Physics A

Unit 11

Electrostatics

From unit 11 through unit 13 you will study another of the major branches of physics, electromagnetism. In this unit we consider electric forces for particles at rest, known as electrostatics. Be familiar with the material outlined below before test 301. I. Charge A. Defined B. Methods of Charging 1. By Friction 2. By Contact 3. By induction II.

Electric Force
A. Between two particles B. Among multiple, collinear particles C. Among multiple, coplanar particles

III. Electric

Field

A. Defined B. Particles interacting with the field C. Particles as sources of field IV. Electric

Potential

A. Definition of the Volt B. Field and Volt relation C. Particle Accelerator D. Electric Potential for Point Charges This unit should take approximately eight days to complete as follows. Day 1 is I. Day 2 is II. Day 3 is III. Day 4 is IV.A-C. Day 5 is IV.D. Day 7 is practice test day and day 8 will be the test. A lab mapping E fields is also necessary.

Lesson 3-01

Charge Defined (pp. 557-563)

Particles that react to electromagnetic forces have the property of charge associated with them. One could construct the analogy that mass is to gravity as charge is to electricity. At the end of this unit you should be able to write a wonderful compare and contrast paper between electricity and gravity. If you have already completed a course in chemistry then the concept of charge should be familiar to you. Unlike in chemistry where +1, 0 and -1 were good enough for conserving charge we need to be a little more exact. The symbol for charge is q. Charge is measured in Coulombs or C. You have been taught that all Name Symbol Mass (Kg) Charge (C) matter is composed of protons, Neutron n 1.67E-27 0 neutrons and electrons. The symbol, mass and charge for Proton p+ 1.67E-27 +1.6E-19C these basic particles are listed Electron e9.11E-31 -1.6E-19C to the right. You should refer to this table as you complete problems in this unit. Most electrical charges are very small in value. Because the values are small one needs to become reacquainted with the Latin prefixes for E-3 (milli or m), E-6 (micro or ), E-9 (nano or n) and E-12 (pico or p). You should know these for the next test. The most common way to charge an object is by friction. Let two, neutral surfaces rub together; electrons can be transferred from one surface to another. Since you cannot transfer a fraction of an electron one should recognize that charge is always a whole number multiple of the electron charge. q=Ne where e = 1.6E-19C The object gaining electrons will become N = 0, 1, 2, 3, negatively charged. The object losing electrons becomes positively charged. The second most common way to charge is by contact. Suppose that you drag your foot across a new carpet to build up a charge. That would be charging by friction. Then you sneak behind somebody and touch them gently on the ear lobe until there is a loud pop followed by a mild scream. Since you were charged and they were not some of the charge that was on the surface of your body transferred to them. When a charged object touches a neutral object and charge is transferred we call that charging by contact. We finish the second method of charging with an example and an after thought. Example #1 Shown below are two identical, conducting spheres that are mounted on glass stands. Each sphere is charged as shown below. If the two spheres are made to touch by a person holding the glass stands or made to connect with an insulated wire what will be the final charge on each stand? +24 C -10 C

Since both spheres are conducting then the charges are free to move between the surfaces of the two spheres. The negative charge on the right side is totally neutralized by the positive charge on the left. The net charge remaining is +14C. Since the spheres are identical the net charge will evenly distribute between the two spheres. The final charge distribution is +7C on either sphere. The final thought about charging by contact has to do with where the electrical discharge will occur. Excess charge has a tendency to transfer at the tip of a pointed surface like your fingernail or even a car key. If you are always getting shocked during the winter when the air is dry and electrically insulating try the following. Before touching a surface that would accept excess charge from you, take out your car keys and grasp them firmly in the palm of your hand. Touch the tip of one key gently to the surface of the neutral object. The charge transfer should be concentrated at the tip of the key while being evenly distributed over the palm of your hand. No more pain! Also note that if you are caught in an electrical storm you are encouraged to keep your hands inside of your armpits. Do you see why? Umbrellas have recently been modified to have blunt ends instead of sharp, metallic points. Thank you Benjamin Franklin! The third way to charge is by induction. It is called induction because you use a charged object to polarize and then separate charge from neutral objects. Reconsider the conducting spheres from the previous page. In this thought experiment both start out electrically neutral, figure A below. A positively, charged rod is brought near one of spheres, figure B below. Since both spheres are conductors, electrons on either sphere will move closer to the rod and leave the side of the sphere farther from the rod more negative. This is known as polarization. While polarized the two spheres are made to touch allowing the negative charge from one sphere to neutralize the positive charge of the other sphere, figure C. Finally, the spheres are once again separated and then the charged rod is removed, figure D. Now two neutral objects have charged each other in the presence of a charged object. This is known as induction because the charged object induced the two neutral objects to become charged.

q=0

q=0

++++

+ +

+ +

Fig A

Fig B

++++

+ +

+ +

Fig C

Fig D

Homework problems for lesson 3-01 1. A deuteron is a subatomic particle composed of a proton and neutron stuck together. What are the approximate mass and charge of this particle? An alpha particle is two deuterons stuck together. What are the approximate mass and charge of an alpha? 2. Which of the following charges is not possible? A) +3.2E-19C B) -4.0E-19C C) -4.8E-19C D) +5.6E-19C E) -4.0E-18C 3. What is the mass and charge of 2.8E+3 electrons? 4. If the charged, conducting spheres of example 1 were +24C and +10C what would be the final result for the example? Repeat with -24C and + 10C. Lesson 3-02 Coulombs Law (pp. 564 571)

The force between two point charges can be determined with a single equation. The direction of the force is expressed by recall of the statement that opposite charges attract and like charges repel. The equation can also FE = k q q/ r2 be used to determine the direction if you plug in the polarity of each charge. A positive force 1) q is the charge pushing is repulsive and a negative force is attractive. 2) q is the charge getting pushed The magnitude of the force is found using the 3) k = 9.0E+9 Nm2/C2 equation in the text box to the right. You can store the value of k = 9 E+9 in your calculator using the sequence of key strokes: [9], [2nd], [,], [9], [STO], [ALPHA], [(], [ENTER]. The above equation is known as Coulombs Law after the discoverer, Charles Coulomb. Use the above equation with absolute value of charges to find the magnitude of the force vector. Use the italicized statement to find the direction of the force vector. Example #2 A +8C charge is placed at the origin. A 5C charge is placed on the x-axis at x=+20cm. Find the force that each charge exerts on the other. +8C 5C | | | | | | | x-axis 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 cm |F| = (9E9 Nm2/C2)(8E-6C)(5E-6C)/ (0.2m)2 = 9.0 N Notice that the polarity of each charge is ignored in finding the magnitude. Since opposites attract, the 8C will experience a 9 N force towards the other charge. The 8C charge experiences a force of 9 N to the right. The 5C charge experiences a force of 9 N to the left. Collinear Charges If multiple charges are on the same line then you find the force that each charge (q) exerts on to the charge in question (q). Consider the figure below. What is the net force on the charge located at the origin? In this case, q = +8C. You know that the force from the 5C charge exerts a force of 9 N to the right. The +7C charge exerts a force of 4.92N to the left. Subtracting gives the net force of 4.08 N to the right. +8C 5C +7C | | | | | | | | | x-axis 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 cm

You should recognize that these electricity problems are nothing more than using Coulombs Law to get the magnitude and direction of force vectors from charge pairs then using the steps of vector addition to arrive at an answer. Coplanar Charges With coplanar charges you take the same steps as in the previous example except that the force vectors will have to be broken into x parts and y parts then added to form a triangle. You may want to make use of symmetry considerations to save steps. A Charge and a Neutral Object A neutral object can experience an attractive force towards a charged object. This is the actual cause of all of the neutral dust particles + around your TV and other electrical appliances. ++++ + The mechanism for the attractive force arises + due to polarization of the neutral object. Consider bringing a charged rod next to a neutral object as shown in the figure to the right. The charged rod will induce a polarization effect on the neutral object. The side nearer to the rod will have the opposite charge and an attraction to the rod. The side away from the rod will have like charges and experience a repulsive force. Since the attractive side is closer then the attractive force is stronger; the repulsive side being farther away creates a weaker repulsive force. The result is a net, attractive force. The polarization will occur regardless of whether or not the neutral object is a conductor or a non-conductor. Homework Problems In each problem you see a charge (q) and its coordinates with two or more charges (q) and coordinates. For each set determine the net force on q with magnitude and direction Problem 3 Problem 1 charge (x, y) in cm charge (x, y) in cm (0,0) q 12 C (0,0) q 12 C q (-20,0) 8C q (-20,0) 8C q 6 C (0, 15) q 6 C (15, 0) Problem 2 charge q 9 C q 10C q 6 C Problem 4 charge q 15 C q 8C q 8 C (x, y) in cm (0,0) (-15,20) (15, 20)

(x, y) in cm (0,0) (0,-12) (0, 12)

Problem 5 charge (x, y) in cm (0,0) q -10 C q (15,8) 8C q 6 C (-12, 5)

Problem 6 charge q 18 C q 9 C q 6 C q 9 C

(x, y) in cm (0,0) (-20,0) (15, 0) (20,0)

Problem 7 charge q 18 C q 9 C q 6 C q 6 C q 9 C

(x, y) in cm (0,0) (-20,0) (15, 0) (-15,0) (20,0)

Answers to homework: 1) 50.4 N to the right 4) 20.7 N to the right Lesson 3-03

2) 90.0 N up 3) 36.0 N @ 53.1 above +x-axis 5) 51.5N to the right 6) 43.2N up 7) 0N Electric Field (pp. 572 579)

Consider taking a second look at the problem in example #2. A +8C charge is placed at the origin. A 5C charge is placed on the x-axis at x=+20cm. Find the force that each charge exerts on the other. +8C 5C | | | | | | | x-axis 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 cm The conclusion according to Coulombs Law is that the force each charge exerts on the other is 9.0 N. How can something at one point in space exert a force at some other point in space without being in direct contact with the second particle? In other words, how does the 8 C charge at x=0 push on the -5 C charge without touching it? This is our second encounter with action at a distance. Gravity was the first. In this case we would say that the 8 C charge is radiating an electric field through all points in space. The electric field passing through (20, 0) is what exerts the force on the negative charge. Likewise, the -5 C charge is also radiating an electric field through all points in space. The electric field passing through (0, 0) is what exerts a 9.0 N force on the charge at the origin. So the electric field at a point exerts a force on any charge placed at that point. In this lesson we have two objectives: 1) What is the relationship between the electric field at a point and the charge placed at that same point? 2) What is the relationship of a charge at one point in space and the electric field that it creates at some other point in space? Electric Field Defined The symbol for the electric field is E. The electric field FE = qE is a vector quantity that has units of Newtons/Coulomb. If a charge, q is placed in an electric field it will experience a force, F that is described in the above box. If charge q is positive then F and E are in the same direction; if q is negative then F and E are antiparallel.

The +8 C charge at the origin at the beginning of our lesson experienced a force of 9.0 N to the right. Using our last equation we can find the electric field at the origin from the other charge- 9.0 N to the right = +8E-6 C* E. Solving for E gives a solution of E = 1.125 E +6 N/C to the right. We conclude that the +8 C charge at the origin experiences a force of 9.0 N to the right because it is in the presence of a 1.125E+6N/C electric field at that point. We can also conclude that the -5 C charge at x = 20 cm is radiating an electric field that has a value of 1.125E+6N/C at the origin. The -5 C charge at x=20cm experiences a force of 9.0 N to the left. We can calculate the electric field present at x = 20 cm that is necessary to provide this much force. E = F / q = (9.0 N to the left) / (5.0 E -6 C) = 1.8E+6 N/C to the right. We conclude that the -5 C charge experiences a force of 9.0 N to the left because it is placed in an electric field of 1.8 E+6 N/C to the right. Notice that negative charges get pulled against the field. Also notice that we get the direction of to the right in the above calculation because we had a to the left divided by a negative sign. And of course we all know that negative to the left is merely a complicated way of saying to the right. Homework (Part 1 of 2) 1) An electron and a proton are both placed at rest in an electric field of E = 2000 N/C to the right. Find the force acting on either particle. Find the acceleration of either particle. 2) An alpha particle is placed in an electric field of E = 30,000 N/C to the right. What is the electric force and resulting acceleration of the alpha particle? See the first problem of homework for lesson 3-01 for mass and charge of the alpha particle. 3) Return to the homework problems of lesson 3-02. For the first four problems determine the electric field at the origin that is acting on q at the origin. Electric Field of a Point Charge All point charges will radiate an electric field. You are responsible for getting the electric field at a specific point due to point charges located elsewhere. For positive charges the electric field will radiate outward as shown in figure A below. For negative charges the electric field points inward towards the charge as shown in figure B below.

Fig A - E field for +q

Fig B E field for q

E fields point away from positive charges and towards negative charges. Check to see if this is consistent with the calculations in the first two paragraphs of this page. You should see that the answers from the paragraphs do indeed agree with the diagrams above. The concept of the electric field was proposed by Michael Faraday. But we still have a problem. How do you calculate the strength of an electric field near a point charge?

The value of the electric field can be determined by E = kq/ r2 using the equation in the box to the right. This equation is E points outward if q constructed by combining Coulombs Law with the first is positive and inward equation of this lesson. I highly recommend that you use if q is negative the boxed equation to find the magnitude of the E and the checked statement from the previous page to get the direction of the E. Again, let us return to the example problem that started this lesson. We choose to find the electric field strength 20 cm to the right of the 8 C charge. Using the above equation you get |E| = 9E9 (Nm2/C2)* 8E-6 (C)/ (0.20m)2 = 1.8E+6 N/C away from the +8C charge. So the electric field at x = 20cm is to the right because the charge that is the source of this E field is positive. This equation agrees with our previous calculation. Problems of this type are cleverly disguised vector addition problems. You use the above boxed equation to find the magnitude of each vector. You use the checked statement at the bottom of the last page to get the direction of each vector. Then you add the vectors. Example Problem charge (x, y) in cm Consider the charges and their locations in q -10 C (16,0) the table to the right. Determine the electric field at the origin due to the presence of these q (15,8) 8C charges only. q 6 C (-12, 5) Step 1 Find the E at the origin from each charge. E1 = 3.52 E+6 N/C to the right. E2 = 2.49 E+6 N/C @ 28.1 below x axis E3 = 3.20 E+6 N/C @ 22.6 above x axis. Step 2 Draw and label the electric field vectors as rays pointing from the origin. 3.20E6 3.52E6 22.6 28.1 2.49E6 Step 3 Add the vectors just as you did in unit 1. The space provided below is left for your calculations.

Homework (part 2 of 2) 4) Return to the first four problems of lesson 3-02. Assume that q is no longer present in the table. Use the method outlined at the bottom of the previous page to calculate the electric field vector at the origin. Check to see if you have the same answers as found in problem (3) of this same homework assignment. Lesson 3-04 The Volt (pp. 593 601)

The consideration of the electric force is nice but it leads to variable accelerations in most instances. These accelerations cannot be analyzed without the use of the calculus. As we have seen in the previous semester, energy considerations can be used in order to avoid the calculus. In todays lesson we define the concept, volt that will enable us to analyze situations in terms of energy rather than force. A Volt is defined to be Joule of energy per coulomb of charge; 1 Volt = 1 J/C. It is very critical that you know how the units of Volt break down into more fundamental values. A 9 Volt battery connected to a circuit will deliver 9 Joules of energy to a circuit for every Coulomb of charge moved through the circuit. As the electric field moves a charge from one point in space to another, the field will do work on the charge. The work that the field does on the charge depends on how much the voltage changes from the beginning point to the end point. The equation used to find the work W = -q(Vf Vo) = -qV done by the field on the charge is shown in the boxed equation to the right. The negative sign in front of the charge is placed there when finding work done by the field on the charge. If a person moves a charge against the field then work done by the hand to move the charge is +qV. Example Problem #1 A 9 mC charge is moved from rest a point in space where the voltage is 14V to rest at a place where the voltage is 84V. How much work was done by the hand while moving the charge? What was the net work done on the charge? How much work was done by on the charge by the field? Using W = +qV = 9mC(84V-14V) = 9mC(70 J/C) = 630 mJoules. The net work done is zero since the kinetic energy does not change between beginning and end points. This also means that the work done on the charge by the hand is equal and opposite to the work done on the charge by the field. In other words, the charge is being pushed against the electric field so that the field is turning kinetic energy into potential energy as fast as the hand is attempting to give the charge kinetic energy. The result is that the work done by the field on the charge is -630 mJ. You can confirm this by using the above boxed equation. Notice in the above example that the path of the charge is not specified; only the end points are mentioned. This is the power and beauty WNET = m (vf2 vo2) of working with voltage rather than field concepts. Do not forget that net work can also be defined in terms of changes in kinetic energy. A review of that definition is placed in the above box as a reminder. Combining the two boxed equations will take us from electricity problems to mechanics problems. The following practice problems will demonstrate this point.

Homework 1. A proton is moved at constant speed from a point where the voltage is 100 Volts to a point where the voltage is 400 volts. How much work was done by the mover? How much work was done by the field on the charge? 2. A proton is released from rest at a point where the voltage is 900 Volts. The proton moves freely until it is at a point where the voltage is zero. How much work did the field do on the proton? What is the final speed of the proton? 3. An electron is released from rest at a point where the voltage is zero. The electron moves freely to a place where the potential is +1200 volts. How much work is done on the electron by the field? What is the final speed of the electron? 4. Show that if a particle of charge q and mass m is released from rest and moves freely through a voltage difference of V then it will have a final speed that can be calculated by using v = (-2qV/m) . Also apply the equation to the previous two problems in order to verify your answers. 5. An alpha particle is moved from rest at a place where V= -300 Volts to resting at a point where V = +900 Volts. How much work is done on the alpha particle by the mover? If the alpha is released from rest and moves freely from +900 Volts to a point where V=0 Volts what will be its speed? 6. Circle the correct choices in the following statement- Positive charges move freely in the direction of increasing/decreasing voltage while negative charges move freely in the direction of increasing/decreasing voltage. 1) 4.8E-17J; -4.8E-17J 2) +1.44E-16J; 4.1E5 m/s 3) +1.92E-16J; 2.05E+7 m/s = 0.068c 5)3.84E-16J; 2.94E5 m/s 6) decreasing; increasing Lesson 3-05 Particle Accelerators

A particle accelerator is a machine that can take very small (sub-atomic) particles from rest up to near light speeds. In general, the machine uses electric fields to give the particles their near-light speeds. In a later unit (303) we will see how combining magnetic and electric fields enables us to find things like mass and charge for these same particles. This lesson is a first approximation of the particle accelerator. We start with the rough draft of a particle accelerator, charged parallel plates. Consider the figure below showing a high voltage source and two parallel plates. The parallel plates must be within an almost pure vacuum environment.

Near Vacuum + High Voltage Source -

Protons would accelerate from the left-hand, positive plate to the right-hand, negative plate. Electrons would accelerate in the opposite direction. There are three different reasons why the protons and electrons move in the direction that they do. 1) The positive plate on the left repels positive charges and attracts negative charges. 2) The negative plate on the right repels negative charges and attracts positive charges. Both of these explanations are according to our rule- opposite charge attract and like charges repel. A third explanation has to do with the existing electric field between the plates. The electric field will always point from high voltage (positive plate) to the low voltage (negative plate). So the third explanation is that the electric field between the plates moves the charges. From a previous lesson we see that positive charges are pushed in the direction of the field while negative charges tend to move freely against the field. The direction of the electric field lines are shown in red in the above figure. So now we have a new rule that relates the direction of the electric field to the potential difference. Electric field lines point in the direction of decreasing voltage. Ok, you know about the direction of the electric field but what about the strength of the electric field? The answer really depends on the shape of the plates as demonstrated in lab. For parallel plates the electric field between the plates is uniform in value and has parallel field lines. Over short distances where the lines have little E = - V / x chance to diverge or converge the equation may also be applied. The negative sign in the boxed equation is there to remind the reader that the direction of the electric field is in the direction of decreasing voltage. The equation also indicates a second set of dimensions or units for the electric field vector. Electric field has units of Newtons/Coulomb or Volts/meter. Example #1 Two parallel plates are separated by a distance of 25 cm. The left plate is at +1000 Volts while the right plate is grounded (connected to Earth) and is at zero volts. Find the electric field strength between the plates, the acceleration of an electron between the plates and maximum speed of the electron between the plates assuming it starts from rest. E = 1000 V/ 0.25m = 4000 V/m or 4000 N/C From F = qE = ma you get a = 1.6E-19C(4000N/C)/ 9.11E-31Kg = 7.025E+14m/s2 Maximum speed occurs when the electron accelerates over the total distance of 25cm; using the kinematics vf2 = vo2 + 2ad or vf = (2*7.025E14*0.25) = 1.87E& m/s. Alternately, the proof from the previous lesson can be used, v = (-2qV/m). Example #2 While getting out of a car to pump gasoline a learned physics student grounds herself to the car before grabbing the handle of the gasoline hose. She notices that her finger was approximately 2.0 mm from the car when a spark occurred. Realizing that on a cold, dry day dielectric breakdown takes place in our atmosphere at about 3 million volts per meter she approximates her potential difference (voltage) before discharge. What is that value? |V| = Ex = 3E6 V/m * 2.0 E-3 m = 6000 Volts

The trouble with our parallel plate accelerator is that the particle beam can only go as far as the opposite plate. In many accelerators rings rather than solid plates are used with the beam line moving through the holes in the center of the rings. Another problem is that not all particles move through the total voltage difference between plates. This causes a spread of particle velocities that would rapidly lead to a divergent beam. The solution to the latter problem is a velocity selector that will clean up the particle speeds in the beam. We shall come back to the particle accelerator again in unit 303 where we will be able to fully explain the velocity selector. Homework 1. Two parallel plates are raised to a potential difference of 800 Volts. The plates are separated by a distance of 40 cm. What is the electric field strength between the plates? What is the maximum speed that a proton can attain from rest between the plates? How long would it take a proton to go from rest on the positive plate to maximum speed at the negative plate? a) 2000 V/m b) 391.5 km/s c) 2.04 sec 2. Two parallel plates are separated by a distance of 33.3 cm. The electric field strength between the plates is 4800 V/m. What is the potential difference between the plates? What acceleration would an electron experience between the plates? What maximum speed could an electron attain starting at rest between the plates? c) 2.37E7 m/s or 0.079 c a) 1600 V b) 8.4E14 m/s2 3. A deuteron (charge of proton but double the mass) is accelerated from rest to a speed of 1.8E6 m/s in between two parallel plates. The deuteron starts from rest on the positive plate. How much kinetic energy does the particle have at the negative plate? Through what potential difference (voltage difference) was the deuteron moved? What is the plate separation distance if field strength between plates is 50,000 V/m? a) 5.41E-15J b) 33.8 kilovolts c) 67.6 cm 4. A dental x-ray machine typically accelerates electrons from rest through a potential difference (voltage difference) of 110,000 volts or 110 kV. The fast moving electrons then slam into a heavy lead or gold target where x-rays are generated. Ignoring relativity effects what is the upper limit of speed for the electrons? If the electrons are accelerated over a distance of 50 cm what is the electric field strength inside the x-ray machine? What acceleration do electrons experience? a) 2.0E8 m/s or 0.66c b) 220,000 N/C c) 3.86E+16 m/s2 5. A nuclear physicist wishes to move an alpha particle (twice proton charge but four times the mass) from rest to 0.2c or 20% the speed of light, 6 E7m/s. He needs to do this over a distance of 120 centimeters between parallel plates. What is the potential difference between the plates? What electric field strength will exist between the plates? What force will the field exert on the alpha particle? a) 37.58 Megavolts b) 31,310,000 N/C c) 10 picoNewtons

Lesson 3-06

Point Charge Potentials

In the two previous lessons the voltage at a point in space was given without telling the reader how that value was determined or measured. The voltage at a point is space is also known as the electric potential. Voltage difference is also known as the electric potential difference. In this lesson you will learn how to calculate the electric potential or voltage at a point in space due to the presence of one or more nearby point charges. You will also end this lesson with an example problem that is a nice segue into the next unit. The electric potential due to a point charge is determined using the formula in the box to the right. The equation is scalar in nature but can lead to both positive negative voltages due V = kq/r to the sign on the source charge. Do not ignore or Where k = 9.0 E +9 Nm2/C2 omit the sign on the source charge. Suppose that you wanted to know the electric potential at a point 50 cm from a +40 nC charge? V = 9E9* 40E-9 / 0.5 Nm/C = 720 volts. Note that a direction is not indicated. In fact, for an isolated charge you could draw a circle or a sphere around the charge with a radius of 50 cm and the electric potential at every point on the sphere would be 720 Volts. For multiple charges one merely adds potentials due to each charge. Example #1 Find the electric potential on the x-axis at x = 10.0 cm. +8C 5C +7C | | | | | | | | | x-axis 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 cm V8 = 9E9*8E-6/0.10m = +720 kVolts V5 = 9E9*-5E-6/0.10m = 450 kVolts V7 = 9E9*7E-6/0.22m = +286 kVolts VTOT = 720 kV 450 kV + 286 kV = 556 kV Problems are worked similarly for coplanar charges except that you have to use Pythagorass theorem to find the values of r. Look to use symmetry in order to reduce the number of terms in a problem. In the previous example steps 1 and 2 could have been combined by recognizing that the -5C charge would cancel 5/8 of the 8 C charge. You could replace the 8E-6 in step 1 with 3E-6 and skip step two completely because both charges are equidistant from the point in question. You should also be warned about reading a problem. When you read phrases such as very far away you should be aware that the write is describing a place where r has a large value and V is approaching 0 volts. Consider the following problem. Example #2 A +6 nC charge is placed at (20cm, 0) on the x-y plane. A +8 nC charge is placed at (33cm, 0) on the x-y plane. A) What is the electric potential at the origin due to the presence of these two charges? B) What will be the final speed of a proton that is released from rest at the origin after it has moved very far away from the two initial charges? V = 488 volts V = 0V 488 V = -488V. Using v = (-2qV/m) = 305 km/s

Homework (part 1 of 2) For each of the following problems calculate the electric potential (voltage) at the origin. All charges will be in nanocoulombs and coordinates in centimeters. 1. q1 = +9 nC at (+20cm, 0), q2 = +12 nC @ (0, 25cm) and q3 = -9nC @ (-20cm, 0) 2. q1 = +8 nC at (+20cm, 0), q2 = -12 nC @ (0, 20cm) and q3 = +8nC @ (-20cm, 0) 3. q1 = +10 nC at (+20cm, 0), q2 = +12 nC @ (0, 25cm), q3 = -10nC @ (-20cm, 0) and q4 = -9 nC @ (0, -25cm) 4. q1 = -9 nC at (+20cm, 0), q2 = +12 nC @ (0, 25cm) and q3 = -9nC @ (-20cm, 0) 5. q1 = +9 nC at (+20cm, +15cm), q2 = +12 nC @ (-8, -15cm) and q3 = -9nC @ (-20cm, +15cm) Answers 1. 432 V 2. 180 V 3. 108 V 4. -378 V 5. 635 V

Charged Conducting Spheres It happens that any charge conducting sphere can be treated as a point charge as long as you are outside of the sphere or at the surface of the sphere for both electric fields and for electric potential. Suppose for example, that an aluminum sphere has a radius of 20 cm and has a charge of 60 nC deposited on its surface. Under static conditions the charge will be uniformly distributed over the surface. In order to develop this much charge on the sphere you would have to raise the sphere to a potential of +2700 Volts according to V = kq/r = 9E+9 Nm2/C2*60E-9C/0.20m = 2700 Nm/C or 2700 J/C. This leads us to a very interesting and also very important final concept in static electricity. Recall from the first lesson the idea of charge distribution for different charges on identical conducting sphere. In that case the conservation of charge was all that was needed to solve the problem. See below. Example #3 Shown below are two identical, conducting spheres that are mounted on glass stands. Each sphere is charged as shown below. If the two spheres are made to touch by a person holding the glass stands or made to connect with an insulated wire what will be the final charge on each stand? +24 nC +10 nC

How would the answer change if the spheres were not identical? Suppose that the lefthand sphere has a radius of 30cm and the right-hand sphere has a radius of 50 cm. If the spheres are connected by a wire what will happen to the charge distributions? Why? The final outcome is discussed on the next page. Be prepared to calculate the final charge distribution and explain why in paragraph form on test day.

Charges will redistribute until each sphere is at the same potential or voltage. As long as the spheres are at different voltages there will be an electric field established inside of the wire. That electric field will move electrons from one sphere to another causing the difference in potential to reduce. At the instant the charges have moved to create equal potentials on the surface of the sphere there is no longer an electric field inside of the wire so that charges no longer have the force needed to move them. Solution to example #3 Blue conducting wire is shown connecting spheres.

+24 nC

+10 nC

The left-hand sphere is raised to a potential of 720 Volts. The right-hand sphere has a potential at the surface of only 180 volts. According to the equation E = - V / x there will be an electric field established inside of the wire that has a strength of about 540Volts divided by the length of the wire. Although the real value of the E field is more complicated than that due to other factors you should still see that the potential difference between the wires creates an E field. If we could peer inside of the wire with a magic magnifying glass that shows E fields and electrons we would see the following: E field lines would point from left to right inside of the wire since E fields point from high voltage to low voltage. Electrons would be moving upstream all along the wire (right to left). As electrons leave the right-hand sphere its positive charge would increase and so would its voltage thus reducing the potential difference on the wire and weakening the E field inside of the wire. At the same time, electrons entering the left-hand sphere would be reducing the net charge on that sphere and the electric potential. This would also help to reduce the electric field strength inside of the wire. Eventually charges are redistributed so that both spheres are at the same potential causing the E field to instantly disappear. Without the E field the charges can no longer move within the wire. In order to find the final charge distributions we recognize two facts. First, charge must be conserved- qL + qR = 34 nC. Second, we recognize that the voltages on the spheres must be the same so that the following is also true- kqL/30cm = kqR/ 50cm. You now have two equations and two unknowns. From the second equation you can cancel the ks and the cm to get qL = (3/5)qR. Subbing for qL into first equation leads to (8/5)qR = 34nC or qR = 21.25 nC. This leaves 12.75nC on the left hand sphere. Both spheres are at a final potential of 382.5 Volts. As long as opposite ends of a wire are at different potentials then charges will move through the wire. We call this electric current and that is what unit 302 is about!

Expect a practice test tomorrow and the real test to soon follow. Listed below are the objectives of each lesson. Lesson 3-01 objectives: The learner will 1. Know Latin prefixes, symbols and values for mega, kilo, milli, micro, nano, pico. 2. Identify possible charges based on whole number values of e=1.6E-19C 3. Be able to describe and identify charging by friction, contact and induction. 4. Explain electrical polarization 5. Use conservation of charge to find the final charge distribution for two, identical conducting spheres that are brought into contact with initially different charges. Lesson 3-02 objectives: The learner will 6. Write Coulombs Law for the electric force between two point charges 7. Describe how the magnitude of the force between two point charges will change when the distance between charges or value of either charge is (are) altered. 8. Use Coulombs Law to find the net force on a single charge due to the presence of one or more other collinear or coplanar charges. 9. compare and contrast the electric and the gravitational forces Lesson 3-03 objectives: The learner will 10. Write the equation that describes the relation among force, charge and electric field. 11. Combine the equation in #10 along with Newtons Second law to find the acceleration of a charge at a point in and electric field of known strength. 12. Sketch the electric field lines around several charges using the idea that positive charges are sources of E field lines while negative charges are sinks. 13. Find the electric field strength at a specific point in space when given one or more static charges at other fixed points in space for both collinear and coplanar conditions. Lesson 3-04 objectives: TLW 14. Define the volt in terms of work and charge and list the possible different units 15. Use the definition of potential difference to calculate work done on a charge by an external agent or by electric field when moving a charge through potential difference. 16. Combine equation from #15 along with the work-energy theorem in order to find the final speed of a charge that has moved freely through a known potential difference. Lesson 3-05 objectives: TLW 17. Describe the relationship between the electric field and the potential difference for the special case of charged, conducting parallel plates. 18. Analyze the motion of a particle in a uniform E field between parallel plates using the kinematics equation along with acceleration from #11 and/or final speed from #16. 19. Describe the unique relationship between the direction of the E field and equipotential lines. This was also demonstrated in lab #1. Lesson 3-06 objectives: TLW 20. Write the equation for electric potential at a point in space due to a single charge 21. Determine the electric potential at a point in space due to the presence of other collinear or coplanar, stationary charges. 22. Use the equation from #20 to find the potential on the surface of a conducting sphere of known radius and excess charge. 23. Describe the conditions that occur when two, different spheres from #22 are brought into contact by a conducting wire. 24. Calculate the final charge and voltage of the spheres mentioned in #23.