B.

Tech Physics Course NIT Jalandhar

electrostatics Lecture 2

Dr. Arvind Kumar

Physics Department
e.mail. : iitd.arvind@gmail.com

Electrostatics: It involve the study of the phenomenon e.g.

electric force, electric potential etc due to charges at rest.
Electric force:
Coulomb's Law: The Magnitude of the force between two
point charges at rest is directly proportional to the product of
the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between
them.
In vector form

Permittivity of the vacuum

between charges

Separation distance

Electric field:

Units: of E.F. = NC-1

Continuous types of charge distributions:

If the charge is distributed over some region of space then
the expression for the E.F. can be written in
terms of the integral

Charge may be distributed along a line with some linear charge density
, over some surface with surface charge density or
within some volume with volume charge density

E.F. for the line charge distribution

E.F. for the surface charge distribution

E.F. for the volume charge distribution

Electric field lines: A kind of model used to represent the E.F. in

some region of space
E.F. vector E is tangent to the electric field lines at that point
Number of lines per unit area through a surface perpendicular to
the lines is proportional to the magnitude of E.F. in that region.
The E.F. is larger when the lines are closed together and small
when they are far apart
The E.F. due to a +ve point charge
point radially outward

The E.F. due to a -ve point charge

point radially inward.
The electric field lines start at +Ve charge
and end at Ve charge
Model of electric field lines is consistent with the Coulomb
law
Number of electric lines of force
per unit area =
which is proportional to E.F.
Thus E is inversely proportional to square
of distance which is Coulombs law

Electric flux :
Consider the electric field lines penetrating
the rectangular surface which is
perpendicular to these field lines
Number of field lines per unit area is proportional
to the strength of E.F.
Total number of field lines penetrating the surface of area A = EA
The product of the magnitude of the E.F. and area
A which is perpendicular to the field lines is known as electric flux.

When the E.F. penetrate the surface at some angel then flux is

If E.F. is not uniform the we consider a

small area element over which the field
is uniform

The we sum over all small area elements to get the total flux.
The summation approaches integral when the small area
element tends to zero

Gauss Law : It gives us the relation between the electric flux

through the closed surface and the charge enclosed by the surface
Consider a sphere of radius r which enclose a charge q at the
origin. The electric flux through this is

E.F. due to a point charge

Area of sphere written

using
spherical co-ordinate
system

Note that the electric flux through a closed surface is proportional

to the charge enclosed by the surface but independent of the shape
If the charge is outside the surface then the net flux is zero because
the number of lines entering the surface is equal to the number of
lines leaving the surface

If instead of single point charge we have a number of point charges

enclosed by the surface, then total electric field is obtained
using superposition principle

which is integral form of Gauss Law.

Differential form of Gauss Law:

In integral form Gauss law is
-----------(1)

Using Gauss Divergence theorem the electric flux can be written as

-----------(2)

Also the total enclosed charge can be written in terms of volume charge
density
-----------(3)

Therefore, using eqns (2) and (3) , eqn (1) can be written as

-----------(4)

Which is differential form of Gauss law

Applications of Gauss Law:

In integral form the Gauss law is

The Gauss law can be used to find the E.F. due to some electric
charge distribution which is highly symmetric
For this purpose we first choose some Gaussian surface
A Gaussian surface is some kind of hypothetical closed surface which
is constructed to find the electric flux
While choosing Gaussian surface following conditions may be satisfied
The value of E.F. can be chosen constant over the surface
If E and da are parallel the then dot product in eqn (1) can be written
in simple algebraic form. On the other hand if these are perpendicular
then above product becomes zero

(I) Starting from the Gauss law find the E.F. due to an isolated point
charge distribution
Ans:
Choose a spherical sphere of radius r with center at
The point charge
The E.F. due to point charge direct radially
outward and is normal to the surface
The area vector is also normal to surface and therefore both
Are parallel and angle between them is zero and dot product
Can be written as simple algebraic product
Thus we can write Gauss law as ,

-----------(1)

Since the electric field is constant over the surface and therefore the
E.F. can be taken outside the integral
-----------(2)

-----------(3)

which is Coulombs law.

(2) Find the E.F. due to a uniformly charge solid sphere of radius R
and total charge q at a point
(i) Outside the sphere (ii) Inside the sphere
Ans.
(i) Outside the sphere: To find the E.F. due to a uniformly charged
sphere of radius a outside the sphere consider a Gaussian
sphere of radius r which is co-centric
with the charged sphere.
Now we know the Gauss law says:

---------------(1)

In above the total charge enclosed , Qenc, is equal to q

Since the E.F. is directed radially outward and is normal to surface and
therefore the dot product of E.F and area changes to a simple algebraic
product i.e.
-----------(2)

Since the field is uniform and constant over the sphere and
therefore can be taken outside the integral
-----------(3)

Thus using eqn. (1) and (3) we get

-----------(4)

Above eqn gives the E.F outside the uniformly charged solid sphere

Also we observe that the E.F. outside the sphere is same as due to
single point charge. It seems as whole charge is concentrated at the
center.
(ii) Inside the sphere:
To find the E.F. inside the sphere we
consider now the Gaussian sphere of
radius r inside the sphere
Now first we need to find the charge
enclosed by this Gaussian sphere.
If is the volume charge density then charge enclosed by the
sphere of radius r = volume of sphere * volume charge density
--------------(5)

Here again by symmetry, the electric field is directed radially out

ward on the surface and Also is constant and therefore using the
Gauss law we can write
-----------(6)

Thus using Gauss law we write

-----------(7)

-----------(8)

Volume charge density can be expressed in terms of total charge of the

Solid charged sphere and radius of the sphere
and thus we have

-----------(9)

Above eqn. shows that the E.F. due at a point inside the solid
charged sphere is directly proportional to the distance of the
point from the origin.
Fig shows the variation of E.F. inside and outside the sphere.

III. Find the E.F. inside and outside of a spherical shell using
Gauss law
Ans: Outside the Spherical shell:
Consider Gaussian sphere of radius r co-centric
with the spherical shell

-----------(1)

In above the total charge enclosed , Qenc, is equal to q

Since the E.F. is directed radially outward and is normal to surface and
therefore the dot product of E.F and area changes to a simple algebraic
product i.e.
-----------(2)

Since the field is uniform and constant over the Gaussian sphere and
therefore can be taken outside the integral
-----------(3)

Thus using eqn. (1) and (3) we get

-----------(4)

Above eqn gives the E.F outside the spherical shell

Inside the spherical shell: To find the E.F. inside the spherical shell
we consider the Gaussian sphere inside the shell as shown in fig
Now according to Gauss Law

But in case of spherical shell the charge inside the shell is zero.
The whole charge is at surface. The right hand side is zero and hence the
E.F. inside the shell is zero

IV. Find the E.F. due to infinitely long straight wire at a distance .
The wire has uniform linear charge density .
Ans. Here symmetry of the charge distribution requires
that the E.F. is perpendicular to line charge
distribution. We choose the Gaussian
surface in form of a cylinder.
Now acc. To Gauss law

---------------(1)

At curved surface the E.F. points radially outward and makes zero
angle with area vector. Also magnitude is constant
Also the charge enclosed by the cylinder
= length of cylinder * linear charge density =l
Using above properties eqn (1) can be written as
=

Also area of cylinder is =

--------------(2)

= 2rl
---------------(3)

Using (3) in (2) we get

---------------(4)
Note that there is no contribution to E.F. due to end points of cylinder
Because E.F. vector and area vector are perpendicular at end points.
Note that E.F. due to cylindrical charge distribution is inversely
proportional to r whereas due to spherical charge distribution it is
Inversely proportional to r2