San Sebastian College Recoletos de Cavite

GENERAL PHYSICS 3rd Quarter Summary

Electric Charge, conductors, and insulators

1. The fundamental quantity in electrostatics is electric charge.

2. There are two kinds of charge, positive and negative.
3. Charges of the same sign repel each other; charges of opposite sign attract.
4. Charge is conserved; the total charge in an isolated system is constant.
5. All ordinary matter is made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. The positive protons and
electrically neutral neutrons in the nucleus of an atom are bound together by the nuclear
force; the negative electrons surround the nucleus at distances much greater than the
nuclear size.
6. Electric interactions are chiey responsible for the structure of atoms, molecules, and solids.
7. Conductors are materials in which charge moves easily; in insulators, charge does not move
easily. Most metals are good conductors; most nonmetals are insulators.

Charging Process

1. Charging by Friction is when two neutral objects are rubbed against each other, one object
may pull electrons away from the other creating one positive object and one negative object.
2. Charging by Conduction is process of charging the uncharged object by bringing it in contact with
another charged object is called charging by conduction.
3. Induction is a process by which a body acquires a charge of opposite sign without losing any
of its own charges when another charged body is brought very close to it.

Coulombs Law

1. For charges q1 and q2 separated by a distance r, the magnitude of the electric force on
either charge is proportional to the product q1q2 and inversely proportional to r2.

2. The force on each charge is along the line joining the two chargesrepulsive if q1 and q2
have the same sign, attractive if they have opposite signs.
3. In SI units the unit of electric charge is the coulomb, abbreviated C.
4. When two or more charges each exert a force on a charge, the total force on that charge is
the vector sum of the forces exerted by the individual charges.

Electric eld

1. An electric field is a measurable effect generated by any charged object.

2. Electric eld a vector quantity, is the force per unit charge exerted on a test charge at any
point.

Senior High School Department (S.Y.2017 2018) Engr. Mary Joyce A. Lijas
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San Sebastian College Recoletos de Cavite
GENERAL PHYSICS 3rd Quarter Summary

3. The electric eld produced by a point charge is directed radially away from or toward the
charge.

Electric Field Lines

1. Field lines provide a graphical representation of electric elds.

2. The field lines must be tangent to the direction of the field at any point.
3. The greater the line density, the greater the magnitude of the field.
4. The lines always start from positively charged objects and end on negatively charged object.
5. The lines must never cross.

PROBLEM SET

1. A negative charge of -0.550 uC exerts an upward 0.200 - N force on an unknown charge

0.300 m directly below it.
a. What is the unknown charge (magnitude and sign)? Ans: +3.64 x 10-6 C = +3.64uC
b. What are the magnitude and direction of the force that the unknown charge exerts on
the charge? Ans: F = 0.200 N, downward
2. Two point charges are located on the y-axis as follows: charge q1 = -1.50 nC at y = -0.600m,
and charge q2 = +3.20nC at the origin (y=0). What is the total force exerted by these two
charges on a third charge q3 = +5.00 nC located at y = - 0.4000 m? Answer: -2.58 x 10-
6
N = -2.58uN, 2.58 x 10-6, in -y direction.
3. A point charge q1 = -4.00nC is at the point x = 0.600m, y = 0.800m, and a second point
charge q2 = +6.00nC is at the point x = 0.600m, y=0. Calculate the magnitude and direction
of the net electric eld at the origin due to these two point charges. Answer: 131.6 N/C at
12.6 degree above the -x axis.
4. Two charges, one of 2.50 uC and the other of -3.50 uC, are placed on the x axis, one at the
origin and the other at x = 0.600m, as shown in the figure below. Find the position on the x
axis where the net force on a small charge +q would be zero. Answer: x = -3.27m

Senior High School Department (S.Y.2017 2018) Engr. Mary Joyce A. Lijas
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San Sebastian College Recoletos de Cavite
GENERAL PHYSICS 3rd Quarter Summary

5. Three point charges are arranged along the x-axis. Charge q1 = +3.00 uC is at the origin,
and charge q2 = -5.00 uC is at x = 0.200m. Charge q3 = -8.00 uC. Where is q3 located if the
net force on q1 is 7.00 N in the -x direction? Answer: -0.144 m

6. A particle has charge -3.00 nC.

a. Find the magnitude of the electric eld due to this particle at a point 0.250m directly
above it. Answer: 432 N/C
b. At what distance from this particle does its electric eld have a magnitude of 12.0
N/C? Answer: 1.5 m

Senior High School Department (S.Y.2017 2018) Engr. Mary Joyce A. Lijas
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