ELECTRIC CHARGE AND

ELECTRIC FIELD

PREPARED BY: ARLEIGH D. ALALAY, MAT

ELECTRIC CHARGE
All matter is made up of atoms, which contains
electron, protons and neutrons. Objects normally
contain equal numbers of electron and protons:
such objects are called neutral. When an object has
an imbalance in the number of electrons and
protons, it is electrically charged. Neutrons are not
involved in electric interactions
Electric charge is the physical property of matter that
causes an attractive or repulsive force interaction with
other electrically charged matter.  There are two types
of electric charge: positive and negative (commonly
carried by protons and electrons respectively).
 LAW OF CHARGES

Law of Charges says “Like charges repel each other

and unlike charges attract each other”. An object
with an absence of net charge is referred to
as neutral.
Electric charge is also the modern names for two types of
charge are positive charge and negative charge. The name
positive and negative charge coined by Benjamin Franklin. An
object with more electrons than protons is said to carry a
negative charge and an object with more number or protons
than electrons is said to carry positive charge. Like energy and
momentum, electric charge is a conserved quantity:
“Charged cannot be created nor destroyed, but it can be
transferred between object.”
“ O P P O S I T E C H A R G E S AT TR AC T; L I KE CH A RG ES
R E PE L . ”
 The symbol for electric charge is “q”. The SI
derived unit of electric charge is the coulomb (C)
named after French physicist Charles-Augustin de
Coulomb. In electrical engineering, it is also
common to use the ampere hour (Ah);
in Physics and Chemistry, it is common to use the
elementary charge (e as a unit).
MASSES OF INDIVIDUAL PARTICLES:

Mass of electron = 9.1 x 10-31 kg

Mass of proton = 1.67 x 10-27 kg
Mass of neutron = 1.67 x 10-27 kg
 VALUE OF CHARGE OF PROTON AND
ELECTRON

p+ = 1.6 x 10^-19 C
e- = -1.6 x 10^ -19 C
THERE ARE THREE COMMON WAYS FOR A NEUTRAL
OBJECT TO BECOME CHARGED.
1. Friction
II. Conduction
III. Induction
 CHARGING BY FRICTION

Charging by friction occurs when two different materials rub

against each other, causing a transfer in electrons.
The material with the greater affinity for electrons becomes
negative, and the other material becomes positive.
Example:
Rub a balloon on your hair
Your feet in socks and the carpet are doing charging by friction
Rub a glass rod with a piece of silk
 TRIBOELECTRIC SERIES

The triboelectric series is a list that ranks materials according to their

tendency to gain or lose electrons. The process of electron transfers as
a result of two objects coming into contact with one another and then
separating is called triboelectric charging. During such an interaction
one of the two objects will always gain electrons (becoming negatively
charged) and the other object will lose electrons (becoming positively
charged). The relative position of the two objects on the triboelectric
series will define which object gains electrons and which object loses
electrons.
 CHARGING BY CONDUCTION

Just means that the two objects will come into actual
physical contact with each other (this is why it is
sometimes called “charging by contact”).
 CHARGING BY INDUCTION

It is possible to charge a conductor without touching it. You do

have to follow some special procedures. Most important is the use
of a grounding wire. ○ A grounding wire is simply a conductor
that connects the object to the ground. ○ Think of the earth as a
huge reservoir of charge… it can both gain or donate electrons as
needed. Depending on what the situation is, either electrons will
travel up the grounding wire to the object being charged, or travel
down to the ground.
 1.2 COULOMB’S LAW

Coulomb's law, or  Coulomb's inverse-square law, is an

experimental law of physics that quantifies the amount of force
between two stationary, electrically charged particles. The electric
force between charged bodies at rest is conventionally
called electrostatic force or Coulomb force. The law was first
discovered in 1785 by French physicist Charles-Augustin de
Coulomb, hence the name.
The law states that the magnitude of the
electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion between two
point charges is directly proportional to the product of the
magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them,
 Where:

This relationship is called Coulomb’s Law. Here, ke is Coulomb's constant (ke ≈ 9.0

×109 N⋅m2/C−2), q1 and q2 are the signed magnitudes of the charges, and the scalar r is
the distance between the charges.
 Problem 1:
Two point charges, QA = +8 μC and QB = -5 μC,
are separated by a distance r = 10 cm. What is the
magnitude of the electric force? The constant k =
9.0 x 109 N*m2/C2
Given:
Charge A (qA) = +8 μC = +8 x 10-6 C
Charge B (qB) = ­-5 μC = -5 x 10-6 C
k = 9 x 109 N*m2/C2
The distance between charge A and B (rAB) = 10 cm = 0.1 m
The magnitude of the electric force :
Problem 2:
Two like and equal charges are at a distance of d=5cm and exert a
force of F=9×10−3N on each other. 
(a) Find the magnitude of each charge?
(b) What is the direction of the electrostatic force between them?
Solution: The magnitude of the force between two rest point
charges q and q′ separated by a distance d is given by
the Coulomb's law as below

Let the magnitude of charges be |q1|=|q2|=|q|,

Now by substituting known values of F and
distance d and solving for |q| we get
 2 2
9 𝑚 𝑞
9 𝑥 10 ^ − 3 𝑁 =(9.0 𝑥 10 𝑁 ∗ 2 ) 2
𝐶 0.05 𝑚

q2=25 x10-16 C2
=
q= 5 x 10-8 C
ELECTRIC FIELD
Electric field is defined as the electric force per unit charge. The
direction of the field is taken to be the direction of the force it
would exert on a positive test charge. The electric field is radially
outward from a positive charge and radially in toward a negative
point charge.
 ELECTRIC FIELD LINES

An electric field line is an imaginary line drawn through a region of space

so that, at every point, it is tangent to the direction of the electric field
vector at that point. The basic idea is shown in Figure 1.3.1. Michael
Faraday (1791-1867) first introduced the concept of field lines. He called
them “lines of force” but the term “field lines” is preferable.
FIGURE 1.3.1: IMAGES SHOWING THE (A) POSITIVE CHARGES
WITH RADIALLY OUTWARD ELECTRIC FIELD (B) NEGATIVE
CHARGE WITH RADIALLY INWARD ELECTRIC FIELD.
 FOUR IMPORTANT PROPERTIES OF FIELD LINES:

• The field lines must be tangent to the direction of the field at any point.
• The greater the line density, the greater the magnitude of the field.
• The lines always start from positive charged objects and end on
negatively charged objects.
• The lines must never cross
2 . T H E G R E AT E R T H E L I N E D E N S I TY, T H E G RE ATE R
TH E M A G N I T U D E O F T H E F I E L D .
4. LINES MUST NEVER CROSS
 M AT H E M AT I C A L LY E L E C T R I C F I E L D I S D E F I N E D A S ,
 

E= ----- eq. 1
Where:
E = Electric Field (N/C)
F= Electric Force (N)
q= test charge and may be positive or negative. If it is positive, the directions of E and F are the same;
if it is negative, they are opposite. (C)
What is the electric field due to a point charge of 20μC at a distance of 1 meter
away from it? 

Given:
q= 20 uC or 20 x 10-6 C
r= 1m
Unknown: E=?
Solution:
E= F/q
In the vicinity of point charge q, we place a 0.2 μC-charge so that a force of 5×10−5 N applied on it due to the
charge q. Find the electric field produced by this unknown charge q? 

Given:
q= 0.2 μC or 0.2 x 10-6 C
F= 5×10−5 N
Unknown: E=?
Solution:

E=
E=
E = 2.5 x 102 or 250 N/C