ELECTRIC CHARGE AND

Like charged bodies may

ELECTRIC FIELDS

between charged and neutral

body.
The mass without charge is
possible.
The charge without mass is
not possible.

attract each other.

Attraction also takes place

12
Sharks have the ability to locate preys (such as flounders
and other bottom-dwelling fish) that are completely
hidden beneath the sand. How could they do that?
CHARGE
The characteristic property of electrons and protons to exert the
force of attraction or repulsion on one another is termed as charge.

HISTORY BONOUS
Ancient Time

Law of Charges
In a series of simple experiments, it was found that there are two kinds of electric
charges, which were given the names positive and negative by Benjamin
Franklin (17061790). On the basis of observations, we conclude that charges of
same sign repel one another and charges with opposite signs attract
one another.

Conservation of Electric Charge

The algebraic sum of all the electric charges in any closed system is
constant.
If we rub an ebonite rod with a piece of fur, both initially uncharged, the ebonite
rod acquires a negative charge and fur acquires a positive charge of the same
magnitude (since it has lost as many electrons as the rod has gained). Hence, the
total amount of charge on two bodies together does not change. In any charging
process, charge is not created or destroyed; it is merely transferred from one
body to another.

Quantization of Charge
The magnitude of charge of the electron and proton is a natural unit of
charge.
In other words, the fundamental charge ever observed is that of electrons and
every object carries a charge either zero or in integral multiples of the
fundamental charge.

KEY IDEAS

The credit of discovery of the fact

that amber rubbed with wool or silk
attracts light objects goes to
THALES of Miletus, Greece around
600 BC.
Franklin Era
The word electricity is coined from
the Greek word elekron meaning
amber. It was Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790), the American politician
and scientist, who found that there
were two types of electric charges
named as positive and negative.
Franklin proposed a single fluid
theory. According to which all
matter contains an electric fluid
which had a positive charge.
A positively charged object had too
much positive fluid where as an
object with negative charge had
deficiency of positive charge.
Previously, some theorists proposed
two fluids positive fluid and
negative fluid instead.
Modern Theories
Modern theories include
conservation, quantization of charge.

Charging an Object By charging an

object, it is electrons that are
transferred. The positive charges are
not transferred at all.

! Pitfall Prevention

! Pitfall Prevention
A charged and Neutral body
Charged body may attract a neutral
object but it cannot repel.

Charge on Electron

e=1.6 1019 C
Coulomb

1C=6.25 1018 e

Test Your Understanding

HISTORY BONOUS

Joseph Priestly (1773-1804), a

Unitarian minister and physical
scientist, who moved to America,
the home of Benjamin Franklin,
proposed a brilliant hypothesis
remembering the NEWTONs
PRINCIPIA that force between the
charges follows inverse square
law.
A French Physicist, Charles
Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806)
in 1784 provided direct
experimental evidences for the
inverse square law by using the
torsion balance which he had
invented and similar to the one
used by 13 years later by
Cavendish to study the much
weaker gravitational interaction..

Three objects are brought close to

one another, two at a time. When objects A and B are brought together,
they attract. When objects B and C are brought together, they repel.
Which of the following are necessarily true? A. Objects A and C possess
charges of the same sign. B. Objects A and C possess charges of opposite
sign. C. All three objects possess charges of the same sign. D. One object
is neutral. E. Additional experiments must be performed to determine
information about the charges on the objects.

Test Your Understanding Strictly speaking, does the plastic rod

weigh more, less, or the same after rubbing it with fur?

12. 1 COULOMBS LAW

Statement
The electric force between two static point charges varies directly
to the product of charges with each charge and inversely with the
square of the distance between them.
q 2-

q 1+

Mathematically
F

F=K

q1q2
r2

q1q2
r2

Where K is known as Coulombs constant and its value depends on the medium
between the charges.
For free space
9

K=9 10 N m C
Also

K=

1
4 0

Where

(Epsilon nought) is

And

known as permittivity of free space.

F=

F=

1 q1 q 2
4 0 r2

is the relative permittivity of medium (or dielectric constant.)

1 q 1 q2
4 r 2

Alternately

COULOMBS LAW FOR MATERIAL

MEDIA

F=

q1 q2
1
4 o r r2

= o r

Where

is the permittivity of the

medium,

r =

KEY IDEAS
Coulombs Law is only valid for point charges.
Electrostatic force is conservative in nature.
Coulombs law holds good for all distances greater than 10-15 m.
The electrical force is 1039 times greater than the gravitational force.
If a medium is placed between two charges, then

SUPERPOSITION OF FORCES
When two charges exert forces simultaneously on a third charge,
the total force acting on that charge is the vector sum of the forces
that the two charges would exert individually.
The rule holds for any number of charges. The principle implies that the force
between two charges is not affected by the presence of other charges.

Example

The Hydrogen Atom

9
19
F electrical
9 10 ( 1.6 10 )
=
F gravitational 6.67 1011 9.1 1031 1.7 1027

2.2 1039
Thus, the electrical force is

1039

times greater than the gravitational

force.

The distance between the electron and the proton of Hydrogen atom is about

5.3 1011 m . Compare the electric and the gravitational forces between these

Test Your
Understanding

two particles.
SOLUTION
Use the Coulomb and Newtons laws:

k e2
2
F electrical
r
=
F gravitational G me m p
r2
or

Object A

has a charge of 2 C, and object B

has a charge of 6 C. Which
statement is true about the
electric forces on the objects? A.

F AB =3
F BA
F =
F BA
B. AB
C.

3
F AB=
F BA

3
F AB=
F BA

2
F electrical
ke
=
F gravitational G me m p

By substitution, we get

F free space
= r
F medium

D.
E.

F AB =
F BA