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Electrostatics

Electrostatics describes the behavior of electric charges at rest. Key points include: 1) Charges can be positive or negative, and likes repel while opposites attract according to Coulomb's law. 2) An electric field is created by a charged object and exerts force on other charges. The electric field strength is defined as the force on a test charge divided by the charge. 3) Gauss's law relates the electric flux through a closed surface to the net enclosed charge, allowing calculation of electric fields from symmetrically arranged charges like sheets and shells.

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541 views

Electrostatics

Electrostatics describes the behavior of electric charges at rest. Key points include: 1) Charges can be positive or negative, and likes repel while opposites attract according to Coulomb's law. 2) An electric field is created by a charged object and exerts force on other charges. The electric field strength is defined as the force on a test charge divided by the charge. 3) Gauss's law relates the electric flux through a closed surface to the net enclosed charge, allowing calculation of electric fields from symmetrically arranged charges like sheets and shells.

Uploaded by

Suparna
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ELECTROSTATICS

Charges...

Charge is an entity which exerts or responds to an electric force. Properties: 1. positive n negative 2. like repel unlike attract 3. quantisation of charge: charge is transferred in integral multiples of e. =ne 4. additivity of charges: net charge is the algebraic sum of all charges. 5. conservation of charges

INFO TO KNOW.....

|e| = 1.6 X 10-19 mp= 1.67 X 10


-27

kg

me = 9.109 X 10-31 kg mn = 1.67 X 10


-27

kg

Charging

Charging by conductance: electrons transferred so change in mass..same charge induced Charging by induction : no transfer of electrons..opposite charge is induced when the same charge is grounded

COULOMB's LAW

Superposition Principle
When a number of charges are interacting, the total force on a given charge is the vector sum of the individual forces exerted on the given charge by all the other charges.

Electric Field
The electric field E at a point due to a charge configuration is the force on a small positive test charges q placed at the point divided by a magnitude q / 4 0 r2; it is radially outwards from q, if q is positive and radially inwards if q is negative. E at a point varies inversely as the square of its distance from Q, the plot of E v/s r will look like the figure given below.

Electric Field Strength n electric field due to a pt.

Electric Field Strength: *Here q0 is the test charge

Electric Field due to a pt.

Electric field strength

Charge distribution

Electric Dipole

p=q X 2l The direction of p is from +ve to -ve

Electric Field Intensity due to electric dipole

Things to note...
The 1/ r3 dependence of dipole electric fields should be noted in contrast to the 1/ r2 dependence of electric field due to a point charge.
A dipole placed in uniform electric field E experiences torque

Electric Field Lines


An electric field line is a curve drawn in such a way that the tangent at each point on the curve gives the direction of electric field at that point. Important properties of field lines are: (i) Field lines are continuous curves without any breaks. (ii) Two field lines cannot cross each other. (iii) Electrostatic field lines start at positive charges and end at negative charges they cannot form closed loops.

Electric Flux

Electric Flux through an area element S is defined by The vector area element is where is the magnitude of area element and is normal to area element which can be considered planar for sufficiently small and is conventionally taken to be outward from closed surface.

Gauss Theorem
The flux of electric field through any closed surface s is 1/0 times the total charge enclosed by s. Electric field intensity due to an infinitely long straight wire of linear charge density is given by

Electric field intensity due to a uniformly charged infinite plane sheet of surface charge density is given by

Electric field intensity due to a uniformly charged thin spherical shell of surface charge density is given by

Where, r is the distance of the point from the centre of the shell and R the radius of the shell

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