.
Electric Potential Energy in a Uniform Electric Field
For a conservative force F acting along the x- direction,
● F = - or F = -
But Fis equal to work. Thus, when a particle moves from
point A to point B,

● = -= -(- ) = - Eq. (2.1)

where is the work done from A to B, is the potential

(a). isolated positive charge; (b) isolated negative energy at point A, and is the potential energy at .
charge; (c). one positive charge and one negative charge;
and (d) two positive charges (shown with neutral point).
 Electric Potential and Potential Difference

The electric potential (also called electrostatic potential

or simply potential) at any point in an electric field E is
electric potential energy per unit charge at that point.
Electric potential is designated as V.

Fig. 2.1.
Electric potential is a scalar quantity. Its SI unit is the
(a) A test charge in a uniform downward electric field E. volt (V) named after Italian physicist Alessandro Volta
The field exerts a downward force F. who devised one of the first electric cells. Note that 1 V
is equal to 1 joule/coulomb (J/C).
(b) The field does positive work as it moves from point
A to point B.

● Fig 2-1a shows a positive test charge in a

uniform downward electric field E produced by
two parallel plates. The field exerts a downward
force F = E.
● Work is done by the electric force on the charge Fig. 1.1. The potential difference between the positive
as it moves from point A to point B (figure 2-1b) and the negative terminals of a cell constitutes its
voltage.

For an AA cell, it is 1.5 V.

➔ What is a battery? A collection of one or more

❖ Note that if the test charge moves in the electrochemical cells in which stored chemical
direction of the electric field, its potential energy energy is converted into electrical energy.
decreases. On the other hand, if it moves against
the direction of the electric field, the potential
energy increases.
Difference between cell and battery

● A combination of two or more cells makes a

battery.
● It is used in car, ups, emergency lights.
● A cell is a unit of +ve and -ve electrodes.
● A cell is a device which converts the energy of
chemicals into electric energy.

CAPACITORS
Thus, the conservation of mechanical energy also
applies. One important element in an electric circuit is a
capacitor. A capacitor is a device for storing charges.
 (STANDARD SYMBOLS) A capacitor is usually named after a dielectric material
used. Common dielectric materials used in a capacitor
are mica, glass, air, ceramic, and paper.

Ewald Georg von Kleist

A German physicist invented the first recorded

capacitor: a glass jar coated inside and out with metal.

Pieter van Musschenbroek

A Dutch professor at the University of Leiden in the

Netherlands, came up with a similar device, the Leyden
jar, which is typically regarded as the first capacitor. It
consisted of a glass jar half – filled with water and lined
inside and out with metal foil. The glass acted as the
dielectric.

❖ Capacitance is the ability of a capacitor to store

charges. The capacitance C of a capacitor is
mathematically defined as the ratio of the
amount of charge q in one plate to the
potential difference V between the plates. In
symbols,

Fig. 2.7. A parallel plate capacitor C = q/V (Eq. 2.7)

One of the simplest types of capacitors consists of two ❖ The SI unit of capacitance is the farad (F)
equally but oppositely charged parallel conducting plates named after Michael Faraday.
separated from each other by a thin sheet of insulating
material or dielectric. When connected to a source of Note that 1 farad is equal to 1 coulomb per volt.
charge, such as a battery, the positive terminal of the
1F = 1c/v
source removes electrons from the plate connected to it
and transfers them to the other plate. As a result, two
plates are equally but opposite charges.

The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is affected
by the following factors:
a. The area of plates: The bigger the area of the plate,
the greater the capacitance.
b. The distance between the plates. The closer the
plates to each other, the greater the capacitance.
DIELECTRICS: Insulating materials - The capacitance
of a set of charged parallel plates is increased by the
insertion of a dielectric material.
c. The insulating material or dielectric between them.
The capacitance is determined in terms of the material’s
permittivity constant ∈ - the higher the ∈, the greater
the capacitance.
Fig. 2.9. A parallel plate capacitor in series showing the
factors affecting its resistance.
The dependence of the capacitance of a parallel plate
capacitor on the factors cited above is mathematically
expressed as:
C = ∈A/d (Eq. 2.8)
Where A is the area of one plate, d is the distance
between the plates, and ∈ permittivity of the insulating
material or dielectric.
Table 2-1 Permittivity of Some Common Dielectrics
Sometimes, the relative permittivity or dielectric
constant of the dielectric material is given instead of its
permittivity. The relative permittivity of dielectric
constant ∈_R is the ratio of the permittivity ∈ of the
dielectric to the permittivity ∈_oof a vacuum or air.
∈_R = ∈/∈_0 (Eq. 2.9)
CAPACITANCE: The capacitance of a capacitor is
defined as the charge stored per unit potential difference
change. | C = Q/V
Unit of capacitance: farad (F)
Also: Q=CV & V=Q/C