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1 - Electric Fields

1) This document discusses electric fields, including the laws of electric charges, charging methods, Coulomb's law, and electric field diagrams. It defines key terms like insulators, conductors, elementary charge, and electric field. 2) Sample problems demonstrate how to use Coulomb's law to calculate the electric force between two point charges. Permittivity and relative permittivity are also introduced. 3) The document explains how to draw electric field diagrams, including conventions for field lines and how the electric field varies between charged parallel plates and inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
45 views12 pages

1 - Electric Fields

1) This document discusses electric fields, including the laws of electric charges, charging methods, Coulomb's law, and electric field diagrams. It defines key terms like insulators, conductors, elementary charge, and electric field. 2) Sample problems demonstrate how to use Coulomb's law to calculate the electric force between two point charges. Permittivity and relative permittivity are also introduced. 3) The document explains how to draw electric field diagrams, including conventions for field lines and how the electric field varies between charged parallel plates and inside a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Understandings, Applications

and Skills

Electric Fields
IB Physics - SL

Laws of Electric Charges Insulators and Conductors

• Opposite electric charges attract each other • Insulator: A material that does not respond to an electric field and
completely resists the flow of electric charge
• Similar electric charges repel each other • On insulators, charge remains on the spot where it is introduced
• Conductor: A material that responds to an electric field and does not resist
• Charged objects attract some neutral objects the flow of electric charge
• On spherical conductors, charge spreads out evenly
• On non-spherical conductors, charges repel each other towards pointed surfaces

Ways to Acquire Electric Charge Charging by Friction

• When two materials are


• Three ways: rubbed together, positively
• Friction charged nuclei of one of the
materials attract the electrons
• Contact in the other material more
• Induction strongly than the nuclei of the
other material
• Electrostatic series allows us
to predict charges of objects
that are rubbed together
• Strong hold  Negative
• Weak hold  Positive
• Result: Opposite net charges

1
Charging by Contact Induced Charge Separation

• Electrons flow from one object to another • Induced Charge Separation:


• Objects share the excess or deficit of electrons Distribution of charge that
results from a change in
• Result: Same net charge the distribution of
electrons in or on an
object

Charging by Induction Law of Conservation of Charge


• Multi-step process:
• Charged object induces • The total charge within an isolated
a charge separation in
a second object system is conserved
• Second object is • Total charge: The difference between the
grounded amounts of positive and negative charge
• Electrons enter or
leave the second
object through the
ground
• Ground is removed,
resulting in a net
charge on the second
object
• Result: Opposite net
charges

Elementary Charge Charge on the Proton

• Unit for electric charge: Coulomb (C) • Proton and the electron have charges equal in
magnitude but opposite in sign
• Elementary charge  charge on an electron
• 𝑒 = 1.602 × 10−19𝐶 • Every subatomic particle that has been observed to
date has a charge that is a whole number multiple of
• Object with an excess (or deficit) of N electrons has a the fundamental charge
charge q that is given by: 𝑞 = 𝑁𝑒
• Charge is quantized  Appears in specific amounts,
whether positive or negative

2
Coulomb’s Law Assumptions of Coulomb’s Law

• Used to calculate magnitude of electric force


• The charges on the two spheres are very small
• Coulomb’s Law  The force between two point
• Two spheres are small compared to the distance
charges is inversely proportional to the square of the
between them
distance between the charges and directly
proportional to the product of the charges
• SI Unit of charge: Coulomb (C)
• k is the Coulomb proportionality constant

𝑘𝑞1 𝑞2 2
𝐹𝐸 = 𝑟2
𝑘 = 9.0 × 109 𝑁∙𝑚
𝐶2

Permittivity Sample Problem 1


2
• The constant 𝑘 = 9.0 × 109 𝑁∙𝑚
𝐶2
can also be expressed in
terms of the permittivity of a vacuum, 𝜀0:
1 2
𝑘= 𝜀0 = 8.85 × 10−12 𝑁∙𝑚
𝐶
2
4𝜋𝜀0

• Permittivity is different for different media


• Relative permittivity, 𝜀𝑟 , of a material is the ratio of its
permittivity to the permittivity of a vacuum:
𝜀𝑚
𝜀𝑟 =
𝜀0

Sample Problem 1 - Solution Sample Problem 2

3
Sample Problem 2 - Solution Sample Problem 2 - Solution

Sample Problem 2 - Solution Sample Problem 3

Sample Problem 3 - Solution Sample Problem 3 - Solution

4
Sample Problem 3 - Solution Sample Problem 3 - Solution

Field of Force Electric Field

• Electric Field: The region in which a force is exerted on an electric


• Field theory explains interactions between bodies or charge
particles in terms of fields • The electric force per unit positive charge
• Small positive test charge is used to determine the direction of the
• Field of Force: A field of force exists in a region of electric field lines around a charge
space when an appropriate object placed at a point in • Vector quantity
the field experiences a force • Units: N/C

𝑘𝑞1 𝐹
𝜀= =
𝑟2 𝑞

Conventions for Drawing Electric


Electric Field Diagrams
Field Diagrams
• Electric field is represented by field lines • Field lines start on positive charges and end on negative
• Relative distance between adjacent field lines indicates charges
magnitude of electric field at any point • Field lines never cross
• Regions of strong field  lines close together
• Regions of weak field  lines further apart

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Drawing Electric Field Diagrams
Electrostatic Equilibrium
for Charged Plates
• Electric field outside plates is zero • Any conductor in electrostatic equilibrium will
have no electric field inside of it
• Except for slight bulging near end of plates
• How this works:
• Electric field is constant everywhere in the space between the parallel • Before the external field is applied, free
plates electrons are distributed throughout the
• Field lines are: straight, equally spaced, perpendicular to plates conductor
• When the external field is applied, the
• Magnitude of electric field at any point between plates depends only on electrons redistribute until the magnitude of
magnitude of charge on each plate the internal field equals the magnitude of the
external field
• Except near edges
• There is a net field of zero inside the
• 𝜀 𝛼 𝑞, where q is the charge per unit area on each plate conductor
• Induced surface charges create an opposing
electric field that cancels the field of the
external charge throughout the interior of the
metal
• The electric field inside the conductive object
is zero

Electrostatic Equilibrium Sample Problem 4

Sample Problem 4 – Solution Sample Problem 5

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Sample Problem 5 - Solution Sample Problem 5 - Solution

Sample Problem 6 Sample Problem 6 - Solution

Electric Potential Energy and


Electric Potential Energy
Sign
• Positive or negative depending on
• Electric Potential Energy: The energy stored in a the signs of the charges
system of two charges a distance r apart • Opposite charges  Attraction 
Potential has a negative value
• Energy is stored by moving them
𝑘𝑞1 𝑞2 further
𝐸𝐸 = • As r gets smaller, stored energy gets
𝑟 smaller (more negative)
• Similar charges  Repulsion 
Potential has a positive value
• Energy is stored by moving them
closer
• As r gets smaller, stored energy gets
larger (more positive)

7
Electric Potential Electric Potential and Sign

• Electric potential: The value, in volts, of potential • Positive charge  Electric potential is large near the charge
energy per unit positive charge and decreases, approaching zero, as r increases
• Negative charge  Electric potential is a large negative value
𝐽 near the charge and increases, approaching zero, as r increases
1𝑉 = 1
𝐶

• 1V is the electric potential at a point in an electric


field if 1 J of work is required to move 1 C of charge
from infinity to that point

𝑘𝑞1
𝑉=
𝑟

Electric Potential Difference The Electron Volt

• Electric Potential Difference: The amount of work required per • Scientists often consider electrons moving about in
unit charge to move a positive charge from one point to electric fields  convenient to measure their change
another in the presence of an electric field of energy in terms of electron volts rather than joules
𝑊 = ∆𝐸𝐸 = 𝑞∆𝑉 = 𝑞𝑉𝐵 − 𝑞𝑉𝐴 = 𝑞(𝑉𝐵 − 𝑉𝐴 ) • An electron volt is the energy gained by an electron
accelerated through a potential difference of 1 volt

1𝑒𝑉 = 1.6 × 10−19 𝐽

Sign of Electric Potential


Charged Parallel Plates
Difference
• For AB and +q, then ΔV>0 • When moving a charge
• Potential increases
between charged parallel
• For BA and +q, then ΔV<0 plates:
• Potential decreases
• For AB and -q, then ΔV<0 ∆𝑉
• Potential decreases 𝜀=
• For BA and -q, then ΔV>0
𝑟
• Potential increases
𝑉 𝐽
• Unit: 𝑜𝑟
𝑚 𝐶

8
Electric Potential in a Uniform
Field Strength - Units
Field
• A uniform electric field can be created between two charged plates
𝑉 𝐽
• For electric field strength, = : • Consider the bottom plate to be at 0V and the top plate V
𝑚 𝐶 • To move a charge, q, from the bottom to the top the energy gained (work done), in joules, is:
𝐸 = 𝑞∆𝑉
𝐽 𝑘𝑔 ∙ 𝑚2 • If the field strength is 𝜀, then the force required is:
𝑉 𝐽 2 𝑘𝑔 ∙ 𝑚2 𝑘𝑔 ∙ 𝑚 𝑁 𝐹 = 𝑞𝜀
=𝐶 = = 𝑠 = 2 = 2 = • Work done is:
𝑚 𝑚 𝐶∙𝑚 𝐶∙𝑚 𝑠 ∙𝑚∙𝐶 𝑠 ∙𝐶 𝐶 𝐹 cos 𝜃 ∆𝑑 = 𝑞𝑒∆𝑑 (𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝜃 = 0, 𝑠𝑜 cos 𝜃 = 1)
• Energy is conserved, so work done is equal to gain in potential energy:
∆𝑉
𝑞∆𝑉 = 𝑞𝜀∆𝑑 → 𝜀 =
∆𝑑

Sample Problem 7 Sample Problem 7 - Solution

Sample Problem 8 Sample Problem 8 - Solution

9
Sample Problem 9 Sample Problem 9 - Solution

Sample Problem 10 Sample Problem 10 - Solution

Particle Motion and Energy Charged Particles in Uniform


Conservation Electric Fields
• Motion of charged particles in • Uniform electric fields exist in parallel plate systems
electric fields obeys the law of
conservation of energy • Acceleration is constant and vertical
• A charged particle, q1, moves in • Work done by an electric force in moving a charged
the electric field of q2 in such a
way that the electric potential particle with charge q, in a parallel-plate apparatus:
energy it loses is equal to the
kinetic energy it gains
𝑊 = 𝑞∆𝑉

• Conservation of energy  Amount of work is equal in


magnitude to the change in electric potential energy
and the change in kinetic energy of the particle as it
moves from one plate to the other

10
Sample Problem 11 Sample Problem 11 - Solution

Sample Problem 11 - Solution Sample Problem 12

Sample Problem 12 - Solution Sample Problem 13

11
Sample Problem 13 - Solution Sample Problem 13 - Solution

Sample Problem 13 - Solution Sample Problem 13 - Solution

Practice

• Exercises 1 - 7

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