1.

ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELDS

GVHSS PAYYOLI PLUS TWO VICTERS PHYSICS CLASS NOTES: 2
BASIC PROPERTIES OF CHARGES, COULOMBS LAW
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BASIC PROPERTIES OF ELECTRIC CHARGES
1.Quantisation of charge- Total charge on any body
is an integral multiple of fundamental unit of charge
Q = ± ne where n = 1,2,3,….
e= 1.6 𝟎𝟐𝟏 ×10-19 C
PROBLEM 1
During rubbing between two objects, if 109 electrons
are transferred in every second ,how much time will
it take to get a charge of 1C?
ANSWER:
No: of electrons transferred in 1s= 109
Charge transferred in 1s = 109 × 𝒆
Time for accumulating a charge of 109 × 𝒆 = 1 s
𝟏
Time for accumulating a charge of 1C = s
𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝒆
𝟏
Required time = = 6.25 × 109s
𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝒙 𝟏.𝟔 𝒙 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟗
𝟔.𝟐𝟓 ×𝟏𝟎𝟗
= = 198 years
𝟔𝟎×𝟔𝟎×𝟐𝟒×𝟑𝟔𝟓
Note: Unit of charge coulomb(C) is a huge quantity.
So practically we use units like mC = 10-3C,
𝝁𝑪 = 10-6C , nC= 10-9 C etc
2. charge is additive- total charge on any body is
algebraic sum of individual charges
If there are n charges q1,q2,q3…….qn then total
charge , q= q1+q2+q3+…….+qn
SREESHYJU K P & JIJESH M T ,HSST PHYSICS GVHSS PAYYOLI
3. charge is a scalar quantity
4.Conservation of charge – total charge in an
isolated system is constant or the algebraic sum of
all the electric charges in any closed system is
constant
COULOMBS LAW

Force of attraction or repulsion between two

point charges is directly proportional to the product
of the magnitude charges and inversely proportional
to the square of the distance between them. The
force acts along the line joining the two charges
F ∝ q1q2
𝟏
F∝
𝒓𝟐
𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
F∝
𝒓𝟐
𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
F=k
𝒓𝟐
𝟏
In SI units k =
𝟒𝝅𝝐𝟎
𝟏 𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
F=
𝟒𝝅𝝐𝟎 𝒓𝟐

𝝐𝟎 is called permittivity of free space /air/vacuum

𝝐𝟎 = 8.85× 10-12 C2N-1m-2
𝟏
= 9 × 109 Nm2C-2
𝟒𝝅𝝐𝟎
𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
F =9 × 109
𝒓𝟐

SREESHYJU K P & JIJESH M T ,HSST PHYSICS GVHSS PAYYOLI

ASSIGNMENT:
Calculate the electrostatic force of attraction
between a proton and an electron separated by a
distance of 0.5A0
ANSWER:
𝟏 𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
F=
𝟒𝝅𝝐𝟎 𝒓𝟐
𝒒𝟏 𝒒𝟐
F =9 × 109
𝒓𝟐
The magnitude of charge on proton and electron is
same ie q1 = q2 = 1.6 𝟎𝟐𝟏 ×10-19 C
9 𝟏.𝟔× 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟗 ×𝟏.𝟔 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟗
F =9 × 10 ×
(𝟎.𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟎 )𝟐

F= 9.216 x 10-8 N
SREESHYJU K P & JIJESH M T ,HSST PHYSICS GVHSS PAYYOLI