HANDOUT 10: Electromagnetism

Physics 101: PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS

Definition 1. electrostatics - branch of physics that studies the charges at rest
Definition 2. electric charge - property of subatomic particles that causes it to experience a force when
placed in an electric and magnetic field

Types of electric charges

1. protons - positive charges

2. electrons - negative charges

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Properties of Electric Charges

1. Charges of opposite sign attract one another and charges of the same sign repel one another

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2. total charge in an isolated system is conserved
3. electric charge is quantized (multiples of a charge ”±e”)
Definition 3. conductors - materials in which electrons move freely
insulators - materials in which electrons do not move freely
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Note 1. Example: Insulators - glass, rubber, dry wood; conductors - copper, aluminum, silver
Definition 4. semiconductors - electric properties are somewhere between those of insulators and con-
ductors
Note 2. Example: silicon and germanium
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Note 3. The unit of charge is coulomb (C).

Note 4. charge of the proton - 1.6 × 10−19 C
Note 5. charge of the electron - −1.6 × 10−19 C
Note 6. ±e = ±1.6 × 10−19 C
Definition 5. Coulomb’s Law
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The electric force one charge exerts on another is:

|q1 ||q2 |
Fe = k ϵ
r2
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where kϵ - Coulomb constant

r - distance between the charges q1 and q2
Note 7. kϵ = 8.99 × 109 N · m2 /C 2
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Note 8. kϵ can be written in the form

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kϵ =
4πϵ0
where ϵ0 is the permittivity of free space

ϵ0 = 8.85 × 10−12 C 2 /N · m2

Example 1. The electron and proton of a hydrogen atom are separated (on the average) by a distance
approximately 5.3 × 10−11 m. Find the magnitude of the electric force between the two particles.
Example 2. Consider three point charges located at the corners of a right triangle as shown in the
figure below, where q1 = q3 = 5 µC, q2 = −2 µC, and a = 0.1 m. Find the resultant force exerted on q3 .

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Example 3. Three point charges lie along the x axis as shown in the figure below. The positive charge
q1 = 15 µC is at x = 2 m, the positive charge q2 = 6 µC is at the origin, and the net force acting on q3
is zero. What is the x coordinate of q3 ?
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Definition 6. An electric field is a region of space in which a charge would be acted upon by an electric
force. An electric field may be produced by one or more charges, and it may be uniform or vary in
magnitude and/or direction from place to place.

#« #«
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If a charge q at a certain point is acted on by the force F , the electric field E at that point is defined as
#«
the ratio between F and q:
#«
#« F
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E=
q
Unit: N/C.
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magnitude of electric field of a point charge

1 |q|
E=
4πϵ0 r2

1 Electric Potential

Definition 7. electric potential (or simply potential) - potential energy per charge

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electric potential
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V =
q

Definition 8. potential difference between two points in an electric field is defined as the change in
electric potential energy of the system when a charge is moved between the points divided by the charge

potential difference
∆U
∆V =
q

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Note 9. Unit for electric potential : Volt (V). (1V = 1J/C)

Example 4. What is the magnitude of the electric field at a field point 2m from a point charge q = 4

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nC? (The point charge could represent any small charged object with this value of q, provided the
dimensions of the object are much less than the distance from the object to the field point.)
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Example 5. A point charge q = −8 nC is located at the origin. Find the electric field vector at the
field point x = 1.2 m, y = −1.6 m.
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2 Electric Current

Definition 9. electric current - flow of charge from one place to another

average current
∆Q
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Iavg =
∆t
where ∆Q is the amount of charge that passes a given point in a conductor and ∆t is the time interval
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instantaneous current
dQ
I=
dt
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Note 10. Unit of current: Ampere (A). (1A = 1C/s)

Definition 10. resistance - a measure of how difficult it is to pass current through wire

Note 11. Unit of resistance: ohm (Ω). (1Ω = 1V /A)

Ohm’s Law
∆V = IR
where R is the resistance

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Example 6. An electrical appliance is connected to a 120 V source of potential difference and carries a
current of 6A. What is the resistance?

The resistance of a conductor that obeys Ohm’s Law is given by:

L
R=ρ
A
where L is the length of the conductor, A is the cross-sectional area, and ρ is the resistivity of the
material

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Example 7. The radius of 22 gauge Nichrome wire is 0.32 mm. Calculate the resistance per unit length
of this wire. If a potential difference of 10 V is maintained across a 1 m length of the Nichrome wire,
what is the current in the wire?

Definition 11. electric power - rate at which work is done to maintain an electric current
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electric power
(∆V )2
P = I∆V = I 2 R =
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R
Unit: W.
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Example 8. An electric heater is constructed by applying a potential difference of 120 V across a

Nichrome wire that has a total resistance of 8 Ω. Find the current carried by the wire and the power
rating of the heater.

Example 9. An immersion heater must increase the temperature of 1.5 kg of water from 10 ◦ C to 50
◦
C in 10 min while operating at 110 V . (a) What is the required resistance of the heater? (b) Estimate
the cost of heating the water if the estimated price of energy is P0.59 per kilowatt-hour.

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3 Direct-Current Circuits

Resistors can be connected in series, parallel or a combination of both.

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resistors in series
Req = R1 + R2 + R3 + · · ·
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resistors in parallel
1 1 1 1
= + + + ···
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Req R1 R2 R3

Example 10. Four resistors are connected as shown in the figure below.
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(a) Find the equivalent resistance between points a and c. (b) What is the current in each resistor if a
potential difference of 42 V is maintained between a and c?

Three resistors are connected in parallel as shown in figure below.

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A potential difference of 18 V is maintained between points a and b. (a) Calculate the equivalent
resistance of the circuit (b) Find the current in each resistor. (c) Calculate the power delivered to each
resistor and the total power delivered to the combination of resistors.
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Definition 12. electromotive force (emf) - work done per coulomb on the charge passing through a
battery, generator or other source of electric energy

emf (ε) of a battery

ε = IR + Ir
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where r is the internal resistance, R is the load resistance.

4 Kirchhoff ’s Rule
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Definition 13. Kirchhoff’s Rules.

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1. Junction rule. At any junction, the sum of the currents must equal zero.
X
I = 0.
junction
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2. Loop rule. The sum of the potential differences across all elements around any closed circuit loop
must be zero. X
∆V = 0.
closed loop

Sign convention in Kirchhoff’s Rules:

1. current into the junction: +I, current directed out of a junction: −I

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 2. Charges move from the high-potential end of a resistor toward the low-potential end, so if a resistor
is traversed in the direction of the current, the potential difference ∆V across the resistor is −IR.

3. If a resistor is traversed in the direction opposite the current, the potential difference ∆V across
the resistor is +IR.

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4. If a source of emf (assumed to have zero internal resistance) is traversed in the direction of the emf

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(from negative to positive), the potential difference is ∆V is +ε.
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5. If a source of emf (assumed to have zero internal resistance) is traversed in the direction opposite
the emf (from positive to negative), the potential difference ∆V is −ε.
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Example 11. A single-loop circuit contains two resistors and two batteries as shown in figure below.
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(Neglect the internal resistances of the batteries). Find the current in the circuit.

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Example 12. Find the currents I1 , I2 , and I3 in the circuit shown in figure below.

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5 Capacitance
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Definition 14. capacitor - a system that stores energy in the form of an electric field

Definition 15. capacitance - ratio of magnitude of charge on either conductor to the magnitude of
potential difference between the two conductors
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capacitance (C)
Q
C=
∆V

Note 12. Unit of capacitance: farad (F ). (1F = 1C/V ).

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capacitors in series
1 1 1 1
= + + + ···
Ceq C1 C2 C3
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capacitors in parallel
Ceq = C1 + C2 + C3 + · · ·
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Example 13. Find the equivalent capacitance between a and b for the combination of capacitors shown

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in figure below.

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All capacitances are in microfarads.

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Exercise 1. Solve/Answer the following.

1. Three point charges lie along a straight line as shown in the figure below.
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where q1 = 6 µC, q2 = 1.5 µC, and q3 = −2 µC. The separation distances are d1 = 3 cm and
d2 = 2 cm. Calculate the magnitude and direction of the net electric force on (a) q1 , (b) q2 and
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(c) q3 .
2. The electric field in a certain neon sign is 5000 V /m. (a) What force does this field exert on a neon
ion of mass 3.3 × 10− 26 kg and charge +e? (b) What is the acceleration of the ion?
3. The potential difference between a certain thundercloud and the ground is 7 × 106 V . Find the
energy dissipated when a charge of 50 C is transferred from the cloud to the ground in a lightning
stroke.
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4. The quantity of charge q (in coulombs) that has passed through a surface of area 2 cm2 varies with
time according to the equation
q = 4t3 + 5t + 6
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where t is in seconds. What is the instantaneous current through the surface at t = 1 s?

5. A portion of Nichrome wire of radius 2.5 mm is to be used in winding a heating coil. If the coil
must draw a current of 9.25 A when the voltage of 120 V is applied across its ends, find (a) the
required resistance of the coil and (b) the length of wire you must use to wind the coil.
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6. In the diagram below, find the current in each resistor and the power delivered to each resistor.

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 7. Find the equivalent capacitance between points a and b for the group of capacitors connected as
shown in the figure below.

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Take C1 = 5µF , C2 = 10µF and C3 = 2µF .

References:
Serway, Raymund A. and Jewett, John W. Jr. (2010). Physics for Scientists and Engineers 8th Edition.
Lachina Publishing Services, USA.
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Young et al. (2012). University Physics 14th Edition Addison Wesley, USA.
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