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Charge Force Field Potential

This document provides an overview of key concepts in electricity and electromagnetism that will be covered, including: 1) Electric charge, force, field, and potential; circuit components like batteries, resistors, and capacitors; electromagnetic induction and more circuit components like inductors. 2) Coulomb's law and how the electric field is defined and calculated for point charges and dipoles. 3) Properties of electric fields including superposition, field lines, and the behavior of dipoles in uniform fields. 4) Techniques for calculating electric fields from continuous charge distributions using the ideas of charge density and integrating infinitesimal contributions.

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asifmalik138
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46 views

Charge Force Field Potential

This document provides an overview of key concepts in electricity and electromagnetism that will be covered, including: 1) Electric charge, force, field, and potential; circuit components like batteries, resistors, and capacitors; electromagnetic induction and more circuit components like inductors. 2) Coulomb's law and how the electric field is defined and calculated for point charges and dipoles. 3) Properties of electric fields including superposition, field lines, and the behavior of dipoles in uniform fields. 4) Techniques for calculating electric fields from continuous charge distributions using the ideas of charge density and integrating infinitesimal contributions.

Uploaded by

asifmalik138
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What are we going to learn?

A road map
Electric charge
Electric force on other electric charges
Electric field, and electric potential
Moving electric charges : current
Electronic circuit components: batteries, resistors, capacitors
Electric currents Magnetic field
Magnetic force on moving charges
Time-varying magnetic field Electric Field
More circuit components: inductors.
Electromagnetic waves light waves
Geometrical Optics (light rays).
Physical optics (light waves)

Coulombs law
q1

F12

F21
r12

k | q1 | | q2 |
| F12 |
2
r12

q2

For charges in a
VACUUM
2
N
m
9
8
.
99

10
k=
C2

Often, we write k as:

k 1

4 0

with 0 8.85 10

12

C
2
Nm

Electric Fields
Electric field E at some point in
space is defined as the force
experienced by an imaginary
point charge of +1 C, divided by
1 C.
Note that E is a VECTOR.
Since E is the force per unit
charge, it is measured in units of
N/C.
We measure the electric field
using very small test charges,
and dividing the measured force
by the magnitude of the charge.

Electric field of a point charge


+1 C
q
E
R

k |q|
| E | 2
R

Superposition
Question: How do we figure out the field
due to several point charges?
Answer: consider one charge at a time,
calculate the field (a vector!) produced by
each charge, and then add all the vectors!
(superposition)
Useful to look out for SYMMETRY to
simplify calculations!

Example

Total electric field

-2q

+q
4 charges are placed at the
corners of a square as shown.
What is the direction of the
electric field at the center of
the square?

-q

+2q

(a) Field is ZERO!


(b) Along +y
(c) Along +x
x

Electric Field Lines


Field lines: useful way to
visualize electric field E
Field lines start at a
positive charge, end at
negative charge
E at any point in space is
tangential to field line
Field lines are closer
where E is stronger

Example: a negative point


charge note spherical
symmetry

Electric Field of a Dipole


Electric dipole: two point
charges +q and q separated
by a distance d
Common arrangement in
Nature: molecules, antennae,

Note axial or cylindrical


symmetry
Define dipole moment
vector p: from q to +q, with
magnitude qd

Electric Field along Axis of Dipole


-q
a

+q

Superposition : E E E
E

kq
a

x
2

1
1

E kq

2
2

a
a
x x
2
2

kq

kq
a

x
2

2 xa
2 2

2 a
x

Electric Field along Axis of Dipole


E kq

2 xa
2 2

2 a
x

p = qa
dipole moment
-- VECTOR

2kpx
2 2

2 a
x

What if x>> a? (i.e. very far away)

2kpx 2kp
E 4 3
x
x

p
r

E~p/r3 is actually true for ANY point far from a dipole


(not just on axis)

Electric Dipole in a Uniform Field


Net force on dipole = 0;
center of mass stays where
it is.
Net TORQUE t: INTO
page. Dipole rotates to line
up in direction of E.
| t | = 2(QE)(d/2)(sin q)
= (Qd)(E)sinq
|p| E sinq
= |p x E|
The dipole tends to align
itself with the field lines.
What happens if the field is
NOT UNIFORM??

Distance between charges = d

Electric charges and fields


We work with two different kinds of problems, easily confused:

Given certain electric charges, we calculate the electric field


produced by those charges
(using E=kqr/r3 for each charge)
Example: the electric field produced
by a single charge, or by a dipole:
Given an electric field, we calculate the forces applied by this
electric field on charges that come into the field, using F=qE
Examples: forces on a single charge
when immersed in the field of a dipole,
torque on a dipole when immersed in
an uniform electric field.

Continuous Charge Distribution


Thus far, we have only dealt
with discrete, point charges.
Imagine instead that a charge
Q is smeared out over a:

Q
Q

LINE
AREA
VOLUME

How to compute the electric


field E??

Charge Density
l Q/L

Useful idea: charge density


Line of charge:
charge per unit length = l
Sheet of charge:
charge per unit area = s
Volume of charge:
charge per unit volume = r

s Q/A

r Q/V

Computing electric field


of continuous charge distribution
Approach: divide the continuous
charge distribution into
infinitesimally small elements
Treat each element as a POINT
charge & compute its electric
field
Sum (integrate) over all elements
Always look for symmetry to
simplify life!

Example: Field on Bisector of Charged Rod


Uniform line of charge +Q
spread over length L
What is the direction of the
electric field at a point P on
the perpendicular bisector?
(a) Field is 0.
(b) Along +y
(c) Along +x
Choose symmetrically
located elements of length dx
x components of E cancel

a
x

dx

q
o
L

dx

Example --Line of Charge: Quantitative


Uniform line of charge,
length L, total charge Q
Compute explicitly the
magnitude of E at point P
on perpendicular bisector
Showed earlier that the net
field at P is in the y
direction -- lets now
compute this!

P
y
a

o
L

Line Of Charge: Field on bisector


Distance
dE

d a2 x2

Charge per unit length

k ( dq )
dE
2
d

dq
dx

x o
L

q
l
L

k (l dx)a
dE y dE cosq 2
(a x 2 )3 / 2
a
cosq 2
2 1/ 2
(a x )

Line Of Charge: Field on bisector


L/2

L/2

dx

x
E y kl a
2
2 3 / 2 kl a 2

2
2
(a x )
a x a L / 2
L / 2

2klL
a 4a L
2

What is E very far away from the line (L<<a)?


What is E if the line is infinitely long (L >> a)?

2klL

2kl
Ey

2
a
a L

Example -- Arc of Charge: Quantitative


Figure shows a uniformly
charged rod of charge Q bent
into a circular arc of radius R,
centered at (0,0).
Compute the direction &
magnitude of E at the origin.

kdQ
dE x dE cosq 2 cosq
R
/2
/2
k (lRdq ) cosq kl

Ex

kl
Ex
R

450
x

cosqdq
0

kl
kl
Ey
E 2
R
R

dQ = lRdq
dq

q
x

l 2Q/(R)

Example : Field on Axis of Charged Disk


A uniformly charged circular
disk (with positive charge)
What is the direction of E at
point P on the axis?
z
(a) Field is 0
(b) Along +z
(c) Somewhere in the x-y plane

Example : Arc of Charge


y

Figure shows a uniformly


charged rod of charge -Q
bent into a circular arc of
radius R, centered at (0,0).
What is the direction of the
electric field at the origin?
x
(a) Field is 0.
Choose symmetric elements
(b) Along +y
x components cancel
(c) Along -y

Summary
The electric field produced by a system of charges at
any point in space is the force per unit charge they
produce at that point.
We can draw field lines to visualize the electric field
produced by electric charges.
Electric field of a point charge: E=kq/r2
Electric field of a dipole:
E~kp/r3
An electric dipole in an electric field rotates to align
itself with the field.
Use CALCULUS to find E-field from a continuous
charge distribution.

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