Electric Force Superposition Principle

Electric charge States that the total electric force a particular charge
experiences due to a number of other charges is the
When a rubber rod is rubbed against fur, electrons are
vector sum of all individual forces.
removed from the fur and deposited on the rod.
Electrons move from fur to the rubber rod. The rod is said Electric Field
to be negatively charged because of an excess of
electrons. The fur is said to be positively charged A field is defined as a property of space in which a
because of a deficiency of electrons. material object experiences a force.

When a glass rod is rubbed against silk, electrons are
removed from the glass and deposited on the silk.
Electrons move from glass to the silk cloth. The glass is
said to be positively charged because of a deficiency of
electrons. The silk is said to be negatively charged
because of an excess of electrons.
Conductors and Insulators
Conductors - allows charges to flow
Insulator - resists the flow of charges
No force, no field; No field, no force!
The direction of the field is determined by the force.
The magnitude and direction of the field g depends on
the weight, which is the force F.
The field E at a point exists whether there is a charge at
that point or not. The direction of the field is away from
the +Q charge. Note that the field E in the vicinity of a
negative charge –Q is toward the charge—the direction
that a +q test charge would move.

Semiconductor - intermediate Electric Field Lines are imaginary lines drawn in such a
way that their direction at any point is the same as the
Superconductor – offers practically no resistance to flow direction of the field at that point.Field lines go away
of charges below some critical temperatures. Ex. Niobium from positive charges and toward negative charges.
cooled to 9.2 K
 Directed lines (curves, in general) that
There are two ways by which a neutral body may be start at a positively-charged object and
charged: Conduction and Induction end at a negatively-charged one

The First Law of Electrostatics: Like charges repel; unlike  Field lines are drawn so that the electric
charges attract. field vector is locally tangent to the field
line
The Quantity of Charge
The magnitude of the electric field intensity at a point in
The quantity of charge (q) can be defined in terms of the space is defined as the force per unit charge (N/C) that
number of electrons, but the Coulomb (C) is a better unit would be experienced by any test charge placed at that
for later work. A temporary definition might be as given 𝑭 𝑵
point. 𝑬 = 𝒒 Unit: 𝑪
below:

The Coulomb: 1 C = 6.25 x 1018 electrons
1 electron: e- = -1.6 x 10-19 C
1 μC = 1 x 10-6 C 1 nC = 1 x 10-9 C
1 pC = 1 x 10-12 C
Coulomb’s Law
The force of attraction or repulsion between two point
charges is directly proportional to the product of the two
charges and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between them.
The proportionality constant k for Coulomb’s law
depends on the choice of units for charge.
The resultant field E in the vicinity of a number of point
charges is equal to the vector sum of the fields due to
each charge taken individually. Directions are based on
positive test charge.
Signs of the charges are used only to find direction of E.
Electric Flux
When E lines pass outward through a closed surface, the
FLUX is positive. When E lines go into a closed surface,
the FLUX is negative.
Flux ( or FLOW) is a general term associated with a FIELD
that is bound by a certain AREA. So, ELECTRIC FLUX is any
AREA that has a ELECTRIC FIELD passing through it.

𝒌𝒒𝒒′ 𝑵𝒎𝟐
𝑭= 𝒓𝟐
𝒌 = 𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎𝟗 𝑪𝟐
The word FLUX roughly means FLOW. So based on this The capacitance C of a conductor is defined as the ratio
idea, we can define the ELECTRIC FLUX as the ELECTRIC of the charge Q on the conductor to the potential V
FIELD through a SURFACE AREA. produced.

𝑵𝒎𝟐 𝑸
𝜱𝑬 = 𝑬 ∙ 𝑨 = 𝑬𝑨𝒄𝒐𝒔𝜽 Unit: 𝑪= Unit: Coulomb per Volts = Farad (F)
𝑪 𝑽

Flux depends on the strength of E, on the surface area, One farad (F) is the capacitance C of a conductor that
and on the relative orientation of the field and surface. holds one coulomb of charge for each volt of potential.
The flux also depends on orientation.
* The capacitance depends only on physical para- meters
The number of field lines through the tilted surface (the radius r) and is not determined by either charge or
equals the number through its projection . Hence, the potential. This is true for all capacitors.
flux through the tilted surface is simply given by the flux
What are capacitors good for?
through its projection: E (A cosq).
• They store energy.
When q < 90˚, the flux is positive (out of the surface), and
when q > 90˚, the flux is negative. • The energy stored is not extremely large,
and it tends to leak away over time
The closed surface is called a Gaussian surface, because
such surfaces are used by Gauss’ Law, which states that: • Gasoline or fuel cells are better for this
The flux of electric field through a closed surface is purpose
proportional to the charge enclosed.
• They can release their energy very quickly.
𝒒𝒆𝒏𝒄 𝑪𝟐
𝜱𝑬 ∙ 𝒅𝑨 = 𝜺𝟎 = 𝟖. 𝟖𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟐 𝑵𝒎𝟐
𝜺𝟎 • Camera flashes, defibrillators, research
uses
The electric flux (flow) is in direct proportion to the
charge that is enclosed within some type of surface • They resist changes in voltage.
Capacitors • Power supplies for electronic devices,
etc.
A battery establishes a difference of potential that can
pump electrons e- from a ground (earth) to a conductor. • They can be used for timing, frequency filtering,
There is a limit to the amount of charge that a conductor etc.
can hold without leaking to the air. There is a certain
capacity for holding charge. • In conjunction with other parts

• A capacitor is a device for storing electric charge. Capacitors may be connected in two ways.

• It can be any device which can store charges. Capacitors or other devices connected along a single path
are said to be connected in series.
• Basically, capacitors consists of two metal plates
separated by an insulator. The insulator is called QT = Q1 = Q2 VT = V1 + V2 1/Ceq = 1/C1 + 1/C2
dielectric. (e.g. polystyrene, oil or air)
(𝑪𝟏 )(𝑪𝟐 )
𝑪𝒆 =
• Circuit symbol: 𝑪𝟏 + 𝑪𝟐

A capacitor consists of two conductors. * The equivalent capacitance Ce for capacitors in series is
always less than the least in the circuit..The equivalent
 These conductors are called plates. capacitance Ce for two series capacitors is the product
divided by the sum
 When the conductor is charged, the
plates carry charges of equal magnitude Capacitors which are all connected to the same source of
and opposite directions. potential are said to be connected in parallel.

A potential difference exists between the plates due to QT = Q1 + Q2 VT = V1 = V2 Ceq = C1 + C2

the charge.
Electrical circuits often contain two or more capacitors
Capacitance grouped together and attached to an energy source, such
as a battery. The equivalent capacitance Ce for capacitors
in parallel is always greater than the largest in the circuit.
1. If 16 million electrons are removed from a Find the magnitude and direction of the electric
neutral sphere, what is the charge on the sphere field and the electric force on a +1.0 nC test
in coulombs? q = +2.56 x 10-12 C charge placed at:
2. A –5 μC charge is placed 2 mm from a +3 μC Point A: (1.0 m, 0)
charge. Find the force between the two charges. Point B: (0, -1.0 m)
F = 3.38 x 104 N; Attraction 13. A disk with radius 0.10 m is oriented at an angle
3. Calculate the force of attraction between the of 30o to a uniform electric field with magnitude
lone electron and proton in a hydrogen atom. 2.0 x 103 N/C. what is the electric flux through the
The average distance between them is 5.0 x 10-11 disk?
m. F = 9.22 x 10-8 N; Attraction 14. An electric field of 500 N/C makes an angle of
4. A –6 μC charge is placed 4 cm from a +9 μC 30.00 with the surface vector, which has a
charge. What is the resultant force on a –5 μC magnitude of 0.500 m2 . Find the electric flux that
charge located midway between the first passes through the surface.
charges? FR = +1687.50 N 15. A solid sphere (R = 6 cm) having net charge +8
5. Three charges, q1 = +8 μC, q2 = +6 μC and q3 = -4 mC is inside a hollow shell (R = 8 cm) having a net
μC are arranged as shown below. Find the charge of –6 mC. What is the electric field at a
resultant force on the –4 μC charge due to the distance of 12 cm from the center of the solid
others. sphere?
6. A +2 nC charge is placed at a distance r from a –8 16. Five plastic objects, each with an electric charge,
μC charge. If the charge experiences a force of and a coin, which has no net charge. A Gaussian
4000 N, what is the electric field intensity E at surface, shown in cross section, encloses the
point P? E = 2 x 1012 N/C Downward three of the
7. A constant E field of 40,000 N/C is maintained plastic
between the two parallel plates. What are the objects and
magnitude and direction of the force on an the coin.
electron that passes horizontally between the The figure
plates? F = 6.40 x 10-15 N, Upward shows five
8. Find the resultant field at point A due to the –3 charged
nC charge and the +6 nC charge arranged as lumps of plastic and an electrically neutral coin.
shown. Resultant Field: ER = 4.52 N/C; 138.40 The cross section of a Gaussian surface S in
indicated. What is the net electric flux through
the surface if q1 = q4 = + 3.1 nC, q2 = q5 = - 5.9 nC,
and q3 = - 3.1 nC?
17. When 40 mC of charge are placed on a con-
ductor, the potential is 8 V. What is the
capacitance?
9. A negative charge of 2.0x10-5 C experiences a 18. What is the capacitance of a metal sphere of
force of 0.060 N when in an electric field. What is radius 8 cm? What charge Q is needed to give a
the magnitude of the field intensity? potential of 400 V?
10. Three-point charges are placed on the y-axis. One 19. The plates of a parallel plate capacitor have an
is +3 μC and located at position (0, 2 m), the area of 0.4 m2 and are 3 mm apart in air. What is
other is -2.0 μC and located at the origin and the the capacitance?
third is +2.5 μC and located at position (0, -2 m). 20. Find the equivalent
Find the magnitude and direction of the electric capacitance of the
field and the electric force on a +1.0 nC test three capacitors
charge placed at: connected in series
Point A: (1.5 m, 0) with a 24-V battery.
Point B: (0, 1.0 m) What is the total
11. A positive test charge of 8.0x10-5 is placed in an charge and the charge
electric field. It experiences a force of 4.0x10-3 N. on each capacitor?
What is the magnitude of the electric field What is the voltage across each capacitor?
intensity at this point?
12. Three-point charges are placed on the y-axis. One
is +3 μC and located at position (0, 2 m), the
other is -2.0 μC and located at the origin and the
third is +2.5 μC and located at position (0, -2 m).
21. Find the
equivalent
capacitance of the
three capacitors
connected in
parallel with a 24-
V battery. Find the
total charge QT and charge across each capacitor.
22. Find the equivalent capacitance of the circuit
drawn below.
Find the total
charge QT.