10 2 / H M PH 1 02 / H SST 102

HIPH

CT R ICIT Y AN D M A GNETISM
ELE

F . CHINGORIWO

D A P P LI E D P HY S ICS DEPARTMENT
SPACE SCIENCE A N

ROOM 103 NEW WING

ftchingoriwo@gmail.com
.ac.zw
fchingoriwo@science.uz
Electric field
 Four point charges P, Q, R and S each of +4.0 nC are situated at each of the corners of a square of side 0.10 m.

Q R

0. 1 m

P S

(a) Determine the electrostatic force, magnitude and direction, on charge P.

(b) What is the electrostatic force on a –1.0 nC charge placed at the centre of the square? You must justify your
answer.
 Electric Field
Electric field is a vector field This field consists of a distribution of electric field vectors , one for each
point in the space around a charged object

Electric force is a push or pull. Electric field is an abstract property set up by a charged object.the SI
unit for the electric field is the newton per coulomb (N/C).

the test charge is shifted around to various other points, to measure the electric fields there, so that the
distribution of the electric field set up by the charged object is obtained.That field exists independent of the
test charge. It is
something that a charged object sets up in the surrounding space (even vacuum), it is independent of
whether we happen to come along to measure it.
 Convention

1The start on position charges and end on

negative charges.

2. Direction of field at any point is given by

tangent of field line.

3. Magnitude of field at any point is

proportional to number of field lines per unit
area perpendicular to the lines.
 Electric Dipole
An electric dipole is simply an object consisting of two point charges of equal magnitude by opposite sign.
The ends are joined in some rigid mechanical way (e.g. through a physical expanse of material, or a chemical
bond).
Examples of electric dipoles: water molecules Radio and TV antennas
The heart (during systole, or the contraction phase). an electrocardiogram is a measure of the strength of the
heart dipole that forms when it contracts (which happens as cells move ions around to create a charge
imbalance)
the force experienced by the charge is given by

Applications of point charge in E- field are inkjet printer ,TV cathode ray tube
mathematical formula for the electric field of a single point charge is given by :

The units of electric field are N/C (Newtons per Coulomb).

Since always points away from , the electric field extends OUTWARD from positive charge and INWARD to
negative charge.
Just as with the aggregate force from a set of charges, the combined electric field from a distribution of
charge is obtained by the vector sum of their individual electric fields:

=
 Electric Field Lines

If a positive test charge is placed at any point near the sphere

we find that an electrostatic force pulls on it toward the center of the
sphere. Thus at every point around the sphere, an electric field vector points
radially inward toward the sphere

The rules for drawing electric fields lines are these:

(1) At any point, the electric field vector must be tangent to the electric field line through that point
and in the same direction.
(2) In a plane perpendicular to the field lines, the relative density of the lines represents the relative
magnitude of the field there, with greater density for greater magnitude

Electric field lines extend away from positive charge (where they originate) and
toward negative charge (where they terminate).
Ink-Jet Printing
An inkjet printer uses electrostatic charge to direct
the tiny ink droplets to the correct place on the page.
Coloured nk is passed through a very small hole called
a nozzle which separates the ink into many tiny droplets.
The tiny droplets are given an electrostatic charge.
The direction in which the charged ink droplets move can
be controlled by electrically charged metal plates. A
voltage on the plates means that the charged ink droplets
will be attracted to one plate and repelled by the other.
This is very similar to a cathode ray oscilloscope where an
electron beam is directed to a particular place on a screen.
In the picture below, the ink droplets have a positive charge.
The ink droplets are attracted to
the negative plate and repelled by the positive plate.

By controlling the voltage on the plates a particular ink drop

can be precisely positioned on the paper. There are many nozzles,
and the final picture is made up from a very large number of
coloured ink drops, each in exactly the right place for the image.
Microwave Cooking
Laser printer
 Electrostatic painting

Induced positive charge on the metal

object attracts the negatively charged
paint droplets