Electricity and Magnetism

1 Electrostatics
1 lab EM1 E/statics investigations - 2
lessons, during lab cover:
atomic structure; excess electrons -> -ve
charge, etc
charging by induction and by contact
(shared charge) - OHP
testing charge of charged object
why neutral objects attracted to charged
object - both neutral insulators and
neutral conductors - OHP
e/static induction - temporary (charge
distribution) and permanent
conductors and insulators, including
materials that are insulators at low V but
conduct at high V (eg paper, wood)
electroscope - OHP
earthing: charging Earth by contact,
therefore sharing but capactitance Earth
so large that negligible charge remains
on object
show charging e/scope with kV supply > pds created by charging by friction
~1000s volts
using charged e/scope to determine sign
of charge, note neutral object gives same
response (leaf drops) as opposite sign
charge - OHP
Faradays ice pail - OHP
charge distribution over surface of
conductor depends on curvature of
surface - flat, concave, convex
2

4 electric field
v - quantitative
v F
define E =
q
v k Qq
2
q
for isolated charge E = r = k 2
q
r
compare w. grav field

calc total E for collection point charges

Etot = E1 + E2 + E3 + ...
null pointfor pair unequal charges
E1 = -E2
Qa = -3.0 C
0

Qb = -2.0 C
X
2

x/m
3

find:

Ex due to Qa alone
Ex due to Qa and Qb
location of null point
Wh Ch43 #16, 17, 18
issue E and V worksheet

electric force
intro Coulombs law
disc units - coulomb, units of k
do simple eg on board, then Wh Ch42
#21

electric field - diagrams

define magnitude and direction - vector
test charge
sketch for: +
+ - (review vector addn)
+ + (null point)
uniform field - straight, parallel,
equidistant
rules: E lines begin on +, end on never cross
never enter conductor
meet surface conductor 90
density of lines measure E
# lines proportional E
h/w: sketch +2 -1 (solution as h/out)

Steve Udy Teaching Notes

page 1 of 2

Printed on 29/6/04

5 electric potential and p.e.

for isolated charge E p = 0 at
Qq
Ep = k
r
potential at point is work done per C to
q from infinity to that
mover charge
point
W Ep
Q
V=
=
=k
q
q
r

V is scalar
V +ve around + charges and -ve around charges, therefore V=0 between opposite
charges
demo w.
W
potential difference VAB = VA V B = AB
q

WA B
B

+Q
A

+ work against field? left

- work?
right
0 work?
up or down
-> equipotential lines perpendicular E
lines
equipotential lines on E diagrams
equipotential surfaces
electronvolt - 1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 J
E vs r and V vs r graphs - OHP
issue e/statics applications h/out

WA B > 0
->
VB >VA
conservative fields
disc 9V battery - move +1C from + to terminal, battery does 9J work (chem to
elect. conversion)
move -1C from + to - terminal, do work
on battery, ie recharging
V at
Wh Ch45 #13,17,18,19,29,30

6 relationship between E and V

4 cm

12V
10V
8V
6V
4V

V
x
2V
=
0.04 m
= 50 V m -1

E=

dir of E? hi V to lo V therefore E =

+Q

V
x

which way to move +Q to do:

Steve Udy Teaching Notes

page 2 of 2

Printed on 29/6/04