STATIC ELECTRICITY, ELECTRIC CHARGE AND ITS PROPERTIES

- if an object is rubbed it can become “charged“ and it posseses an electric charge

- there can be positive and negative charge. Unlike charges attract and like charges repel
- electric charge can be transferred from one body to another by rubbing but it can also be transported in a body
- according to transport of electric charge through a material we can have conductors, semiconductors and insulators
- we can use gold leaf electroscope to detect charge
- electric charge is divided but not at infinity
- the smallest value of electric charge that is possible is elementary and this charge is called Coulomb‘s charge
- atom consists of nucleus and shell, in the nucleus there are protons and neutrons, in the shell there are electrons
- neutral atom is when # of protons is the same as number of electrons
- atom is positively charged when # of protons is greater, and vice versa with negatively charged atom
COULOMB’S LAW
- tthere can be positively and negatively charged bodies, they can either attract each other or repel
- the force between them is called electric force
- magnitude of electric forces between two point charges depend on medium in which they are and distance between them
Force of repulsion/attraction between two charges in the medium is directly proportional to the product of the charges and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them

ELECTRIC FIELD INTENSITY

- vector physical quantity which characterises electric field
- it describes the strenght of electric field at given point
- it is equal to the el. force exerted per unit positive test charge
- symbol: unit: symbol of the unit: formula:
- direction is the same as direction of force on the test charge
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
- scalar physical quantity which characterises electric field
- it is defined as electric potential energy divided by charge
- symbol: unit: symbol of the unit: formula:
EQUIPONTENTIAL LINE
- set of points of electric field with the same electric potential
POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE = VOLTAGE
- absolute value of the difference of the potencials
- symbol: unit: symbol of the unit: formula:
MODELS OF ELECTRIC FIELD
Electric field lines – curves that are tangent to the vector of electric field intensity
- near a single positive point charge near a single negative point charge between positive and negative charges

- between positive + positive charge between negative + negative charge

Properties of electric field lines – start on positive charges and terminate on negative charges, they never cross
- they are close togethe if the field is strong and vice versa
VECTOR MODEL OF ELECTRIC FIELD
- if we want to sketch vector model of electric field we use vector of electric field intensity
Radial electric field
- near a single positive charge near a single negative charge
HOMOGENEOUS ELECTRIC FIELD SKETCH
- if we want to sketch model of electric field we use equipotential lines
A scalar model of radial electric field: near a single positive charge near a single negative charge