Unit 14: Electrostatics

Units of Chapter 16
• Static Electricity; Electric Charge and Its
Conservation
• Electric Charge in the Atom
• Insulators and Conductors
• Induced Charge; the Electroscope
• Coulomb’s Law
• Solving Problems Involving Coulomb’s Law and
Vectors
• The Electric Field
 Units of Chapter 16
• Field Lines
• Electric Fields and Conductors
 Do Now
1. How do protons and electrons differ in their
electrical charge?
2. Is an electron in a hydrogen atom the same as
an electron in a uranium atom?

3. Which has more mass – a proton or an

electron?

4. In a normal atom, how many electrons are

there compared to protons?
 Do Now
1. How do protons and electrons differ in their
electrical charge?
Same magnitude, but opposite charge.
2. Is an electron in a hydrogen atom the same as
an electron in a uranium atom?
Yes.
3. Which has more mass – a proton or an
electron?
Proton
4. In a normal atom, how many electrons are
there compared to protons?
Same number, no net charge.
Atomic Structure
16.1 Static Electricity; Electric Charge
and Its Conservation

Objects can be charged by rubbing

 Triboelectric Series
• Friction can cause electrons to transfer
from one material to another
• Different materials have a different degree
of attraction for electrons
• The triboelectric series determines which
materials have a greater attraction.
• When two materials are rubbed together,
the one with the higher attraction will end
up getting some of the electrons from the
other material
 Triboelectric Series
If two materials are rubbed together, the one that is higher in
the series will give up electrons and become more positive.
MORE POSITIVE            
Human Hands (if very dry)
Leather Hard Rubber
Rabbit Fur Nickel, Copper
Glass Brass, Silver
Human Hair Gold, Platinum
Nylon Polyester
Wool Styrene (Styrofoam)
Fur Saran Wrap
Lead Polyurethane
Silk Polyethylene (scotch tape)
Aluminum Polypropylene Vinyl (PVC)
Paper Silicon
Cotton Teflon 
Steel (neutral)
Wood
Amber

MORE NEGATIVE
 Question
• If fur is rubbed on glass, will the glass
become positively charged or negatively
charged?

• Glass – positive
• Fur -negative
16.1 Static Electricity;
Electric Charge and Its
Conservation

Charge comes in two

types, positive and
negative; like charges
repel and opposite
charges attract
 Interaction Between Charged and
Neutral Objects
• Any charged object - whether positively
charged or negatively charged - will have
an attractive interaction with a neutral
object.
 16.1 Static Electricity; Electric Charge
and Its Conservation

Electric charge is conserved – the

arithmetic sum of the total charge cannot
change in any interaction.
 16.2 Electric Charge in the Atom

Atom:
Nucleus (small,
massive, positive
charge)
Electron cloud (large,
very low density,
negative charge)
 16.2 Electric Charge in the Atom

Atom is electrically neutral.

Rubbing charges objects by moving electrons
from one to the other.
 16.2 Electric Charge in the Atom

Polar molecule: neutral overall, but charge not

evenly distributed
 16.3 Insulators and Conductors

Conductor: Insulator:
Charge flows freely Almost no charge flows
Metals Most other materials
Some materials are semiconductors.
 How Charge Is Transferred
• Objects can be charged by rubbing
• Metal objects can be charged by
conduction
• Metal objects can be charged by
• induction
 16.4 Induced Charge; the Electroscope

Metal objects can be charged by conduction:

 Charging by Induction
• When an object gets charged by induction, a
charge is created by the influence of a
charged object but not by contact with a
charged object.  The word induction means to
influence without contact. 
• If a rubber balloon is charged negatively
(perhaps by rubbing it with animal fur) and
brought near (without touching) the spheres,
electrons within the two-sphere system will be
induced to move away from the balloon.
 Charging By Induction
With Negatively Charged Object

In step iii, why is the charge on the right sphere

almost uniformly distributed?
 Charging By Induction
With Negatively Charged Object

What was the source of positive charge

that ended up on sphere B?
 Source of charge in induction
• In induction, the source of charge that is
on the final object is not the result of
movement from the charged object to the
neutral object.
 Ground

• An infinite source or sink for

charge
16.4 Induced Charge; the Electroscope

They can also be charged by induction:

 16.4 Induced Charge; the Electroscope

The electroscope
can be used for
detecting charge:
 16.4 Induced Charge; the Electroscope
The electroscope can be charged either by
conduction or by induction.
 16.4 Induced Charge; the Electroscope

The charged electroscope can then be used to

determine the sign of an unknown charge.
 16.4 Induced Charge; the Electroscope

Nonconductors won’t become charged by

conduction or induction, but will experience
charge rearrangement. The atoms or molecules
become polarized.
:
 16.4 Induced Charge; the Electroscope

Nonconductors won’t become charged by

conduction or induction, but will experience
charge separation:
 Do Now
True or False? Explain your reasoning.

1. An object that is positively charged contains all

protons and no electrons.
False
Positively charged objects have electrons; they simply
possess more protons than electrons.
2. An object that is electrically neutral contains only
neutrons.
False
Electrically neutral atoms simply possess the same
number of electrons as protons.
 Coulomb’s Law
• The French physicist Charles Coulomb (1736 –
1806) investigated electric forces in the 1780s
using a torsion balance.
 16.5 Coulomb’s Law

Experiment shows that the electric force

between two charges is proportional to the
product of the charges and inversely
proportional to the distance between them.
 Coulomb’s Law
1. If two point charges Q1 and Q2 are a
distance r apart, the charges exert forces on
each object of magnitude:

  Q1 Q2
F1on 2  F2on1  k 2
r

These forces are an action/reaction pair,

equal in magnitude but opposite in direction.
 16.5 Coulomb’s Law
2. The forces are along the line connecting the
charges, and is attractive if the charges are
opposite, and repulsive if they are the same.
 16.5 Coulomb’s Law

Unit of charge: coulomb, C

The proportionality constant in Coulomb’s
law is then:

When we only need two significant figures:

9 2 2
k  9.0 10 N  m / C
Charges produced by rubbing are
typically around a microcoulomb:
 16.5 Coulomb’s Law

Charge on the electron:

Electric charge is quantized in units

of the electron charge.
This is the smallest charge in nature –
fundamental or elementary charge.
The net charge of any object must be a multiple
of that charge.
 16.5 Coulomb’s Law

The proportionality constant k can also be

written in terms of , the permittivity of free
space:

(16-2)
 16.5 Coulomb’s Law
Coulomb’s law strictly applies only to point charges.
Superposition: for multiple point charges, the forces
on each charge from every other charge can be
calculated and then added as vectors.
 16.6 Solving Problems Involving
Coulomb’s Law and Vectors

The net force on a charge is the vector

sum of all the forces acting on it.
16.6 Solving Problems Involving
Coulomb’s Law and Vectors
Vector addition review:
 Example 1
Suppose that two point charges, each with a
charge of +1.00 Coulomb are separated by a
distance of 1.00 meter. Determine the magnitude
of the electrical force of repulsion between them.
Given: Find: F - ?
IQI I= 1.00 C
Q2 I= 1.00 C
r = 1.00 m
 Solve:
Q1 Q2
F k 2
r
9
(9.0  10 )(1)(1) 9
F 2
 9.0 10 N
1
The force of repulsion of two +1.00
Coulomb charges held 1.00 meter apart is
9 billion Newton. This is an incredibly large
force that compares in magnitude to the
weight of more than 2000 jetliners.
 Example 2
Determine the magnitude and direction of
the electric force on the electron of a
hydrogen atom exerted by the single proton
that is the atom’s nucleus. Assume the
average distance between the revolving
10
electron an the proton r  0.53 10 m
Given: Find: F-?
Q1  Q2  1.6 10 19 C
10
r  0.53 10 m
 Solution:

Q1 Q2 (9.0 109 N  m 2 / C 2 )(1.6 1019 C )(1.6 1019 C ) 8

F k   8 .2  10 N
r2 (0.53 10 m)10 2
 Problem 1
A balloon with a charge of 4.0 10 5 C is held a
distance of 0.10m from a second balloon
having the same charge. Calculate the
magnitude of the electrical force between
the charges. Draw a diagram.

Q1 Q2 (9.0 109 N  m 2 / C 2 )(4.0  10 5 C )(4.0 105 C ) 1

F k   14400  10  1440 N
r2 (0.10m) 2
 Problem 2
• Calculate the electrical force exerted
between a 22-gram balloon with a charge
of -2.6μC and a wool sweater with a
charge of +3.8μC; the separation
6
distance is 75cm. (Note: 1C  1  10 C)
Q1 Q2 (9.0  10 9 N  m 2 / C 2 )( 2.6 10 6 C )( 2.6 10 6 C )
F k   158.08 10 3 N  0.158 N
r2 (0.75m) 2