Theory of Electrostatics

Electric Charge
We recognize two kinds of electric charge, which we call positive and negative. Both
kinds of charge exist in everything but most things are electrically uncharged or neutral.
By this we mean that they do not have an excess of either positive or negative charge.
When we say something is positively charged we mean that it has an excess of positive
charge. Conversely something negatively charged has an excess of negative charge.
Two charges or two electrically charged bodies attract or repel each other; repulsion
occurs if the sign of the charge is the same on each: attraction occurs if the two are
oppositely charged.
In some substances, particularly metals, negatively charged particles (electrons) can
move easily. Such substances are called electrical conductors. Other substances, in
which electrons do not move freely, are called electrical insulators. There is another
group of substances which are neither good conductors nor good insulators but which
have become increasingly important in the last 50 years; these are called
semiconductors.

Electric surface charge density

Imagine an isolated spherical conductor which is (say) positively charged. The charges
will move, because of mutual repulsion, so that they are as far away from each other as
possible. Because of the symmetry of a sphere, this will result in a surface charge density
which is the same all over the surface.
If Q is the total charge on the sphere and r its radius, then this density is
(Because the surface area of a sphere is 4r2)

Electric Flux and electric flux density

Because of the effects we can observe in the neighbourhood of electric charges it is
convenient to imagine lines of flux flowing outward from positive charges and inward
toward negative charges. The lines may be imaginary but the effects are real enough!
Lines of flux:
1
2 flow outward from positive charges, becoming further apart as they get further
from the charges which cause them
3 are detected by observable and measurable forces
4 are shown closer together or further apart to represent weaker or stronger forces.

The degree of 'packing' of the lines (i.e. the electric flux density D) is measured by the
surface charge density that caused the flux in the first place. The units of D and the
units of are the same, i.e. coulombs/ square metre [C/m2].
We may picture an isolated charge Q [coulombs] as having a total quantity of flux Q
[coulombs] which radiates equally in all directions. At a radius r [metres] the flux has
spread over a total spherical area 4 r2. This implies a flux density

which is just the same as the surface charge density which would exist if the charge Q
were sitting on the surface of a conducting sphere of radius r. It is as if the total charge Q
were situated at the very centre of the sphere.

Fields and potential

A region in which a physical effect can be detected is often referred to as a field. Electric
fields, which are caused by electric charges, may be described and measured in various
ways. The description above is in terms of flux and flux density. Another description is in
terms of electric potential. Potential is a term used quite widely in mathematics and
physics.

Electric potential
In electric fields, potential is measured in volts and is defined as follows.
The potential of a point in an electric field (in volts) is the amount of energy per unit
charge, possessed by a small test charge situated at that point.
2

Another way of thinking about it is to say that it is the amount of energy gained by a unit
of positive charge as it moves from infinity (where it has zero energy) to the point in
question.
In a circuit, a voltage is a potential difference between two points, frequently between a
point of interest and earth. A unit of positive charge gains a unit of energy as it goes up a
potential difference of 1 volt.
Compare this with the earth's gravitational potential, which is the amount of energy
gained by a mass as it goes uphill. A unit of mass gains 9.81 units of energy as it goes
uphill by 1 metre.

Electric Field Strength

This is yet another way to describe an electric field. Michael Faraday likened the effect of
an electric field to a large number of lines of force (which are just the same as lines of
flux). The difference, however, is that while electric flux density is a measure of the
source (electric charge), electric field strength is a measure of the effect (force).
All three, electric flux density, electric field strength and electric potential are related, as
we shall see.

Coulomb's Law (Charles Augustin de Coulomb, 1785)

This law describes, mathematically, the force between two point charges, or between two
small charged objects.
In words: the force between two charges is proportional to the size of each charge and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The equation

describes the force produced by q1 on q2. Note: it is a vector equation (force is a vector),
so coulomb forces must be added by the rules of vector addition.

Electric Field Strength; the E field for a point charge

For any point in an electric field, E is defined as the force per unit charge, which a small
positive test charge would experience at that point. This may be calculated, for a single
point charge as follows.

is the force produced by q1 on q0, the test charge. Field strength E is the force per unit
charge, so:

Note:
1 From the equation, E varies from point to point, in both magnitude and direction,
because each point has its own r and r. It is a vector field.
2 The units of E as defined above must be newtons /coulomb. These are equivalent
to the more usual units for E, volts/metre.
3 To calculate E for a point charge, no test charge has to be assumed.
4 The equations above apply only to a single point charge.

Electric Potential in a field due to a single point charge

We can compute the work done in bringing a unit charge (1 C) from infinity to a point P,
say, at a distance r from the point charge q1, in order to find the potential at P, due to q1.

Work done is

(The sign comes from the fact that force doing the work, i.e. pushing the unit charge
against F, has the opposite direction to x)

So the potential at point P is

This potential depends only on q and r and not on the assumed path taken by the unit
charge. It is an example of a scalar field. Other examples of scalar fields are:

pollution concentration
air temperature
atmospheric pressure
Gravitational potential.

Since potentials are scalar quantities they have the advantage that they may be simply
added algebraically. It follows from the integral above that the potential at the surface of
an isolated closed conducting sphere of radius r and carrying charge q is

Surface charge density and curvature

On a charged conductor which is irregularly shaped the density of charge (and hence the
flux density and electric field strength just outside the surface) is greatest at points
where the radius of curvature is least. For a sphere or radius r, at potential V, carrying a
charge Q

The surface charge density or flux density is

Hence

All points on the surface of a conductor must be at the same potential so for an irregular
surface the quantity ( r ) must be the same at all points. This means that where r is
small, must be large.

Electric Field as the (negative) gradient of potential: the gradient vector

All points on the surface of a conductor must be at the same potential so for an irregular
surface the quantity ( r ) must be the same at all points. This means that where r is
small, must be large. A smoothly-varying scalar field has a gradient, which measures
how that field varies near a point. For an electric field E = (the gradient of)V or E =
grad(V) For one dimension this becomes :

Electric Field as the (negative) gradient of potential: the gradient vector

A smoothly-varying scalar field has a gradient, which measures how that field varies
near a point. For an electric field E = (the gradient of)V or E = grad(V)
For one dimension this becomes

For two dimensions we write:

Gauss's Theorem
Consider the flux from a charge Q, situated at the centre of an imaginary sphere. The flux
passing through every portion of the sphere's surface is at right angles (normal) to that
portion. In other words the flux, of total value Q, is everywhere normal to the surface.

Now consider some other surface completely surrounding Q, say a sphere with a different
centre. The total flux through it is still Q coulombs but it is no longer everywhere normal.
Look at the flux density D through the element of area A. Since it is a vector it may be
resolved into components D cos (), normal to the surface, and D sin (), parallel to the
surface. If this is done for every element of the surface, the D sin () components cancel
one another out while the D cos () components add up to Q.

The real point of this is that it does not matter where Q is placed inside the surface, how
many separate charges there are, or even whether the surface is regular or not. We may
take any number of charges, distributed anywhere inside a closed surface and the total
outward normal flux equals the sum of those charges. Thus in the diagram on the right,
the total outward normal flux is Q1 + Q2 + Q3 + Q4.

Statement of Gauss's theorem

Over any closed surface, the total outward normal flux equals the sum of the charges
contained inside it.
Gauss's theorem provides the link between the simple calculation of flux density due to a
single point charge and practical calculations for charges distributed in various ways.

The connection between electric flux density D and electric field

strength E
We can see this most easily by considering a single point charge again. At a distance r
from a single point charge Q, flux density and field strength are given by:

Comparing these equations we see that the relationship must be E=oD

References
1. Niels Jonassen , Electrostatics (The International Series in Engineering and
Computer Science) , Springer; 2 edition (August 31, 2002)
2. Evan Gough, Introduction to Electrostatics , University of Essex, fall 2004
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