Electromagnetism

Lecture 3
Lecturer: Tristan O’Hanlon
Room: 303-618
t.ohanlon@auckland.ac.nz
After this lecture you should be able to:
• Understand that electric field is a property that describes the
space surrounding charged particles.
• Know that electric field inside a conducting material is always zero
(electric shielding).
• Explain the onset of lightning in terms of electric fields.
Review: Coulombs law
• Electric force depends on the charges and their separation

• Coulombs law: 𝑟𝑟: separation

𝑞𝑞1 : charge 1
𝑞𝑞2 : charge 2
𝑞𝑞1 𝑞𝑞2
𝐹𝐹 = 𝑘𝑘 2 𝑘𝑘: constant
𝑟𝑟 = 9 × 109 Nm2 /C 2

• 𝐹𝐹 negative ⇒ attractive force

• 𝐹𝐹 positive ⇒ repulsive force
Coulombs law

• How can particle 1 exert a force on particle 2, even though

they don’t touch?

• How can there be action at a distance with no visible

connection between the particles?
Coulombs law

• Electric field: property that describes the space surrounding charged

particles. (An “aura” around the charged particle).
• I.e. a region of space where a charge experiences a force.

• Particle 1 sets up an electric field

• Particle 2 “knows” about particle 1 because it is affected by the electric
field from particle 1
• Particle 1 pushes particle 2, not by touching it, but by means of the
electric field
 The Electric Field
• The direction of the electric field at a point is the direction of the
force on a stationary positive charge at that point.

• How do you get an electric field?

• Other charges!

Small free charge

-Q +q +Q

Charge in a fixed position Charge in a fixed position

The Electric Field
• The electric field around individual charges or charged conducting
spheres is radial. The field spreads out so the force that a nearby
charge will experience becomes weaker as distance from the
charge increases.
• Field lines can never cross.
The Electric Field
• When two or more charges are close to each other, the fields warp
and either merge or push away from each other.
Van der Graaf Generator
Example 8
A Van der Graaf generator is a device that can store a large
static charge. When touching a Van der Graf generator one’s
hair stands up. Why?
Electric field Strength
Electric field strength: has a magnitude and a direction
• Magnitude: Force per unit charge. If a body with charge 𝑞𝑞
experiences a force 𝐹𝐹 at some point in space, then the electric field
at that point is
𝐹𝐹 𝑁𝑁 𝑉𝑉
𝐸𝐸 = Unit: 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜
𝑞𝑞 𝐶𝐶 𝑚𝑚

• Direction: Direction to which a small positive charge would be

pushed. Indicated by arrows
Example 14
In which direction will the negative test charge be pushed?

electric field

Against the field

Example 15
Calculate the force an electric field with a strength 𝐸𝐸 = 2 𝑁𝑁/𝐶𝐶 exerts
on a charge Q = 0.4 C

𝐹𝐹 N
𝐸𝐸 = → 𝐹𝐹 = 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 = 2 � 0.4 C = 0.8 N
𝑄𝑄 C
Example 16
Use Coulombs law to deduce the electric field magnitude that a
point charge 𝑞𝑞1 experiences at a distance of 𝑑𝑑 from a charge Q
𝐹𝐹
By definition, the magnitude of the electric field 𝐸𝐸 =
𝑞𝑞1
𝑞𝑞1 𝑄𝑄
Force 𝐹𝐹 comes from Coulomb’s law: 𝐹𝐹 = 𝑘𝑘
𝑑𝑑 2
𝑞𝑞 𝑄𝑄
𝑘𝑘 12 𝑘𝑘𝑞𝑞1 𝑄𝑄 𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘
Injecting this into the definition of the E-field yields: 𝐸𝐸 = 𝑑𝑑
= =
𝑞𝑞1 𝑞𝑞1 𝑑𝑑 2 𝑑𝑑 2

𝐹𝐹 𝑞𝑞1 𝑄𝑄

𝑑𝑑
Example 17
Calculate the electric field strength at a distance of 1 meter from a
point source whose charge Q = 2 𝜇𝜇𝐶𝐶
𝐹𝐹
By definition, the magnitude of the electric field 𝐸𝐸 =
𝑞𝑞

𝑞𝑞𝑄𝑄
Force 𝐹𝐹 comes from Coulomb’s law: 𝐸𝐸 = 𝑘𝑘
𝑑𝑑 2
𝑞𝑞𝑄𝑄
𝑘𝑘 2 𝑘𝑘𝑞𝑞𝑄𝑄 𝑘𝑘𝑄𝑄
Injecting this into the definition of the E-field yields: 𝐸𝐸 = 𝑑𝑑
= =
𝑞𝑞 𝑞𝑞𝑑𝑑 2 𝑑𝑑 2

Chugging in numbers, we get

𝑘𝑘𝑄𝑄 2 × 10 −6 C
𝐸𝐸 = 2 = 9 × 109 Nm2 /C 2 = 18000 N/C
𝑑𝑑 1m 2
Example 18
A droplet of ink in an industrial ink-jet printer carries a charge 𝑄𝑄 =
1.6 × 10−10 𝐶𝐶 and is deflected onto paper by a force 𝐹𝐹 = 3.2 ×
10−4 𝑁𝑁. Calculate the strength of the electric field to produce this
deflection

𝐹𝐹 3.4 × 10−4 N 6
𝐸𝐸 = = −10
≈ 2.1 × 10 N/C
𝑞𝑞 1.6 × 10 C
Electric shielding
Electric fields can be shielded (blocked) by certain materials
• Gravity cannot

Electric field can be shielded by a material where the

electrons are free to move (conductor).
• Electric shielding 𝐸𝐸 ≠ 0
• Always so in metals

𝐸𝐸 = 0
Electric shielding
In general, in electrostatics the electric field inside a metal
object is always zero.

The electric field inside a conductor is not zero only if an

electric current flows inside the object.
𝐸𝐸 ≠ 0

𝐸𝐸 = 0
Electric shielding: why
Electrons packed against the electric field
• One side positively charged, the opposite side negatively
• The internal electric field exactly cancels the external electric field
• Test charge inside would not be pushed anywhere → 𝐸𝐸 = 0
Electric shielding: why
If electric field inside would not be zero, the free-moving electrons would pack
to one edge which would raise the internal electric field
• This continues until the internal electric field exactly cancels the external field
• Equivalently: Coulomb force matches the force from the external field
• Electric field in equilibrium must be zero!
Faraday cage
Electric shielding possible by surrounding an object with a conducting metal
Faraday cage: hollow enclosure formed by conducting material or a mesh of such
material
Real life
faraday
cages
Lightning physics
Negative charge builds on the bottom side of a cloud
• charge (through induction) earth below

Air is an insulator
• Electrons cannot just jump from the
cloud to the ground

A large electric field builds up

Lightning physics
Electrons pulled away from the air molecules by the electric field

If the electric field is sufficiently large, the bond is broken and the
electron is removed from the atom
• Becomes free to wander
• Insulator converted into a conductor!

𝐸𝐸 𝐸𝐸 𝐸𝐸
Lightning physics
When the electric field between the ground and the cloud is strong
enough
• Air molecules are ionized (electrons kicked off)
• A conductive plasma channel (gas of electrons and
ionized molecules) forms
• Electrons can move from the cloud to
to the ground via the plasma channel

Lightning!
Lightning – Step 1
Lightning – Step 2

INDUCTION!
Lightning – Step 3

ELECTRIC FIELD
Lightning – Step 4

Gas of free electrons

(PLASMA) wiggles its way
towards the ground
• Highly conductive!
Lightning – Step 5

Gas of free electrons When the plasma channel

(PLASMA) wiggles its way reaches ground, cloud
towards the ground discharged of excess electrons
• Highly conductive! • lightning
Lightning
Example 19
Air is an insulator: electrons cannot freely move through air.
During lightning millions of electrons move form a cloud to
earth. How is this possible?

When the electric field between the

ground and the cloud is strong enough
•Air molecules are ionized (electrons kicked
off)
•A conductive plasma channel (gas of electrons
and
ionized molecules) forms
•Electrons can move from the cloud to
to the ground via the plasma channel
After this lecture you should be able to:
• Understand that electric field is a property that describes the
space surrounding charged particles.
• Know that electric field inside a conducting material is always zero
(electric shielding).
• Explain the onset of lightning in terms of electric fields.