CHAPTER 2

ELECTROSTATIC FIELDS (CHARGES AT REST)

Part-I :General concept (in freespace)

 Coulomb's Law (general law)

 Electric Field intensity (E) & Electric Flux Density (D)

 Gauss's Law (special law)

 Electric Potential v & its relation with E

 Energy in Electrostatic Fields

Part-II : Electric Fields in other Materials

 Polarization in Dielectrics

 Convection and Conduction Currents

 Boundary Condition

Part-III : Electrostatic Boundary-Value Problems

 Poisson's and Laplace's Equations

 Resistance and Capacitance 1

 ELECTROSTATIC FIELDS

Part-I :General concept (in freespace)

Coulomb's Law (general law)
Electric Field intensity (E) & Electric Flux Density
(D)
Gauss's Law (special law)
Electric Potential v & its relation with E
Energy in Electrostatic Fields
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 CHAPTER 2
ELECTROSTATIC FIELDS (CHARGES AT REST)

 Electrostatic field is produced by a static (time invariant) charge

distribution.
 A typical example of such a field is found in a cathode-ray tube.
 Application Areas of Electrostatics:
 Electric power transmission, X-ray machines, and
lightning protection systems.
 Solid-state electronic devices (resistors, capacitors,
bipolar and field effect transistors)
 Almost all computer peripheral devices (touch pads,
capacitance keyboards, cathode-ray tubes, liquid crystal
displays, and electrostatic printers).
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 In medical work
 in electrocardiograms (heart electrical activity )
 Electroencephalograms (abdomen electrical activity ),

 and recordings of organs with electrical activity including eyes,

ears, and stomachs).
 In industry
 paint spraying,
 electro deposition,
 electrochemical machining, and separation of fine particles.)
 In agriculture
 to sort seeds,
 direct sprays to plants,
 measure the moisture content of crops, spin cotton, and speed
baking of bread and smoking of meat).
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RADIO WAVES
 Longest wavelength EM waves
 Uses:
 TV broadcasting
 AM and FM broadcast radio
 Heart rate monitors
 Cell phone communication
 MRI (MAGNETIC RESONACE IMAGING)
 Uses Short wave radio waves with a magnet to create a map of

the body’s tissues.

INFRARED: PULSE OXIMETRY

Heart rate:81 bpm

Blood oxygenation: 99%

VISIBLE: ENDOSCOPY —INSERTED INTO
BODY TO VIEW ITS INTERNAL PARTS
 VISIBLE: ENDOSCOPY

This is the
endoscope coming
out of the oesophagus

Parasitic
Worm!
The stomach wall has
relapsed back
into the oesophagus.
This is a hernia.
 VISIBLE: ENDOSCOPY WITH A CAMERA
PILL
 On the right is an x-ray movie showing a pill which has been swallowed which
contains a camera.
 It passes through the gut, taking a movie which is sent to a receiver outside the
body, shown on the left.
 X- RAYS

 Uses:
 Medical imaging
 Airport security
 used in radiation therapy to kill diseased cells.
 Used by engineers to check for tiny cracks in structures-The rays pass
through the cracks and the cracks appear dark on film.
 X-RAYS: COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IMAGE
(CT SCAN)

Second
metatarsal bone
 X-RAYS: RADIOTHERAPY
X-ray CT scan of chest shows lungs, heart and tumour (red)
 X-RAYS: RADIOTHERAPY
 X-rays can damage the DNA in cells and kill them
 This is why radiation can be dangerous
 But cells which are dividing rapidly are more likely to be killed
 So we use x-rays to kill the rapidly-dividing cancer cells
 We must still ensure that healthy tissue is undamaged
 GAMMA RAYS
 Smallestwavelengths, highest energy EM waves
 Exploding nuclear weapons emit gamma rays
 Uses
 Sterilizes medical equipment
 Cancer treatment to kill cancer cells
 Kills nearly all living cells.
 ELECTRIC CHARGE
“Charge” is a property of subatomic particles.
Facts about charge:
 There are 2 types basically, positive (protons) and
negative (electrons)
 LIKE charges REPEL and OPPOSITE charges ATTRACT

 Charges are symbolic of fluids in that they can be in 2

states, STATIC or DYNAMIC.
 ELECTRIC CHARGE – THE SPECIFICS
•The symbol for CHARGE is “q”
•The unit is the COULOMB(C), named
Some important constants: after Charles Coulomb
•If we are talking about a SINGLE
charged particle such as 1 electron or 1
proton we are referring to an
ELEMENTARY charge and often use, e ,
to symbolize this.

Particle Charge Mass

Proton 1.6x10-19 C 1.67 x10-27 kg
Electron 1.6x10-19 C 9.11 x10-31 kg
Neutron 0 1.67 x10-27 kg
 Charging
Objects are electrically charged in one of 3 ways:
(1).By friction, when electrons are rubbed from
one object to another
(2).By contact, when electrons are transferred
through direct contact without rubbing
(3). Through induction when electrons are gathered
or dispersed by the presence of a nearby charge
(without physical contact)
 Charging by Induction

Induction: The charging of an object

without direct contact
Charging by Induction

Grounding: Allowing charges to move freely

along a connection between a conductor and
the ground
(shown in sketch c)
Induction and Lightning

The bottom of the

negatively charged
cloud induces a
positive charge at
the surface of the
ground below.
Solution:
lighting rod (good metal) attracts –ve charges and passes it to
ground & disperses it through cable connected to it. 22
 Drawing Field Lines
Property of Field Lines
1) originate From + and
terminate on –
2) Lines start
perpendicular to the
surface of the charge
3) Field strength is
shown by the density
of the field lines
4) Field lines can never
cross
5) they may extend out
to infinity.
 CHARGE DISTRIBUTIONS

Charge on Metal Points

Charge on Metals
                     
             

           
            Lightning, lightning rods
  Metal Ball
 ELECTRIC FIELD OF A CONDUCTOR
 suppose you bring a conductor NEAR a charged object.
 The side closest to which ever charge will be INDUCED the opposite
charge. However, the charge will ONLY exist on the surface.

 There will no electric field inside a conductor. INSULATORS,

however, can store the charge inside.

There must be a There must be a

positive charge on this negative charge on
side this side OR this side
was induced positive
due to the other side
being negative.
ELECTRIC Electrons repel toward the outside
of any conducting surface
SHIELDING
Net charge inside is zero
Electrons flow outward evenly, but
pile up on sharp corners

Shielding is important in
electronic devices such as
televisions and computers
FARADAY CAGE
 Faraday stated that the charge on a
charged conductor resided only on its
exterior
 To demonstrate this fact he built a
room coated with metal foil, and
allowed high-voltage discharges from
an electrostatic generator
to strike the outside of
the room
 He used an electroscope to
show that there was no excess
electric charge on the
inside of the room's walls.
Person in a car hit by artificial lightning. The lightning strikes the car and jumps to the
ground bypassing the front tire arcing from the axle to the ground.
 ELECTROSTATIC FORCE
 This is a non-contact force (like the gravitational force except
instead of two masses exerting force on each other the two
objects charges exert a force of repulsion or attraction).
 ANY charged object can exert the electrostatic force upon other
objects- both charged and uncharged objects.
 ELECTROSTATIC FORCE
The electric force between 2 objects is symbolic of the
gravitational force between 2 objects. RECALL:

Fg Mm 1
Fg  2
r
1 q1q2
FE  q1q2 FE  2 FE 2
r r
k  constant of proportionality
2
Nm
k  Coulomb constant  8.99 x109 2
C
q1q2
FE  k 2  Coulomb' s Law
r
ELECTRIC FORCES AND NEWTON’S LAWS
Electric Forces and Fields obey Newton’s Laws.
Example: An electron is released above the surface of
the Earth. A second electron
directly below it exerts an electrostatic force on the
first electron just great enough to cancel out the
gravitational force on it. How far below the first
electron is the second?

FE  mg
q1q2 q1q2
k 2  mg  r  k
Fe r mg
e
19 2
mg 9 (1. 6 x10 )
r=? (8.99 ) 31
 5.1 m
(9.11x10 )(9.8)
e
COULOMB’S LAW- FORMULA FOR
ELECTROSTATIC FORCE

Again this is similar

to the gravitational force…

Fg = GmM charge (q) is now Fe = kq1q2

responsible for the force
r2 r2

Just like G was a constant so is k.

k is the electrostatic constant
and = 8.99 x 109 N•m2/C2
Remember this…the relationship between the gravitational force and the distance
from the object…this is the inverse square law

1x 2x 3x 4x

9.81 m/s2 1/4 = 1/9 = 1/16 =

2.24 1.09 .61

Fg = GmM Fg
r2

r2
 Fe
Fe = kq1q2
r2

r2
 ELECTRIC FORCES AND VECTORS
Electric Fields and Forces are ALL vectors, thus all rules
applying to vectors must be followed.
Consider three point charges, q1 = 6.00 x10-9 C (located at the origin),q3 = 5.00x10-9 C,
and q2 = -2.00x10-9 C, located at the corners of a RIGHT triangle. q2 is located at y= 3 m
while q3 is located 4m to the right of q2. Find the resultant force on q3.

Which way does q2 push q3?

4m
q2 q3 Which way does q1 push q3?
3m Fon 3 due to 1
5m
q
q1 Fon 3 due to 2
q = 37
q3

q= tan-1(3/4)
EXAMPLE CONT’….
4m
q2 q3
3m Fon 3 due to 1
5m
q
q1 Fon 3 due to 2 F3,1sin37
q = 37
q= tan-1(3/4) q3
F3,1cos37

F x  F3,1 cos(37)  F3, 2

(5.0 x109 )(2 x109 )
F3, 2 9
 (8.99 x10 ) F x  3.18 x10 9 N
42
F3, 2  5.6 x10-9 N
F y  F3,1 sin(37)  6.62 x10 9 N
Fresultant  ( Fx ) 2  ( Fy ) 2
(6 x10 9 )(5 x10 9 )
9 Fres 
F3,1  (8.99 x10 ) 7.34x10-9 N
52 F y
F3,1  1.1x10-8 N Direction    tan 1 ( )
F x

64.3 degrees above the +x

 ELECTRIC FIELDS (E)

By definition, the are

“LINES OF FORCE”

Some important facts:

 An electric field is a vector
 Always is in the direction
that a POSITIVE “test”
charge would move
 The amount of force per
“test” charge
If you placed a 2nd positive charge (test
charge), near the positive charge shown
above, it would move AWAY.
If you placed that same charge near the
negative charge shown above it would
move TOWARDS.
 ELECTRIC FIELDS AND NEWTON’S
LAWS
Once again, the equation for
ELECTRIC FIELD is symbolic
of the equation for WEIGHT
just like coulomb’s law is
symbolic of Newton’s Law of
Gravitation.

The symbol for Electric Field is, “E”. And since it is defined as a force
per unit charge its unit is Newtons per Coulomb, N/C.
NOTE: the equations above will ONLY help you determine the
MAGNITUDE of the field or force. We will see how to determine the
direction in the coming slides.
The “q” in the equation is that of a “test charge”.
EXAMPLE
An electron and proton are each placed at rest in an external field of
520 N/C. Calculate the speed of each particle after 48 ns
 
 FE FE
E 520 
What do we know q 1.6 x1019
FE  8.32 x10-19 N
me=9.11 x 10
-31
kg

mp= 1.67 x10-27 kg FNet  ma FE  FNet

qboth=1.6 x10 -19
C
FE  me a  (9.11x10 31 )a  9.13x1013 m/s/s

vo = 0 m/s FE  m p a  (1.67 x10  27 )a  4.98 x1010 m/s/s

E = 520 N/C v  vo  at
ve  ae (48 x10 9 )  4.38 x106 m/s
t = 48 x 10-9 s
v p  a p (48 x10 9 )  2.39 x103 m/s
 AN ELECTRIC POINT CHARGE
 all charges exert forces on other charges due to a field around them.
 Suppose we want to know how strong the field is at a specific point in
space near this charge.
 This helps us to calculate the effects this charge will have on other
charges placed at that point.

Qq FE
FE  k 2 E   FE  Eq
r q
Qq
Eq  k 2
r
kQ
Epoint charge  2
r

TEST CHARGE
POINT CHARGE
EXAMPLE
A -4x10-12C charge Q is placed at the origin. What is the
magnitude and direction of the electric field produced by Q if a
test charge were placed at x = -0.2 m ?

12
kQ 9 ( 4 x10 )
E  2  8.99 x10 2
r .2 0.2 m E

Emag  0.899 N/C E

-Q
E

Edir  Towards Q to the right E

Remember, our equations will only give us MAGNITUDE. And the electric field
LEAVES POSITIVE and ENTERS NEGATIVE.
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Figure 2.1: Coulomb vector force on point changes Q1 and Q2.

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2.2 Electric Field Intensity (E)

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EXAMPLE

51
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EXERCISE

53
Figure2.3: Various charge distributions and charge elements

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Figure 2.5: Evaluation of
the E field due to an
infinite sheet of charge.
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Figure 2.6: E field due to a volume
charge distribution.

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This is identical to E at the same point due to a point65
charge Q located at the origin or the center of the
spherical charge distribution.
EXAMPLE

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1. Spherical symmetry. Make your Gaussian surface a
concentric sphere (Fig 2.18)
2. Cylindrical symmetry. Make your Gaussian surface a
coaxial cylinder (Fig 2.19)
3. Plane symmetry. Use a Gaussian surface a coaxial
the surface (Fig 2.20)
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2.5 Electric Potential (V)

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Figure2.17: Equipotential surfaces for
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(a) a point charge and (b) an electric dipole
2.8 Energy Density In Electrostatic Fields

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