JULY 2024

2025 PREP COURSES

ENGINEERING MODULE TEST PREP: LESSON 6

STATIC ELECTRICITY

CIRCUITS & BATTERIES

I. STATIC ELECTRICITY

1. Matter structure

- Atoms are the building blocks of matter. There are different types of atoms, known as elements.

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Chales Du Fay, an 18th century French physicist, was interested in

attraction and repulsion of objects after being rubbed. He concluded
from his experiments that there were two electric fluids: vitreous and
resinous. While many scientists accepted Du Fay’s two fluids model of
electricity, Benjamin Franklin was one of the first scientists to propose
that all bodies contain a single electric fluid, not two as Du Fay’s
model, which exists in a neutral state unless friction exerts to cause an imbalance. Besides, Franklin
called the vitreous fluid positive and resinous fluid negative. “negative” and “positive” have been
known as the sign of charge untill now.

- Summary of subatonic particles:

Proton Neutron Electron

Position In nucleus In nucleus Outside nucleus

Degree of atom-level
Tightly bound Tightly bound Weakly bound
bounding

Electric charge +1.6  10 −19 C 0 −1.6  10 −19 C

Mass Massive Massive Not very massive

- The unit of electric charge is coulomb (C).

- Because electrons are outside nucleus and weakly bound, they can easily move to other atoms
and molecules of a material or from the atoms and molecules of one material to those of another.
Therefore, almost electrical phenomena can be explained in terms of electron movement.

2. Neutral vs. Charged objects

- The number of electrons surrounding the nucleus will determine whether an atom is charged or
neutral.

Charged versus Uncharged Objects

Positively Charged Negatively Charged Neutral

Possesses more protons Possesses more electrons Equal numbers of

than electrons than protons protons and electrons

np > ne np < ne np = ne

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3. Charge interaction

- Oppositely charged objects will exert an attractive influence upon each other whereas like charge
will repel each other.

Example 1: On two occasions, the following charge interactions between balloons A, B and C are
observed. In each case, it is known that balloon B is negatively charged. Based on these
observations, what can you conclusively confirm about the charge on balloon A and C for each
situation.

Example 2: Jean Yuss is investigating the charge on several objects and makes the following findings

Object C Object D Object E Object F

Attracts B Repels C Attracts D Attracts A

Repels F

Jean knows that object A is negatively charged and object B is electrically neutral. What can Jean
Yuss definitively conclude about the charge on objects C, D E and F? Explain.

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4. Polarization

- Polarization is not charging! When an object becomes polarized, there is simply a redistribution of
the centers of positive and negative charges within the object.

- Conclusion:

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5. Electric force

- Coulomb’s Law: the electric force between two electric charges is directly proportional to the
product of the quantity of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the separated
distance between them.

q1q 2
F=k
r2

In which q1, q2 denote the electric charges in coulomb, r is the distance between two charges in

meter and k = 9  10 9 Nm 2 / C 2 .

- Electric force is a non-contact force.

Example 1: A charge of -4 x 10-9 C is a distance of 3cm from another charge of 3 x 10 -9C. What is
the magnitude of the force between them?

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Example 2: Two charges are repelled by a force of 2.0N. If the distance between them doubles,
what is the force between the charges?

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6. Electric field

A charged object creates an electric field that extends outward into the surrounding space. Any
other charges entering the electric field will be exerted by electric force of this field.

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a. Electric field intensity

- The electric field is a vector field, denoted by the letter “E” and its magnitude is calculated by the
formula:

Q
E=k
r2

In which, Q is the electric charge creating electric field and r is the distance calculated from Q to
the charge entering the field or a point in the field.

- The unit of electric field intensity is volt per meter (V/m) or newton per coulomb (N/C).

- The strength of the electric field is dependent on how charged the object creating the field is and
upon the distance of separation from the charged object.

- The electric field intensity due to a positive charge is always directed away from the charge, and
the intensity due to a negative charge is always directed the charge.

- Overlapping electric fields: when two electric fields overlap at one point, the electric field at this
point is the net electric field of two overlapping electric field.

E = E1 + E 2

Review: Complete the equation to calculate the net electric field and draw it.

E1  E 2 E1  E 2 E1 ⊥ E 2 (E1;E 2 ) = 

E= E= E=
E = E12 + E 2 2 + 2E1E 2 cos 

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Example: The two charges q1 and q2 have equal magnitudes. What is the direction of the net
electric field due to these two charges at point A which has the same distance to q1 and q2. If q1 is
positive and q2 is negative.

b. Electric field lines

- The concept of an electric field can be a little elusive because it cannot be seen directly.
Therefore, the concept of electric field lines which first introduced by Michael Faraday is a big help
for visualizing electric field.

()
- A electric field line at a point is tangential to the net electric field intensity E and has a specific

direction depending on the sign of a charge creating electric field.

- The electric field lines never intersect each other and are perpendicular to the surface of the
charge

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- The density of field lines around a point corresponds to the relative strength (magnitude) of
electric field at this point.

- The number of lines drawn leaving positive charge or approaching a negative charge is
proportional to the magnitude of the charge.

- Electric field lines begin on a positive charge and terminate on a negative charge. In the case
of an excess of one type of charge, they will begin or end infinitely far away.

- In a uniform field, the field lines are straight, parallel and uniformly spaced.
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B_ELECTRIC CIRCUIT

1. Electric current ( I )

- Electric current is the net flow of charges through a point in one second and is determined by the
amount of charges ( q ) flow through a point per a unit of time (  t ).

q
I=
t

- The unit of electric current is ampere (A).

- The direction of a conventional current is same to the direction of the flow of positive charges and
opposite to the flow of negative charges. In a electric circuit, the current is from the positive terminal
of a battery and to negative terminal.

- Direct current (DC) means charges flow only in one direction, which leads to the direction of
current unchanged.

- Alternating current (AC) means charges do not flow in one direction and they move forward and
backward constantly at regular time intervals, which implies the direction of current changing
successively

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2. Electric potential difference (  V )

- There is a current when there is an electric potential difference (or the difference of electric
potential between two points). In more detail, the electric potential difference between point A
and point B is defined as the change in potential energy of a charge q moved from A to B divided
by the charge q.

- The unit of electric potential difference is volt (V).

3. Ohm’s law

- The current flowing through a conductor is directly proportional to the voltage applied (electric
potential difference) and inversely proportional to the resistance of the conductor.

V
I=
R

In which, I is electric current in ampere (A),  V is voltage in volt (V), R is the resistance in ohm (  ).

From Ohm’s law we can see that the rate at which charges flow is affected
both voltage and resistance. Specifically, voltage encourages the flow of
charge whereas the resistance obstruct the current.

- The resistance of a substance is a measure of obstruction of the current, measured in ohm (  )

and increases when temperature increases. The resistance of a wire is proportional to the length of
the wire (L) and inversely proportional to the crosse-sectional area of the wire (A) as well as depends
on the material the wire is made of (  ).

L
R=
A

4. Electric circuit

- An electric circuit is a closed-loop which forms electrical components, where electrons can flow,
connected each other by wires and powered by a source like battery or cell.

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- Every electrical component in an electric circuit can be expressed a symbol. The symbols
represent parts of the circuit in a circuit diagram. Beneath are the basic set of symbols that are
present in a circuit diagram.

- The difference between cells and batteries in circuit:

• A cell has two ends, labeled + (positive) and – (negative). It pushes the electric current from
the positive terminal round to the negative one. This is a way that conventional current flows.
• Two or more cells can be connected end-to-end to make a battery. Sometimes we call a
single cell a “battery”, although technically we ought to say “cell”.

- Diodes are kinds of device that allow current flow only in one direction in circuits. Thus, only half of
the cycles of alternating current can pass from the diodes.

In the given circuit, D1 lets current flow, however D2 does not let current flow.

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5. Series vs. Parallel circuit

a. Series circuit

- A series circuit is a circuit where components are connected end-to-end in a line therefore there
is only one path for current to flow.

- The current in a series circuit is everywhere the same

Ibattery = I1 = I2 = I3 = ...

- The sum of the voltage drop for each resistor is equal to the voltage of power supply

Vbattery = V1 + V2 + V3 + ...

- The equation of the total resistance of the resistors placed in series can be written

Req = R1 + R2 + R3

b. Parallel circuit

- A parallel circuit is a circuit where all components are connected across each other’s leads. There
are never more than two sets of electrically common points, no matter how many components are
connected therefore there is only one voltage across all components.

- In the parallel circuit, there are many paths for current flow, thus the total current through the
components is the sum of the individual currents

Ibattery = I1 + I2 + I3 + ...

- The voltage across all of the resistors in a parallel circuit is identical

Vbattery = V1 = V2 = V3

- The equation of the equivalent parallel resistance is expressed

1 1 1 1
= + + + ...
Req R1 R2 R3
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Electric Circuit Formula

Following is the list of formulas that are used in electric circuits

Quantity Formula Notations

• I (A) is the electric current
q • q (C) is the charge flowing
Electric current I=
t
•  t (s) is the time period

•  V (V) is the electric potential difference

V
Ohm’s law I= • R (  ) is the resistance
R

•  (  m ) is the resistivity value of the wire

L
Resistance R= • L (m) is the length of the wire
A
• A (m2) is the cross-sectional area
• Req is the total resistance of the resistors
Req = R1 + R2 + R3 + ...
placed in series

Series circuit Ibattery = I1 = I2 = I3 = ... • R1, R2… are the resistors placed in series

Vbattery = V1 + V2 + V3 + ...

• Req is the total resistance of the resistors

1 1 1 1
= + + + ... placed in series
Req R1 R2 R3
• R1, R2… are the resistors placed in parallel
Parallel circuit
Ibattery = I1 + I2 + I3 + ...

Vbattery = V1 = V2 = V3

• P (W) is the power

E
Power P= = V  I •  E (J) is the energy gain or loss
t

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PRACTICE

Question 1. Use your understanding of electric field lines to identify the sign of given charges below

Question 2. Observe the number of electric field lines and rank the magnitude of charges from
smallest to largest.

Question 3. Two charges are attracted by a force of 2.0N. If the distance between them triples,
what is the force between the charges?

A. 0.67N

B. 6.0N

C. 18.0N

D. 0.22N
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Question 4. A -10nC charge is at the origin. Find the magnitude and direction of the strength of
electric field at a point 10cm far from the origin.

A. The strength of electric field is 9000 V/m and points away from the charge.

B. The strength of electric field is 9000V/m and points toward the charge.

C. The strength of electric field is 900V/m and points toward the charge.

D. The strength of electric field is 900V/m and points away from the charge.

Question 5. There are two 80  resistors connected in series with 0.15A flowing through them. What
is the voltage applied them?

A. 12V

B. 24V

C. 36V

D. 48V

Question 6. If the voltage between a and b is 72V, the ratio of current through all resistors and current
through the 12 resistor will be

1
A.
4

B. 4

1
C.
3

D. 3

Question 7. The resistance of each resistor is R. Find the equivalent resistance of the combination of
resistors.

13R
A.
6

5R
B.
13

R
C.
6

13R
D.
5

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