Chapter – 1……..

ELECTRIC CHARGES AND FIELDS

Coulomb’s law:

The force of interaction between two stationary point charges in vacuum is directly proportional to product of charges
and inversely proportional to the square of separation between them .

q1q2 1
here F  k , here k is proportionality constant. The value of k   9 109 Nm2 / C 2 .
r 2
40

Here  0 permittivity of free space , its value is 0  8.85 1012 C 2 N 1m2 .

 1 Coulomb is defined as that charge which when placed at a distance of 1m from another charge of same
magnitude in vacuum , experiences an electric force of 9 109 N. In practice we generally use mC or micro
coulomb C .

If q1  q2  1C , and r  1m
1 1
then, F  9  109 2
 9  109 N
1

Dielectric Constant or Relative permittivity:

The force between two charges q1 and q2 located at distance ‘r’ apart in medium may be expressed as :

1 q1q2
Fvacuum  , Here  0 is absolute permittivity of medium.
40 r 2

1 q1q2
Fmedium  , Here  is absolute permittivity of medium.
4 r 2

1 q1q2
Fvacuum 4 0 r 2 
     r , here  r is relative permittivity of medium with respect to vacuum. It is also denoted
Fmedium 1 q1q2 0
4 r 2

by ‘K’ also known an dielectric constant of medium.

 Fvacuum F
 K (r )      K 0 or Fmedium  vacuum
0 Fmedium K

Coulomb’s law in Vector form:

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Let two like charges q1 and q2 are present at separation ‘r’.

kq1q2
Therefore , According to Coulomb’s law force between them is F 
r2

kq1q2 kq q r
Let r12 is unit vector pointing from q1 to q2.  F21  2
r12  12 2 . 12
r r r

kq1q2 kq q r
Let r21 is unit vector pointing from q2 to q1 .  F12  2
r21  12 2 . 21
r r r

But since , r12   r21 or , r21  r12 , therefore F12   F21 .

Limitations of Coulomb’s Law :

(i) Electric charges should must be at rest.

(ii) The charges should must be point charges . it is not directly applicable for extended charged body.

 Coulomb’s force is very much stronger than gravitational force . Felectric  1030 Fgravitational .

Superposition principle:

The coulomb's law obeys the principle of superposition, which means that the force between two particles is not
affected by the presence of other charges. This principle is used to find the net force exerted on a given particle by
other charged particles.

Ftotal  F12  F13  F14  ........  F1n

-
q3

+ 
q4 F13

 + +
F12 q1 q2


F14

Fig.(3) Forces acting on q1 due to q2, q3 and q4 are shown

Continuous Charge distribution:

(i) Linear charge distribution: In this distribution charge distributed on a line.For example : charge on a wire, charge
on a ring etc. Relevant parameter is  which is called linear charge density.

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 charge

length

(ii) Surface charge density : In this distribution charge distributed on the surface.
For example : Charge on a conducting sphere, charge on a sheet etc. Relevant parameter is  which is called surface
charge density .

charge

Area

(iii) Volumetric Charge density : In this distribution charge distributed in the whole volume of the body.
For example : Non conducting charged sphere. Relevant parameter is  which is called volume charge density
i.e.,

charge

Volume

Electric Field:

Eelctric field at a point is defined as the force experienced by a unit positive charge placed at that point.
The charge which produces electric field is called Source charge (Q) and charge (q) which experiences force is called
test charge .

Electric Field Intensity:

The electric field intensity is defined as force experienced per unit positive test charge placed at that point without
disturbing the source charge .
F
Mathematically , E  Lim .
q0  0 q
0

Electric field is a vector quantity whose direction is same as the force experienced by a unit positive test charge .
The S.I. unit of electric field is N/C or Volt per metre(V/m) . The dimensions of electric field are [MLT 3 A1 ] .

+q -q

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Electric Field Due to a point charge :
The direction of E is that of the force on a positive charge. In other words, positive charges experience forces parallel
to the field, and negative charges experience forces opposite to the field Once the field strength is known, the force on
any charge q can be found from
F  qE
From Coulomb's law, the electric field created by a point charges q is given by
kq
E 2 r where the unit vector has it's origin at the source charge q.
r
Proof :

O r P
F
sourcecharge q0
test charge
Let us consider a point charge q placed at origin O . Let us place another test charge q0 placed at point P. According to
Coulomb’s Law , the force on charge q0 is ,
1 qq0
F r , here r is a unit vector in direction from q to q0 . Electric field at point P is
40 r 2
1 qq0
r
F 40 r 2 1 q
E   r
q0 q0 40 r 2
1 q 1
Therefore , the magnitude of electric field is E  , here E  2 .
40 r 2
r
Electric Field Due to a System of Charges
Since the principle of superposition is valid for Coulomb's law, it is also valid for the electric field. To calculate the
field strength at point due to a system of charges, we first find the individual field intensity E1 due to q1, E2 due to q2
and so on.
Charge particles :
For N point charges, the resultant field intensity is the vector sum E  E1  E2  E3  ........  E n

q2 E1
-

E2


E3
-
q3
+
q1
Fig.(6) Electric field at a point is the superposition of
Electric field at a individual contribution of each charge. point is the superposition of individual
contribution of each charge.

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Electric Field Intensity at any Point on the Axis of a Uniformly Charged Ring

Consider a circular loop of wire of negligible thickness, radius a and centre O held perpendicular to the
plane of the paper. Let the loop carry a total charge q distributed uniformly over its circumference. We have
to determine electric field intensity at any point P on the axis of the loop, where OP = r, figure below.

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Consider a small element AB of the loop. Let length of element AB = dl and C be the centre of the element.

q
Charge on the element AB is dq  dl ... (1)
2a

1 dq
Electric field intensity at P due to the charge element AB is | dE | along PC´ at  with the axis.
40 CP2

1 dq
| dE |
40 (r  a 2 )
2

dE can be resolved into two rectangular components.

dE cos  along PX, the axis of the loop, and dE sin  along PY, perpendicular to the axis.

For a pair of diametrically opposite elements of the loop, components of electric field intensity
perpendicular to the axis will cancel, whereas the components along the axis of the loop will add. As the
loop can be considered to be made up of a large number of pairs of diametrically opposite elements,
therefore,

 dE sin   0
Hence the resultant electric field intensity at P is

| E |  dE cos 

OP r
In DOPC, cos    2
CP (r  a 2 )1/2

1 dq r
 | E | 
40 (r  a ) (r  a 2 )1/2
2 2 2

1  q dl  r qr qr (2a)
Using (1), we get | E |    2 = 2 3/2 
dl =
40  2a  (r  a )
2 3/2
40 2a(r  a )
2
40 2a(r 2  a 2 )3/2
qr
| E | ………(3)
40 (r 2  a 2 )3/2

The direction of is along PX, the axis of the loop.

Special Cases

(i) When P lies at the centre of the loop.

r = 0, therefore from (3), E  0

(ii) When r >> a (i.e. P lies far off from the loop), neglecting a2 in comparison to r2 in (3), we get

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 qr q
| E |  , along PX
40 r 3
40 r 2

This is expression for | E | at a distance r from a point charge q. Hence a circular loop of charge behaves as a
point charge when the observation point (P) is at very large distance from the loop, compared to the radius
of the loop.

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