Electrostatics
The branch of physics which deals with the electrical charges at rest is called electrostatics or static electricity.
Current electricity:
The branch of electricity that deals with the charge in motion is called current electricity
Electric Charge:
The charge is the inherent property of some fundamental particles because of which matter experiences the force in the electromagnetic field.
In electrostatics, electric charges are produced by friction between two bodies due to the transfer of electrons from one body to another without their actual movement. So, an object can be changed due to friction.
When a glass rod is rubbed with silk and brought near small paper pieces it attracts them. The property developed
in glass rod on rubbing with silk is supposed to be positive charge and that developed in silk is supposed to be the negative charge.
becomes electrically charged Which is conformed when is
brought near To the small piece of papers It attracts the piece of paper.
Types of Electric charge:
Electric charges are basically of two types
2. Negative charge: Negative charge is fundamentally carried by electrons.
The body which losses electrons become
positively charged and the body which gains
electrons become negatively charged.
A particle or an object which has net-zero charges is referred to as neutral. Neutrons are neutral.
Thus, electric charge is the fundamental property of every matter carried by subatomic particles such as
electrons and protons.
Unit and Dimension of Electric Charge
The unit of electric charge is the coulomb (C).
The charge is the product of two fundamental quantities: Electric current (I) and time (T)
The electric Charge(q) = Current(I) x Time(t)
Thus,
Electric charge is the scalar quantity and is usually denoted by “q”. Its SI unit is Coulomb(C) or Ampere second.
Note:
Remember that a positive charge experiences force along the direction of the electric field and a negative charge experiences force in the opposite direction.
The CGS unit of Charge is stat−coulomb.
1C=3×109 Statcoulomb
1nC=10−9C
1ΞΌC=10−6C
Dimension
Charge (q) = ππ’πππππ‘πΌ×π‘ππππ
Or,
π=[πΌπ]or [π΄π]
The modern theory of electrification
The process of developing a charge in a body is called electrification.
According to this theory, a body can be charged by the transfer of electrons. Every material is composed of atoms. In an atom, the number of positively charged protons must be equal to the number of negatively charged electrons.
So, it is electrically neutral.
By any process, if some of the electrons are removed, the body becomes positively charged because several protons are more than electrons.
On the other hand, the material that receives electrons acquires a negative charge because of extra electrons added.
Properties of electric charge:
1. Only two types of electric charges exist in nature. They are positive and negative.
2. Like charges repel and unlike charges attract each other.
3. It is a scalar Quantity, So the total charge on the body is the algebraic sum of all charges distributed over different parts of it.
4. Electric Charge is quantized.
The charge on a body is always an integral multiple of the basic unit of charge. This basic unit is
taken as the charge on an electron or proton which is equal to 1.6x10 19 C.
i.e. Total Charge on a body
(Q) = ±πe
This is called the quantization of charge.
Where, e = 1.6x10 19 C is charge of an electron and N= 0,1,2,3,4,……...
5. Electric charge is conserved, i.e. charge can neither be created nor be
6. The electric charge on a body does not depend on its speed.
Conductor:
Materials through which electricity
(charge) can pass easily are called conductors. Generally, the metals like
copper, silver, iron, acidic water, the human body, earth, etc. are the conductors
of electricity.
Conductors can be
charged by friction and the charges they gain spread
over the whole surface.
Conductors like
metals possess free electrons.
Metals like copper,
silver, gold, and aluminum are very good conductors of electricity.
Insulator:
Materials
which do not allow the electric charges to pass through them are called the
insulators. Glass, wood, dry paper, rubber, ebonite, air, etc. are the
insulators or non-conductors of electricity.
Insulators can gain
charges by friction but the charges can’t move
to other parts and remain localized.
Insulators do not possess free electrons.
Fused quartz is a very good example of an insulator.
Charging of a Body:
The charging of a body
is the process in which a body gains or loses charged particles (electron). There
are three method for the charging of a body.
• Friction.
• Conduction.
• Induction.
Charging by Friction:
Charge particles can be
transferred by rubbing a body to another.
While
rubbing, the electrons on a body move to another body. One which losses the
electrons, gets positively charged and the other, which gains the electrons,
gets negatively charged.
Nature of
charge in rubbing pair materials |
|
||
S.N. |
Pair materials |
Positively charged |
Negatively charged |
1 |
Glass rod,
Silk Cloth |
Glass Rod |
Silk cloth |
2 |
Fur, ebonite
rod |
Fur |
Ebonite rod |
3 |
Woolen
cloth, Plastic pen |
Woolen Cloth |
Plastic Pen |
4 |
Woolen
carpet, rubber |
Woolen Carpet |
Rubber |
5 |
Dry hair,
plastic comb |
Dry Hair |
Plastic Comb |
Charging
a body by conduction
When a neutral body is brought into contact with a
charged body some charges flow into it and become charged. The charge
acquired by the neutral body is similar to that of the charged body.
Fig. charging of a metallic sphere by
conduction
|
Ebonite rod |
The negatively charged ebonite rod is removed. In doing so, the positive charges on the body PQ became free and get distributed Fig 2: Charging a body positively by induction uniformly throughout the body as in figure (2) d.