Coulombs Law and

E-Filed Intensity
Set 2 a
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

Coulomb's Law

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

Coulomb's Law
Coulomb's law: The force
between two
electrical charges
and
, separated in
vacuum or free space is:
1. Along the line joining them.
2. Directly proportional to the product
of the
charges.
3. Inversely proportional to the square of the
distance
between them.
Mathematically
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

Coulomb's Law

is proportionality constant

is The constant known as the permittivity

of free space and has the value

In SI units, charges
and
are measured
in Coulombs (C), the distance
is in meters
(m), and the force
is in Newtons (N).
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

Coulomb's Law
Note that 1 C is approximately equivalent to
electrons. It is a very large unit of
charge because one electron charge is:

Coulomb's law is now

If point charges
and
are located at
points having position vectors
and
as
shown in the fig. to follow
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

Coulomb's Law

F1

then the force

is given by:

on

where

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

caused by
Vector form

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

and

Coulomb's Law

Example 1: A charge
is located at
point
and a charge
is
located at point
in a vacuum, find the
force exerted on
.
Solution:

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

Coulomb's Law- Example 1

check!
The unit vector is then:

Thus, the force

is found using:

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

Coulomb's Law
Note that : The force exerted by the charges is a
mutual force in both directions . The charges are
static, so:
Coulombs law is linear: If we multiply
by a
factor n, the force on
is also multiplied by the
same factor n.
Charges with the same sign, repel each other,
while unlike charges attract each other, as shown.
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

Electric Field
Intensity
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

10

Electric Field Intensity

The Electric Field Intensity (or electric field
strength)
is the vector force on a unit
positive test charge
when placed in the
electric field.
The force exerted on the test charge is
expressed as:
As a force per unit test charge, the eqn.
becomes:
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

11

Electric Field Intensity

The term on the right and the directed line
from
to the position of test charge
describe a vector force called Electric Field
Intensity and expressed as:

so,
and measured by Volts per meter (V/m) .

Note that: the last eqn. is the Electric Field

Intensity caused by a single point charge
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

12

Electric Field Intensity

For a point charge located at the origin of a
Cartesian coordinates:
We have:

and
So,
This shows the field complexity in 3D coordinates.
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

13

Electric Field Intensity

Now, consider a point charge, not located at the
origin of our system, but at
, so
We find the electric field
intensity at point due to
the point charge, where

Expressing
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

, we finally find the field

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

14

Electric Field Intensity

Now for 2 point charges

the electric field intensity on test charge
obtained as the sum:

is

Recall that Coulomb forces are linear.

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

15

Electric Field Intensity

Now, if we have
charges
at other positions in space
The electric field intensity at point
obtained from the sum:

,
is

Or in short:
Example
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

16

Electric Field Intensity-Example 2

Example 2:
Find the
Electric
Field
Intensity
at point
P(1,1,1) caused by the 4 identical charges located
at P1(1,1,0), P2(-1,1,0), P3(-1,-1,0) and P4(1,-1,0)
(each has 3 nC charge).
Solution
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

17

Electric Field Intensity-Example 2

Solution:
r at P(1,1,1):
Then

and
and the magnitudes are:

Using the expression for the field , we find

As

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

, we find the term:

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

18

Electric Field Intensity-Example 2

Recall the unit vectors:
;

Now substitute the other terms in:

Simplify to
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

19

Electric Field Intensity

Note that if the field intensity is required NOT
just at a point without charge, BUT on another
point charge having a charge, then the eqn.:

Becomes:

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

20

Practice Exercise
Problem:
Point charges with (1 mC) and (-2 mC) are
located at P1(3, 2, -1 ) and P2(-1, -1, 4),
respectively. Calculate the electric force on a
(10 nC) charge located at P(0, 3, 1) and the
electric field intensity at that point.
Answers:
At the point P(0, 3, 1)

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

21

You have learned about

Coulomb's law for the force between two
static point charges.
The vector force of electric field intensity
caused by 1, 2 and n point charges at a point.
The vector force of electric field intensity
caused by n point charges on another point
charge.
Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

22

End of Set 2 a

Thank You for Your

Attention

Dr. Zuhair M. Hejaz

Set 2 a Coulombs Law & E-Field Intensity

23